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- How to Address a Cover Letter...
How to Address a Cover Letter to Recruiter or Hiring Manager
5 min read · Updated on November 24, 2021
Knowing how to effectively address a cover letter makes you a very visible and appealing candidate.
Did you know that the cardinal rule of cover letters is personalization? It impresses a hiring manager or recruiter because it tells them you took time to research the specific information for the letter rather than sending a generic version.
What many people forget, however, is that the greeting or salutation in a cover letter must also be personalized with the hiring professional's first and last name whenever possible.
There are several effective ways to find the hiring manager's name for your greeting — and some acceptable back-up strategies when you can't. Either way, knowing how to address a cover letter effectively can prevent you from ending your hiring chances before they even begin.
When you know the hiring manager's name
More often than not, you'll be given the name of the hiring professional or the manager that you'll work for. Whoever it is, use their full name (first and last name) in the greeting.
If you cannot definitively tell the gender of the hiring person, do not use a gender-based title such as “Mr.” or “Ms.” in the greeting. Instead just use the person's full name.
For example, Alex Johnson could be male or female. To avoid a gender mistake, use Dear Alex Johnson, Hello Alex Johnson, or simply Alex Johnson .
However, professional titles such as “Professor” or “Dr.” are definitely acceptable as a cover letter salutation and should be used as a sign of respect. Be on the lookout for these and other titles to include.
How to find a hiring manager's name for your cover letter
If you're not given the name of the hiring manager, here are some effective ways to discover their name by using:
The job description: Check this document for the hiring manager's name. While it's not generally listed, you never know. If it's not obvious, there's also a trick to quickly discover an email in the job description that might contain the name; while in the document, press Ctrl +F or run Command + F and search for the @ symbol.
An email address: If you discover an email address, it may not have a full name but rather a first initial and last name or just a first name like [email protected] or [email protected] . A Google search combining the person's name as shown in the email and the company name might find you the person's full name.
A LinkedIn post: A name connected to the LinkedIn job posting is probably that of the hiring professional who posted it, so use that name in your greeting.
The supervisor's title: It's more likely that a job description will list who the new hire will report to — such as the director of accounting — without listing a name. In this case, there are several search options:
Search the company's website for listings of staff members by title.
Run an advanced LinkedIn or Google search for all directors of accounting at that specific company.
Check with your network for someone who might know the person's name or search the appropriate professional networking sites.
Contact the company by phone or email. Tell them you're applying for [job title] and want to address your cover letter to the right person.
In the end, this research can be the difference between making a great first impression and getting noticed for the position — or getting totally ignored by the hiring manager.
Acceptable options in lieu of a name
If you try the steps above and come up empty, there are still some alternative greeting options that will put you in a professional light.
The idea is to show that you've read the job description and tailored your greeting based on the company department where the job is located, the hiring manager's title, or the team with which you'll potentially work.
Some good examples include:
Dear Head of Design
Hello IT Department
Dear Accounting Manager
To Company ABC Recruiter/Hiring Professional
Hello Marketing Hiring Team
Dear Customer Support Hiring Group
Dear Human Resources
If you still can't find any specific name or department information, go with “Dear Hiring Manager.” It sounds professional and it's not gender-specific. In fact, a recent survey of over 2000 companies by Saddleback College showed that 40 percent preferred “Dear Hiring Manager” as the best greeting when a manager's name can't be found.
“Dear Sir or Madam” is another option that works because it's gender-neutral and respectful. However, it sounds a bit old-fashioned and may signal a hiring professional that you're an older worker or just not aware of other greeting options. It's perfectly acceptable, but the better choice is “Dear Hiring Manager.”
In the end, an actual name or any of the alternative examples will let you stand out from the crowd, so do your best to find and use those whenever you can.
Never leave the greeting blank
Whatever information you may or may not find, it's important to never leave your greeting line blank.
A blank greeting line can make you come across as lazy or rude, or imply that you simply don't understand how to write a cover letter — all of which will immediately put you out of contention for the job. There's no reason to leave the greeting blank when there are so many options that can be used effectively.
When you spend the time and effort to personalize your cover letter, you don't want to come across as “just another candidate” by using a generic greeting or no greeting at all.
A personalized greeting will impress any hiring professional, increasing the chance they'll read your entire cover letter — and ask you for an interview.
Not sure if your cover letter is cutting it? Our writers don't just help you with your resume .
Recommended Reading:
Do Hiring Managers Actually Read Cover Letters?
5 Things to Say in Your Cover Letter If You Want to Get the Job
How To Write a Cover Letter (With Example)
Related Articles:
How to Create a Resume With No Education
From Bland to Beautiful: How We Made This Professional's Resume Shine
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How To Address A Cover Letter (With Examples)
- Cover Letter Format
- Salutation and Greeting
- Who To Address When Unknown
- How To Start A Cover Letter
- How To End A Cover Letter
- Best Cover Letter Font And Size
- Cover Letter Spacing
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- Key Elements Of A Cover Letter
- How To Write An Address
- Official Letter Format
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Find a Job You Really Want In
A cover letter is a great way for a hiring manager to get to know you a little better. Writing a great letter can help you land the interview.
When sitting down to write a cover letter, you may be asking yourself how to address a cover letter correctly when you don’t know who the hiring manager is and how formal addressing a cover letter needs to be.
Thankfully, addressing a cover letter is quite simple. Keep reading for details on how to address a cover letter with confidence.
Key Takeaways:
It’s important to do your research to figure out who you are writing to before sending your letter.
Try remaining gender neutral if you don’t know the gender of who you are addressing.
If the hiring manager or recruiter ’s name is not available online, then you can address the cover letter with a generic salutation such as “dear hiring manager”.
How to Address a Cover Letter
Examples of how to address someone in a cover letter, cover letter subject lines, how to find the hiring manager’s name, final thoughts.
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Research. The first step in addressing a cover letter is researching who the cover letter will be read by. One way to make a very good impression, especially with online applications, is taking the time to research who the hiring manager or recruiter is for the department you are applying for.
You can call the HR department at a company and ask for the hiring manager’s name to be used on a cover letter. If you were contacted by a recruiter on LinkedIn or another job hiring platform, you can confirm with the recruiter who the cover letter should be addressed to. Properly addressing the cover letter by having the correct name is the most important step.
Keep it formal and modern. Regardless of who’s receiving your cover letter, we recommend sticking with “Dear” as your greeting . It’s a timeless classic for a reason, and there’s really no need to risk your opener with something more daring.
Remain gender neutral. If you don’t know the gender of who you are addressing, its best to use gender-neutral identifiers. Even if a name might sound like a typical man or woman’s name, its best not to assume. Staying gender neutral is a great way to show respect and not get your cover letter thrown out right away.
Use the job title. If you aren’t sure what their name is, a great way to address them is to use their job title. It also shows your interest and that you did research before sending in your letter.
Professional title. How you address your cover letter is core to its format . To address a cover letter correctly, you will need to make sure you have an appropriate salutation paired with the correct title/honorific.
For example, if you are addressing a cover letter to a person with a medical degree or doctorate, you will need to write “Dr.” before their name. Not doing so is unprofessional.
Dear Dr. Keller Dear Dr. Michael Ward Dear Dr. Liz Sells
If you do not know the correct title of the person, do not put a title with the name. The same goes for people with other special titles, like Reverend.
Dear Rev. Bill Smith Dear Prof. Johnson Dear Lt. Saraceno Dear Principal Luzi
As you can see from the above examples, you can include the person’s full name or only their last name after their title. The choice is yours.
Mrs. vs. Ms. It is better to address women without the Mrs. title. The Mrs. title implies that the woman is married and since that information is not easy to come by, keep it safe and address the woman as Ms. Don’t ever use “Miss,” as it is seen as infantilizing.
Dear Ms. Keller Dear Ms. O’Brian Dear Ms. Sells
For males, keep to Mr. as the title. You don’t need to write “Master” or “Sir” when addressing your cover letter. Using alternative titles can seem old-fashioned and much too formal.
Unknown gender. If the hiring manager or recruiter’s name is gender-neutral, try looking the person up on LinkedIn to learn their gender. If they have a photo and a personal blurb, it should clear up any confusion.
Not everyone has an easily-findable picture online, though. In those situations, avoid using Mr. or Ms. in your salutation. Instead, write out the hiring manager’s full name:
Dear Sam Kenney Dear Alex O’Hanson Dear Jamie Tyrell
Unknown recipient. If the hiring manager or recruiter’s name is not available online , then you can address the cover letter with a generic salutation. Of course, this doesn’t mean you can write, “Hey you!” or “Dear hiring person,” but there are a few phrases you can use that are professional and fine to use.
If you do not know the recipient of the cover letter, you can use a more generic greeting or you can even go without a greeting. It is better to be safe than sorry for these greetings as they are a key part of your cover letter .
The more specific you can get, the better. It shows that you’ve done your research and aren’t just sending the same cover letter to hiring managers all over town.
Dear Hiring Manager Dear Talent Acquisition Team Dear [Company Name] Recruiter Dear Human Resources Manager Dear Human Resources Department Dear [Position Title] Hiring Team Dear [Position Title] Hiring Manager Dear [Position Title] Recruitment Team Dear [Position Title] Recruiter Dear [Department] Team Dear [Title of Person You’d Report To] Some people like to use “ Dear Sir or Madam ” as a generic greeting for a cover letter, but using that is a bit too formal for the United States. Using the greeting “ To Whom It May Concern ” is also too stuffy for most cover letters and will probably not match the rest of your writing style, making it seem awkward.
All right, so you’ve got a perfectly-address, beautifully-written cover letter. Now it’s time to make sure the recipient actually opens up your email with a winning subject line. The ultimate goal is for the hiring manager or recruiter to know exactly what to expect when they open your email.
With that in mind, here are a few options for formatting your subject line:
[Position Title] Application – [Your Full Name] Application for [Position Title] Application for [Position Title] – [Your Full Name] [Position Title] Looking for New Role – [number of years] years experience Application for [Position Title] Position – referred by [Referral Name} Referred by [Referral Name] – [Position Title] Position
Never leave your subject line blank, or the recipient will probably delete it without ever opening it. It may even just go straight to their spam folder .
Additionally, we always recommend including the position title, because hiring managers and recruiters are often hiring for multiple open roles simultaneously.
Since knowing the hiring manager’s name is 95% of the battle, let’s go through a step-by-step process of finding out your cover letter’s recipient:
Read the job posting. The obvious first step is to carefully review the job listing and see if a contact person is given. Or perhaps the email address they’ve told you to send your application documents is obviously a person’s name, like [email protected]. Even for less obvious ones, you can try Googling the email address and see what turns up.
The company website. Most company websites have an “About Us” and/or “Company Directory” page . Try to navigate to your department and see if you can find a hiring manager’s name.
Check professional networking sites. The company’s LinkedIn page might also have information about hiring managers for different roles. You can also search for “[company name] + recruiter” and see what turns up. You might not find exactly who you’re looking for, but a quick message might help direct you.
Targeted Google search. Searching for the company’s name, location, and the position title you’re applying for might turn up some information on the hiring manager.
Contact the company. If all else fails, you can always call or email the company (someone in human resources is a good idea) to ask for the hiring manager’s name. If you explain that you’re trying to address your cover letter correctly, they’ll most likely be happy to help.
When applying for jobs, making sure you have every detail perfect can be a nerve-wracking time. With the tight job market, you are probably applying to many jobs at the same time, but don’t let the volume of the applications lower your quality of applications.
Take the time to research who you should address your cover letter to — it can make a great first impression on recruiters and hiring managers.
Address the cover letter with the correct title or honorific, and when in doubt, go without. Address your cover letter with a title or honorific if you are not sure what to use.
Addressing the cover letter with class is a simple way to making a great first impression for recruiters and hiring managers.
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Heidi Cope is a former writer for the Zippia Career Advice blog. Her writing focused primarily on Zippia's suite of rankings and general career advice. After leaving Zippia, Heidi joined The Mighty as a writer and editor, among other positions. She received her BS from UNC Charlotte in German Studies.
Matt Warzel a President of a resume writing firm (MJW Careers, LLC) with 15+ years of recruitment, outplacement, career coaching and resume writing experience. Matt is also a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) and Certified Internet Recruiter (CIR) with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (Marketing Focus) from John Carroll University.
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