How to Address a Cover Letter When You Don't Know the Name

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The salutation is the first thing a recruiter sees when they open your cover letter. Getting it wrong does not automatically disqualify you, but getting it right, or at least getting it to feel professional and considered, sets a better tone for everything that follows.

The bigger question is: what do you do when you have no idea who is reading it? Here is the full approach, starting with how to actually find the name before giving up on it.

Try to Find the Name First

Before defaulting to a generic salutation, spend five to ten minutes trying to find who is actually hiring for this role. You will find it more often than you expect.

Check the Job Posting Carefully

Sometimes the hiring manager's name is right there in the job description, in the "about the team" section, or in the application instructions. Read the whole posting, not just the requirements.

Search LinkedIn

Go to LinkedIn and search for the company name plus the title of the person who would typically hire for this role. If you are applying for a marketing coordinator role, search for the Head of Marketing or Marketing Director at that company. You will often find one or two people who fit. That is your addressee.

Check the Company Website

Many companies list their team on their About or Team pages. If it is a small or mid-size company, you can often find the relevant hiring manager's name within a few minutes.

Look at Recent Company News

If the company has been in the press, press releases and news articles often name senior team members. A quick search of "[Company Name] [Department] leader" or "[Company Name] hires" can surface names you can use.

What to Write When You Cannot Find a Name

If you have genuinely tried and cannot find a specific name, here are the options, ranked from best to worst.

Best: Address the Team or Role Directly

"Dear Hiring Manager" is clean, professional, and widely accepted. It is specific enough to feel intentional without being presumptuous.

You can also use "Dear [Department] Team" if it fits. "Dear Marketing Team" or "Dear Engineering Team" works well for smaller companies where the whole team may be involved in the hiring process.

Acceptable: Address by Department

"Dear [Department] Hiring Team" is a solid alternative if you want to be slightly more specific than just "Hiring Manager." It signals that you know who you are writing to, broadly, without getting it wrong by guessing a name.

Avoid: "To Whom It May Concern"

This phrase is outdated and impersonal. It has a formal, bureaucratic quality that reads as low effort. It signals that you did not try to find out who would be reading your letter, which is not the impression you want to create.

There is really no modern situation where "To Whom It May Concern" is the best choice. Even "Dear Hiring Manager" is significantly better.

Avoid: "Dear Sir or Madam"

This is even more dated than "To Whom It May Concern" and makes gendered assumptions. Do not use it.

What About Using Just the First Name?

If you found the hiring manager's name on LinkedIn and the company has a casual culture, using just their first name is fine. "Dear Sarah" reads naturally at startups and tech companies where formal titles are rarely used internally.

For more traditional industries like finance, law, or large enterprises, using "Dear Ms. Chen" or "Dear Mr. Johnson" is safer. When in doubt, match the formality of the company's public communication style.

One Thing to Never Do

Do not guess or invent a name. Do not write "Dear John" if you are not sure that is the hiring manager's name. Getting the name wrong is significantly worse than using a generic salutation. It shows either sloppiness or a failure to verify basic information.

If you found a name on LinkedIn but are not sure if that person is the actual hiring manager for this role, it is safer to use "Dear Hiring Manager" than to address the wrong person confidently.

Does the Salutation Actually Matter That Much?

Honestly, not as much as the content of the letter. A recruiter is not going to reject you because you wrote "Dear Hiring Manager" instead of their name. What matters far more is whether the first paragraph of your letter grabs their attention and whether the body of the letter makes a compelling case.

That said, addressing someone by name when you have it shows that you did your research. And in a pile of generic applications, small signals of effort and attention add up. Use the name if you can find it. Use a professional generic salutation if you cannot. Keep the bar simple and move on to the content that actually determines whether you get the interview.

Quick Reference

• Found the name: "Dear [First Name]" (casual culture) or "Dear [Title] [Last Name]" (formal culture)
• Name not found: "Dear Hiring Manager" or "Dear [Department] Team"
• Never use: "To Whom It May Concern" or "Dear Sir or Madam"
• Never guess: If you are not sure, default to the generic version