Addressing Cover Letters

May 6, 2005 11:15 AM

How do you address a cover letter?

I can't come up with a way to address it that won't seem either too informal or too awkward (To whom it may concern, Dear sir or madam, etc.)

What's a good, general way to address a cover letter? I don't have the name of the person reviewing applications, so I can't use that.

posted by Yelling At Nothing to Work & Money (24 answers total)

i started my last one (an email) with "Hi,". a lot is going to depend on the culture (this was for an "academic" software position).
posted by andrew cooke at 11:17 AM on May 6, 2005

For those occasions where I know the person, but it's still a professional type letter, I use the formal salutation (Dear Mr. XXXX), but then in the hard copy I make a line through it and write their first name in ink. That way you're both acknowledging the formality of a business letter and the personal relationship.
posted by jasper411 at 11:21 AM on May 6, 2005

I usually open cover letters with:

To whom it may concern

But I'm generally not sending it to a specific person so this covers it.

If you are addressing it to a person (eg, Dear Mr Smith), you should end the letter with "Yours Sincerely". If it's not addressed to a particular person (as above, or Dear Sir/Madam) then you should end with "Yours Faithfully". It's a small but oft overlooked detail, and it's the details that matter.
posted by gaby at 11:26 AM on May 6, 2005 [1 favorite]

But that detail will only matter to someone who also knows that detail.

I can't imagine why anyone would care if you ended with the wrong phrase, unless you were applying to write an etiquette guide.
posted by kenko at 11:30 AM on May 6, 2005

But that detail will only matter to someone who also knows that detail.

Whoa.... Talk about your slippery slope!

Anyway, I usually just start with "Hello,". That seems to cover most situations that I find myself in.
posted by spilon at 11:39 AM on May 6, 2005

don't address it to anyone....

APPLICATION FOR EMPLOYMENT


I am writing in your response to the adverstisment you recently placed in the Farminton Fishwrap for an assistant pickle waxer. I feel my experience and education make me an excellent candidate for your opening. Yada yada yada...

See how smoothly is goes when you stop worrying about directly addressing one person? this way, whoever reads it feels the letter is addressed to them.
posted by cosmicbandito at 11:54 AM on May 6, 2005

But that detail will only matter to someone who also knows that detail.

So, either:

a) They don't care about the fact that you've used the correct ending, so it doesn't matter what you write, but you get the warm glow inside from having 'done it right'; or:

b) They do know the distinction, and appreciate the fact that you've 'done it right'. You still get the warm glow.

It only takes 3 seconds at most to write the correct ending. And we have no idea if they do/don't know, so I'd play it safe.

Some more pages:

Here's one
An example letter
Another site...

Many many sites
posted by gaby at 12:02 PM on May 6, 2005

there is no "right" or "wrong" way, no matter what your business writing teacher told you. Choose a style that you think stirkes the right balance, and use that. If the hiring manager discards resumes because the cover letter doesn't use his/her version of the "correct" format, he/she is undoubtedly an inflexible and tyrannical person to work for anyway.
posted by cosmicbandito at 12:18 PM on May 6, 2005

A friend pointed me to this site yesterday when i was writing a cover letter and it helped immensely.

Also, not to be a real stickler for the MeFi rules, but this question has been asked before. Tsk tsk.
posted by elisabeth r at 12:30 PM on May 6, 2005

I was going to say "it doesn't matter a damn, only some secretary is going to read that, it's everything else that matters" until I saw

it's the details that matter

and I grew afraid.

But I guess the point is this: there are two types of people who will read your letter, the ones who want to hire you based on your actual merit for the job and the ones who are uptight about irrelevant things like knowing "Yours faithfully". (To be honest, I am one of the latter, and would give somebody an automatic one star for knowing such things.) So on the too informal / too awkward scale, I don't see any upside in skating the too informal danger zone.

On preview: ditto gaby.
posted by Aknaton at 12:33 PM on May 6, 2005

If you are addressing it to a person (eg, Dear Mr Smith), you should end the letter with "Yours Sincerely". If it's not addressed to a particular person (as above, or Dear Sir/Madam) then you should end with "Yours Faithfully".

Seriously? I always end all my formal communcation with simply "Sincerely" as in "All the stuff I said in this letter is true". Do you actually wish to claim you belong in any meaningful way to any person who puts out a classifed ad? I'm all for formality; this seems like a lot of disingenuous buddy-buddy-ness.
posted by dagnyscott at 12:42 PM on May 6, 2005

I don't have the name of the person reviewing applications, so I can't use that.

If I were reading applications and I could shoose between someone who took the time to figure out the recipient's name (me) versus someone who genericised it (To whom..., etc.) I am going to choose the former in all cases. Why? Because that person is interested in working here, and took the time to do a tiny bit of legwork.

Otherwise you look like someone who cranked out 50 copies of a generic cover letter in hopes of getting a reply.

Call the receptionist at the place you are applying to and get the name. Oh, and then address it "Dear Mr/Mrs hiring person:"
posted by misterbrandt at 12:46 PM on May 6, 2005

I've been addressing mine (applications for academic positions):

"To the members of the selection committee"
posted by achmorrison at 1:04 PM on May 6, 2005

Learned this in a business communications class way back in the day but I think I may be the only person who uses it:

Ladies and Gentlemen:

While misterbrant has it right, there will be times where you are addressing an unknown entity. I also use 'Respectfully' as my close FWIW.
posted by Fezboy! at 1:06 PM on May 6, 2005

Dear Madam or Sir,

I call the company and try to get a name. When it's not available, which is the most likely scenario, I use Sir/Madam. I'm not sure why the signature would read differently. Mrs. Munson didn't cover that in English Grammar, and if Mrs. Munson didn't require it, neither do I. I u

Sincerely,
Theora Fifty-five
posted by theora55 at 1:18 PM on May 6, 2005

I always put 'dear madam/sir'.
Chicks are impressed (well, some).

Yours faithfully or sincerely are the commonest.
posted by peacay at 9:59 PM on May 6, 2005

What misterbrandt said.
posted by grouse at 2:45 AM on May 7, 2005

If I think that several people will be seeing it, I address it to:

Gentlepersons.
posted by brujita at 4:01 AM on May 7, 2005

misterbrandt's idea is a good one for sure. But I personally won't go to that trouble, not so much because I'm lazy (well I am) but because that letter IS going to be read by a range of people, most likely both female and male, so I tend to think that a generic start kind of acknowledges that fact. Not applicable for very senior appointments or small companies I'd guess.
And I'd be happy to be passed on a job where some a-hole decides to prune the applicants because of a purely subjective and puerile obsession.
posted by peacay at 4:49 AM on May 7, 2005

Call the receptionist at the place you are applying to and get the name. Oh, and then address it "Dear Mr/Mrs hiring person:"
If you have the person's name, why on Earth would you use "Mr/Mrs hiring person"? It sounds like a SNL skit.

If you can get a name, use it. If you can't, then use whatever they tell you to address your application to: "Dear Human Resources," "Dear Hiring Manager," "Dear Personnel Office." It sounds odd, but it's better than "Sir/Madam" (or any other slashed foolishness), and it shows immediately that you at least read their job ad.

Unless you're applying for a job as an etiquette columnist, don't worry about whether you should use "Faithfully yours," or "Sincerely." No one cares.
Sincerely.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 5:25 AM on May 7, 2005

And I'd be happy to be passed on a job where some a-hole decides to prune the applicants because of a purely subjective and puerile obsession.

You're unlikely to be disqualified for putting "Dear Sir or Madam." But it's not going to impress anyone.

I was on a search committee for a new Dean of Students once. We asked the candidates some questions about what areas of the dean's responsibilities they though were most important. Some candidates responded with things that weren't on the dean's responsibilities. Others gave answers that made it clear they had done some research and read the office's current web site. One of these groups has illustrated that it knows what the job entails, and is diligent about researching situations before getting embroiled in them? Guess which group we picked from?

If you don't care about getting the job enough to do basic research, don't worry, because many times someone else will. Your job search will just be that much longer.

If you have the person's name, why on Earth would you use "Mr/Mrs hiring person"? It sounds like a SNL skit.

Wow, Kirth, that would be positively absurd. Either misterbrandt is a total dumbass, or there's some other interpretation of what he wrote that is sensible and you just haven't thought about it hard enough. Personally I prefer the charitable route, but if you like thinking people are idiots, who am I to get in your way?
posted by grouse at 8:02 AM on May 7, 2005

If I don't have a proper name, I use "Dear Human Resources Manager," "Dear Placement Specialist" or "Dear [Typical Title on Business Card]". But then again, I've been looking for a new position a long time.
posted by klarck at 8:46 AM on May 7, 2005

--Guess which group we picked from?--

Oh I would always advocate research into the company, position and people wherever possible and the demonstration of such knowledge during an interview. I just don't think in this day and age, when decent size companies have panels and departments involved in the process, there's really much need to address a specific person (unless it's stated). And as the comments here demonstrate, we all have pet peeves and expectations. Concentrate the energies on interview skills.
posted by peacay at 10:14 AM on May 7, 2005

grouse, those were his quotation marks, not mine. Over here, that means: write these words, exactly as written here. Maybe you aren't as charitable as you think.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:20 AM on May 8, 2005