Since everything is now digital is it still ok to walk into a company and personally give them your resumes?
Why not - you got nothing to loose...
Ask for the HR dept to pass it on to the manager of the area/dept you are interested in working for. If they say they are not hiring at the moment, then ask for them to keep it on file. Also a good idea to ask how they normally advertise their vacancies...
You never know... I hired a bloke this way and it was a good fit for both him and the company...
And these days a hand delivered resume makes you stand out from those submitted via Email (which are easy to ignore/delete).
Best idea you could have. Even when I wasn't hiring I would really consider someone that walked in cold off the street and would always make time to speak to them.
Shows commitment which is a rare thing in an employee today.
Great idea, shows good initiative.
Another idea is to do a week's unpaid "work experience" there, which can show the employer exactly how good you are.
You'll get someone to talk to in the service industry and small companies.
Those you get to meet may or may not be useful.
Won't work for tech, corp jobs, telco, etc.
gotta agree with Gizmo, under no circumstances would we accept anyone willing to do work experience - legally in order to claim workers comp, you need to be employed & recieving wages from the company you 'work' for; if a work experience person sustained an injury in our work place the lawyers would have a field day. Of course as always their are exceptions to the rule - one of the training providers I use includes training at (well leave this nameless) but one of the biggest expenses with this particular course is indemnity(sp?) insurance (course is 11K+) which from what I've been told is roughly 45% of course cost, & thats for only two weeks on the job training.
From what you guys are saying I wil drop it in personally.
I am a Electrician trying to get into the offshore industry, Which is near impossible without offshore experience
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^^^
Really 
I've read some shockers - poor spelling and formatting all over the place.
If they spell my name wrong - start Dear Sir / Madam, or get the company name wrong they go straight in the bin (no attention to detail).
I've read some shockers - poor spelling and formatting all over the place. 
at one place I worked we would keep an eye on who was walking up the street with folders ..we hired all our offsiders from walk-ins.
. i would read the resumes,which would tell you alot about the person looking, then look at the way they dressed, condition of their boots(much like the car thing,
we had a couple of duds, but many turned out very reliable.
the dodgy employees were usually the guys who got a job because they knew somebody who already worked there.
with my own business,i insist on handwritten applications, and a resume.
and insist on seeing the WA drivers licence that was specified in the advertisement.
when they ring up I insist on seeing it at the start of the interview.
If they look like they need drug testing ,or a smoker, then they dont get far
[}:)][}:)][}:)]
[}:)][}:)][}:)]
HR our meant to be workin for both parties in a work force. The so called voice of reasoning, the middle man.
Haven't been in a company that there HR is like as above. They think thay are the top of the wozza.
Back to the subject, go to the top, if you really like the position your going for found out as much as you can about the place eg: pay, number of employees,
job security, can you go further in the company(dont make it look like ya stepping on anyones toes though) and most important, the managers name. Try hand cv to him if you ca manage an appointment.
Dont be a c#cksucker, be yourself.
Grovelling yes men **** people off and dont last long in our company.
I bit scary that a HR girl has pretty much a strangle hold on your future. Ya better put out.
the thought of handing out my CV at the moment makes me feel ill. I just finished up 18 months at a great dynamic emerging company!
Been a pretty nasty 18 months and glad to get out. I'm pretty jaded with the whole thing at the moment.
I'm not working for anyone ever again, even if I have to eat noodles.
Slighty off topic but related....
This thread reminds me of a joinery shop in SA that advertised for a carpenter.
When the carpenter arrived for an interview, the owner took him for a tour of the premises. During the tour, the owner handed the carpenter a hand full of large nails that he scooped randomly out of a box and told him to hold them for him. He did not mention why but just continiued the tour. At the end of the tour he asked for the nails back. As the carpenter handed the nails back, the owner told him he had the job.
The reason why.... while holding the nails, the carpenter had sorted them so they were all facing the same way (points all facing the same way instead of random 50/50). The owner explained he needed someone who would do things without having to be told every little detail.
Maybe not relevant for some industries but I kind of like the story anyway... 
If you're keen to get into a closed industry, then definitely hit the streets with printed CVs.
It's worked for me and my other half before.
Now I sit on the other side of the fence and get ten CVs a week via email.
The printed one that sits on my desk is much more difficult to ignore.
An absolutely essential thing though - Check, check and check it again, then get someone educated to proof-read it. You'd be astonished at how many CVs I get from graduates that are badly spelled or inconsistently laid-out. It automatically puts them to the bottom of the pile.
Go for it.
