How to Address a Cover Letter

Addressing your cover letter is one of the first things you have to consider when you format your cover letter — and this is generally how to do it in the UK:

Dear [Contact Person’s Name], (e.g., ‘Dear Mr Benson,’)

You should never use generic greetings like ‘To Whom It May Concern’ or ‘Dear Sir/Madam’ as they make you appear impersonal.

1. If you have a contact’s name

Know the contact person’s name, gender, and title (e.g., Sir/Dame, Rev., Prof.)? Then personalise your cover letter greeting by using that information.

Here are some ways to address a cover letter that are suitable for most situations:

If you’re unsure what the person’s gender or title is, do a little research on their social media (LinkedIn is a great source) or company website.

And if you still can’t figure out what title to use, addressing your cover letter ‘Dear [Full Name],’ is an appropriate solution.

2. If you don’t have a contact’s name

When you don’t have the name of a person to address in your cover letter, the first thing you need to do is search for one. Addressing a specific person is always your best option, as doing so helps you establish a personal connection with the company.

In most cases, you’ll be able to find the right person by checking the following sources:

• The company’s ‘About Us’ page: You’ll often be able to find employees and their job titles listed on the company website.
• LinkedIn: Search the company and use the ‘People’ tab to access a list of people associated with the company. Then use terms like ‘marketing’, ‘human resources’, or ‘manager’ to narrow your search.
• Google: Use search operators (targeted search terms) to broaden or define your search. Putting a job title in double quotation marks (e.g., “press officer”) will prompt Google to search for that exact phrase, while ‘site:[company website] “[job title]”‘ will return matching results from the company website.

Alternatively, contact the company directly by phone or email. Reaching out to a potential employer might be intimidating, but taking this personalised approach will show them you’re enthusiastic about the opportunity — and make your application more noticeable.

But what if, despite your best efforts, you still can’t find a contact person?

If you really can’t find a name, you can still write a cover letter that’s personalised to the employer by addressing them by their department. For example, you can write, ‘Dear Accounting Department,’

If you’re unsure of the contact person’s department, use ‘Dear Recruitment Manager,’. It’s impersonal, but it gets the job done.

FAQs about addressing a cover letter

Below, we answer six questions commonly asked about how to address a cover letter for a job:

1. How do you address an email cover letter?

You address an email cover letter as you would a physical cover letter. Use a formal full-name greeting or a formal salutation followed by the contact person’s last name. Or, if you can’t find a person to address, use the department name or a job title.

Here are a few examples:

Dear Mr Riddley,

Dear Tesco Marketing Team,

2. What is a warm salutation?

A warm salutation starts with ‘Dear’ and addresses the contact person by name: An example of a warm salutation is ‘Dear Ms Jenkins,’.

Try using this kind of warm salutation instead of ‘cold’ salutations like ‘To Whom It May Concern,’ or ‘Dear Sir/Madam,’.

3. How do I format the addresses on my cover letter?

Here’s how you format your cover letter‘s top-most sections:

1. Single space and right-align your contact information, putting your name, street number and name, town, and postcode each on their own line
2. Add today’s date under your contact details and right-align it
3. Hit ‘Enter’ twice to add a paragraph break, and put the employer’s contact information in a left-aligned list, following the same format you used for your contact details
4. Hit ‘Enter’ twice and write your greeting

Here’s what it should look like:

Consider using a preformatted cover letter template to save time so you can focus on the contents of your letter.

4. How do I address a cover letter to a recruitment agency?

Here’s how you address a cover letter to a recruitment agency:

• if you have a contact’s name: Dear [Mr/Ms/Mx][Contact’s Surname],
• if you don’t have a contact’s name: Dear Recruiter,

Whenever possible, use a contact’s name to make your cover letter more personable. You should be able to find a person to address your cover letter to by searching the agency’s website. But if not, contact the agency and ask who to address your cover letter to.

5. How do I address a cover letter in the modern era?

Even in this modern era, you should use a formal greeting for your cover letter, following the ‘Dear [Mr/Ms/Mx] [Name],’ format.

But if you’re addressing your cover letter to someone you know (e.g., your friend is a manager at your target company and has encouraged you to apply for a role on their team), you can use ‘Hello’ in place of ‘Dear’ to be less formal.

6. How do I address a cover letter if I only have the hiring manager’s first name?

First, you should try to find the hiring manager’s last name and title by researching their company website and social media.

But if your search comes up empty, you can greet them by their first name, like ‘Dear James,’.

Don’t feel shy about using their first name. If that’s all you have, then it’s likely that’s how they prefer to be addressed.

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