To Whom It May Concern Top 3 Blunders to Avoid When Addressing a Cover Letter - Your Career Intel

To Whom It May Concern Top 3 Blunders to Avoid When Addressing a Cover Letter - Your Career IntelFind perfect job check. Write perfect titelseite letter check. Now, the only thing standing between you and your dream job is that short but oh-so-important line at the beginning of your cover letter the salutation.How to address a cover lettercan be tricky, especially if you do not have the hiring managers personenname or know his or her gender. Should you use Mr. or Ms.? Do you include the first name? What about To Whom It May Concern? The wrong cover letter salutation can offend the hiring manager before he or shes even had the chance to learn about your qualifications.Dont sink you candidacy by addressing a cover letter the wrong way. Follow these three rules to avoid putting your foot in your mouth1 Never, ever start with To Whom It May Concern.Lets face it if youre starting with To Whom It May Concern, youre not as concerned as you should be about this job This generic greeting is a huge red flag that you simply dont care enough to take the time and find out the proper person to address your letter. And dont rely on Dear Department Head as a default, either. The department head may not be the hiring manager, and assuming otherwise could inadvertently offend the letters actual recipient. If youve searched high and low and simply cannot find the hiring managers name, its better to use Dear Hiring Manager than To Whom It May Concern or the archaic Dear Sir/Madam.2 Use the formal full name salutation.If you are able to determine the hiring managers name, use the entire name with a formal salutation such as Dear Ms. Elizabeth Smith or Dear Mr. John Jones. As a stimmt of caution, take a few minutes to browse the hiring managers bio and confirm that Mr. or Ms. is the correct title rather than Dr.. Unless you know for sure that the companys culture is extremely casual (and would strongly frown on the use of Mr. or Ms.), opt to be as professional as possible up front. You can be more informal once youve established a rapport with the hiring manager following the interview.3 Dont guess on gender.When it comes to determining gender, names like Elizabeth Smith or John Jones are pretty straightforward. But what about gender ambiguous first names like Taylor Smith or Jordan Jones? Addressing a cover letter to Mr. Jordan Jones when Jordan is actually a female is a huge misstep. If you cant find the hiring managers bio on the company website, check LinkedIn. A professional headshot on LinkedIn should quickly clear up this confusion.If you are currently searching for a job, how do you typically address your cover letters? If youre a hiring manager, whats the most unfortunate cover letter salutation youve ever received? I welcome your feedback below.