Googling "how to address a cover letter" will give you a slew of answers, but not all of those aligns with my answers—which are based on my experience as a recruiter.
After reading articles from many reliable sources, this seems to be the consensus:
- Address a cover letter to the hiring manager
- Go to great lengths to find out who that person is
- Some articles suggest calling the front desk of the company or even taking your best guess if you can’t find out
- They also say that “to whom it may concern” is lazy and outdated
Who to Address a Cover Letter To
Ideal: The Person Who Posted the Job
In the best-case scenario, you know who posted the job and is in charge of screening the incoming applications because it's listed on the job posting. In that case, yes, you should address your cover letter to that person.
Second Best: "Dear [Company Name] Team,"
Assuming you don’t know the proper person to address your cover letter to, go with something somewhat personal but also general like:
Dear Nike Team,
Dear Github Team,
At a tech startup or creative company where the tone is more informal, you could also go with:
Hello Everlane Team,
Hi Refinery29 Team,
Dear Github Team,
At a tech startup or creative company where the tone is more informal, you could also go with:
Hello Everlane Team,
Hi Refinery29 Team,
This allows you to personalize to the company but covers your bases no matter who is reading your cover letter. In my mind, it’s pretty foolproof. When I gut-checked this concept with a handful of other recruiters I knew, they all agreed that they wouldn’t think less of a candidate who addressed a cover letter in this more general way.
How Not to Address a Cover Letter
Here are a few thoughts on what, as a recruiter, I don't like seeing from candidates:
Don't Use "To Whom It May Concern"
I also agree that it feels pretty stodgy, so let’s put that one to bed.
Don't Try to Track Down—Or, Worse, Guess—Who the Hiring Manager Is
Taking a guess and addressing your cover letter to the wrong contact is way worse than a general greeting. Companies are purposefully secretive about who the decision-maker on the job is as they’re not looking for them to get bombarded with inquiries.
Being overly aggressive to find out who the right contact is can backfire for that reason as well.
In general, it’s going to be very tough to figure out who that person is, and I genuinely don’t think companies would fault candidates for not knowing (I definitely wouldn’t have).
Another thing that most people don’t realize is that at any company with a recruiting team, the hiring manager probably doesn’t even read cover letters—it’s the recruiter assigned to the job that does it.
They are the ones who sort through the many applications, and they only present the top resumes to the hiring manager for input. I’m not saying the process is exactly the same at every company, but this is certainly the norm.
A version of this post originally appeared on The Prepary.
