How to Address a Cover Letter: Salutations, Research, and Common Mistakes

Q: How should I address a cover letter?

Use 'Dear [First Name] [Last Name],' when you know the hiring manager's name. If you do not, use 'Dear Hiring Manager' or 'Dear [Department] Team.' Never use 'To whom it may concern,' which reads as archaic and generic.

Q: How do I find the hiring manager's name?

Read the full job description, search LinkedIn for the department head one level above the role, check the company's team page, look at recent blog posts and press releases, check who posted the job on LinkedIn, and ask your network. Most names are findable in under 10 minutes.

Q: Should I use Mr., Ms., or Mrs. in a cover letter salutation?

When in doubt, drop the honorific and use 'Dear [First Name] [Last Name].' Using the wrong honorific (assuming Mrs. when someone is Ms., or guessing someone's gender from a name) is worse than using none at all.

Q: What if I cannot find the hiring manager's name?

Use a role-based salutation: 'Dear Hiring Manager,' 'Dear Marketing Hiring Team,' 'Dear Engineering Team,' or 'Dear Search Committee' for academic roles. Never use 'To whom it may concern,' 'Dear Sir or Madam,' or a generic 'Hello.'

The first line of your cover letter, the salutation, is a small decision that signals a lot. A personalized "Dear Sarah Chen" tells the reader you did your homework. A generic "To whom it may concern" tells them you did not. This guide is the umbrella article on cover letter salutations: how to address a letter when you know the hiring manager's name, how to address it when you do not, how to research to find a name, and the specific mistakes that drop the letter into the reject pile. If you specifically do not have a name, we also maintain a dedicated deep dive at how to address a cover letter without a name.

Why the Salutation Matters More Than You Think

A 2023 CareerBuilder survey found that 40% of hiring managers are more likely to read a cover letter addressed to them by name than a generic one. It is a small personalization signal, but salutations are the first thing the reader sees and set the tone for everything that follows. A recent Glassdoor analysis of 5,000 hiring decisions found that personalized salutations correlated with a 15% higher rate of "keep reading" versus generic ones.

40%

Of hiring managers prefer personalized salutations (CareerBuilder 2023)

15%

Higher "keep reading" rate for personalized openings (Glassdoor 2024)

10 min

Time it usually takes to find the hiring manager's name

When You Have a Name: The Formal Salutation Rules

The standard format is "Dear [Title] [Last Name]," followed by a line break and then the opening paragraph. Use "Dear," not "Hello," not "Hi," not "Greetings." A business letter salutation remains "Dear" in nearly every modern context.

Formal salutation examples

Traditional full name: "Dear Ms. Chen,"
With first name (modern, tech/startup): "Dear Sarah Chen,"
With professional title (academic, medical, legal): "Dear Dr. Patel," / "Dear Professor Lee," / "Dear Attorney Kim,"
With gender-neutral title: "Dear Mx. Rivera," (when the person uses this honorific)

The honorific rule: when in doubt, drop the Mr./Ms./Mrs. entirely and use "Dear [First Name] [Last Name]." Using the wrong honorific (assuming "Mrs." when someone is "Ms." or assuming someone's gender from a name) is worse than using none. Modern US, UK, and Australian business writing guides all accept first-plus-last-name salutations as professional.

How to Find the Hiring Manager's Name

Spend 10 minutes before writing the letter. The name is almost always findable if you look in the right places. Try these in order:

The 7-step name hunt

Read the job description to the bottom. Some postings include the hiring manager's name, email, or title.
Search LinkedIn for the job title. "VP of Engineering, Acme" usually surfaces the current holder. That is your hiring manager one level up.
Search LinkedIn for the department head. For a "Senior PMM" role, search "Head of Product Marketing, Acme" or "Director, Product Marketing, Acme."
Check the company's About or Team page. Smaller companies list their leadership here.
Look at recent press releases and blog posts. The author of the department's blog is often the hiring manager or their peer.
Check who posted the job on LinkedIn. Often it is the recruiter, but sometimes it is the hiring manager directly.
Ask your network. One LinkedIn connection who works at the target company can usually name the hiring manager in a 2-minute message.

When You Cannot Find a Name

Sometimes the hunt comes up empty: the company is large, the role is posted through a recruiting firm, or the department leadership is not public. That is fine. Use a role-based or function-based salutation instead of a generic one. This is the quick answer; the full deep dive is at how to address a cover letter without a name.

Use these (acceptable)

"Dear Hiring Manager," (the most common fallback)
"Dear [Department] Team," (e.g., "Dear Engineering Team,")
"Dear [Department] Hiring Team," (e.g., "Dear Marketing Hiring Team,")
"Dear [Company Name] Recruiter," (for agency or recruiter-led roles)
"Dear Search Committee," (for academic and executive searches)

Avoid these (flag the letter as generic)

"To whom it may concern,"
"Dear Sir or Madam,"
"Dear Sirs,"
"Hello,"
"Hi team,"
No salutation at all

5 Common Salutation Mistakes

Addressing the wrong person. Naming a former hiring manager who has since moved companies happens constantly. Double-check the name you found is still at the company within the last 3 months.
Misspelling the name. The single fastest way to tank a letter. Copy and paste from LinkedIn, do not retype.
Guessing an honorific. Never guess Mr./Ms./Mrs. from a name alone. When in doubt, drop the title.
Using a first name without research. "Dear Sarah," is fine if the company culture is informal. "Dear Sarah," to a Fortune 500 CFO reads as overly familiar. Default to first-plus-last.
Using "Dear Team" when there is clearly one hiring manager. Dilutes the personalization. Find the name.

Punctuation and Format

Use a comma after the salutation in US business writing. "Dear Ms. Chen," is correct. Some very formal contexts (legal, some academic) use a colon: "Dear Dr. Patel:" Either is acceptable, but comma is standard for cover letters.

Follow the salutation with a line break, then begin the opening paragraph flush left. Do not indent the first line of the paragraph in a modern business letter.

Email vs Letter: Does the Salutation Change?

When the cover letter is the body of an email (rather than an attachment), the salutation rules stay the same: "Dear [Name]," on its own line, then the opening paragraph. What changes is the subject line: make it specific, something like "Senior PMM Application, [Your Name] via [Referral Name]." Never start an application email with "Hi" or "Hey." Even in a modern tech context, "Dear" signals professionalism.

Next Steps

Now that the salutation is handled, the rest of the letter is the real work. See how to start a cover letter for the opening paragraph right after the salutation, how to write a cover letter for a job for the full tailoring process, what should be in a cover letter for the part-by-part structure, and how to end a cover letter for the closing. If you specifically need the no-name deep dive, visit how to address a cover letter without a name. And test your resume alongside the letter with our free ATS resume checker.