how to write address on an application letter

How to Write Address in Application Letter in 2024 (With Examples)

• September 20, 2024
• Freelancing Tips

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What is an application letter, addressing a cover letter with a name, how to address an application letter with “mrs.”, addressing a cover letter to a recipient with a professional title, addressing a cover letter without a named recipient, how to address a speculative cover letter, how to address a cover letter sent by email, 1. research company websites, 2. call the company, 3. check linkedin, why using the right address in a cover letter matters, key elements of address in an application letter, faqs on how to write address in application letter, we also recommend.

Make a good first impression by addressing your cover letter to the appropriate individual. An appropriate salutation sets the tone for your cover letter, highlighting your attention to detail and making your application stand out.

When applying for a job or contacting an employer speculatively, the format of your cover letter will differ based on whether you have a designated contact and the purpose of your letter.

In this post, you’ll learn what a cover letter is and why it’s necessary, as well as how to address different types of cover letters.

An application letter is a document sent in conjunction with your resume or application for a job opening. A strong cover letter shows your motivation for applying and compiles all of the key information supporting why you’re the ideal person for the job, as detailed in your resume, application, and any other supporting materials.

Each cover letter is specifically suited to the position you’re applying for and the hiring business. It should include vital criteria and elaborate on key topics from your resume. Consider your cover letter a sales pitch. A superb cover letter will invite a recruiter to review your resume or application.

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Who Do You Address An Application Letter To?

Your cover letter should be addressed to the recruiter. If you don’t know the person’s name, you can find out. Getting this right might mean the difference between your letter getting read or being lost in the pile, so follow the instructions below to ensure you address your cover letter successfully.

If you already know what your recipient’s name is, this is the best place to start. It means that the letter is more likely to be delivered to the intended recipient rather than being lost or given to someone who lacks the necessary decision-making authority.

A cover letter is a formal document, thus it should be addressed accordingly. The most professional way to address this is with “Dear.” For example:

• Dear Mr. Chidi,
• Dear Ms. Nkay,
• Dear Dr. Frank,

If you do not know the person’s gender or preferred pronouns, use their first name. For example, “Dear James Miller.” Add a comma after the salutation.

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Traditionally, “Mrs.” was used to refer to married women who adopted their partner’s surname after marriage. Today, however, it is less prevalent in professional settings and should be avoided unless your recipient has specifically used it to refer to themselves in their correspondence with you.

For female-identifying recruiters, use “Ms.” instead of “Mrs.” in most cases.  This will help ensure that you don’t inadvertently offend your recipient, who may be unmarried or who is married but didn’t adopt their partner’s last name.

Always include the recipient’s professional title in your cover letter. Someone having a PhD will be addressed as “Dr.” rather than “Mr./Ms.” This also helps if you’re not sure which personal pronoun to use.

When you’re not sure what your recipient’s name is, it’s worth spending the time to find out. This is discussed in greater depth in the “First steps in determining a recipient” section below.

However, if you cannot discover a name, write your cover letter to the appropriate department within the company or organization. For example, “Dear [Department] Hiring Team.” If you know the person’s work title but not their name, address their position instead. For example, “Dear Head of [Department]” or “Dear Director of [Department].”

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The pattern for addressing a speculative cover letter—one that is not in response to a job posting—is similar to those outlined above. You may or may not know the name of the person you want to contact. If you do, all the better. Include the name.

The difference with a speculative letter is that you may have been given the name of the intended recipient by a common acquaintance. If this is the case, make the connection in your introduction.

For example:

Dear Mr. Morris, 

I was given your details by my former employer, Jenny Lee, of Brandenburg and Associates following news of the development of your new customer service department.

An application letter addressed by email differs differently from a printed letter. A printed letter would include the recipient’s address and the date, which are not required in an email because the letter will simply be the body of the message.

However, your email should still be as professional as a traditional cover letter. Address the letter formally, as you would in a printed cover letter.

The subject line of an email cover letter is critical for standing out among the hundreds of emails a recruiter may receive. Include your name, the job title or reason for contact, and the documents you are sending.

An example of an appropriate email subject line might be:

Helen Williams – Marketing Manager Position – resume and cover letter

If you have a recipient’s name but you’re sending your email to an ‘info’ address, you can include ‘ FAO ’ (For the attention of) in your title:

FAO Mark Booth – Helen Williams – Marketing Manager Position

How To Find The Right Recipient For Your Application Letter

If you do not have a recipient for your cover letter, you will need to conduct some research. You might even have a name but no email address. Here are some pointers for tracking down elusive contacts and addresses.

Check out the company’s website and social media pages. Use Google to piece together your knowledge and uncover information on lesser-known websites, such as About pages.

For example, if you know which department you want to contact, you can search for “Head of Marketing for [Department]” and see what results come up.

If you have a name but no contact information, search for “Mr Jones, Head of Marketing at [Company].” This method may lead you to a social media page or a contact email address.

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The good old-fashioned telephone is a wonderful technique to locate a contact for your cover letter. Call the employer, explain why you’re calling, and ask where you should send your cover letter and resume.

LinkedIn’s powerful search feature makes it an excellent tool for connecting with others. You can search by the person’s name if you have one, and for more complex searches, you can also include the firm and location.

If you identify the person you’re looking for, their profile will include a ‘Contact info’ link under their name, allowing you to message them and ask them questions.

If you don’t know the name, you can look up the company and see who is listed as an employee. If the person you’re looking for isn’t mentioned, you could try contacting someone in a relevant department, like HR, and asking for help. You may even be able to get an introduction from a mutual connection.

Related Post: 14 Top LinkedIn Profile Tips for Freelance Writers

A well-formulated cover letter address means that you care enough to research the company (i.e. to find the hiring manager’s name and title) and that you show attention to detail. 

As such, you should always do some research into who you’re addressing in your cover letter and do so in a formal way. 

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When writing a professional or business letter, here are some things that the sender must include in the letter if he/she wants to impress the recipient and expect a response.

1. Contact information at the top

When drafting a letter, you want the recipient to know who you are, your position, where you are from, and the address they will use to answer your letter. The sender’s contact details should be as follows:

• First line: Full name
• Second line: Company name
• Third line: Street address
• Fourth line: City or town, followed by the state name and zip code. The state name can be abbreviated to its official postal two-letter abbreviation.
• The address should appear under the sender’s name and should be aligned to the left.
• If you are writing to someone in another country, put the name of the country in the fourth line.
• Include an email address and phone number for easier communication.

The next step is to write the date the letter was sent and line it with the left or right margin. Spell out the month with letters and numbers for the day and year. For example, the date could be written as November 15, 2020.

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3. Recipient’s Name and Address

This information is shown on the left margin, beneath the sender’s address. It includes the intended recipient’s name and postal address. It establishes a customized connection with the receiver by demonstrating your knowledge of them. You should also provide the recipient’s title or degree.

For example, if you’re writing to an English professor, use “John Ben, Ph.D.” On the second line below the name, write the firm name.

Write the recipient’s mailing address on the third line, beginning with the street and city, followed by the state and zip code on the fourth line. If the recipient lives in another country, provide the name of that country in the fourth line.

Check out How To Write An Email to a Teacher: Tips to Clear and Polite Email Writing

4. Salutations

After the recipient’s address, skip one line to write the salutation. The salutation you choose is determined by whether or not you know the letter’s recipient. The most common salutation is “Dear,” which is appropriate if you’ve never met the intended recipient. The salutation is followed by the person’s name and a colon or comma.

If you are not sure if the receiver is a man or a woman, use “Dear Sir or Madam” followed by a colon. If the addressee is a woman and you don’t know her marital status, address her as “Ms.” The same goes for professional titles like Dr., Professor, and Honorable.

Examples of salutations are:

• Dear Professor Okon
• Dear Mr. Paul
• Dear Ms. Ify
• Dear Dr. John

In a formal application letter, your address should be placed at the top left corner of the letter. It is followed by the date, and then the recipient’s address is placed below the date.

Yes, it’s customary to include the employer’s address below the date. This shows professionalism and helps ensure the letter reaches the correct department or individual within the company.

It’s best to avoid abbreviations in addresses, except for universally recognized ones like “St.” for street or “Ave.” for avenue. Always write out city and state names fully.

When deciding how to address a cover letter and who to send it to, your efforts in finding the right person and formatting your cover letter professionally can help you get the interview you’re looking for.

• coursera.org – How to Address a Cover Letter: Tips + Examples for Every Type
• novoresume.com – How to Address a Cover Letter in 2024
• corporatefinanceinstitute.com – How to Address a Letter
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How to address a cover letter | with examples

Try the CV builder 

The way you start your cover letter counts.

It’s the first thing a hiring manager sees when they open your application so you need to make them excited to peek into your CV .

In our guide, we’ll show you the ropes on how to address your cover letter, and even teach you how to find the recruiter or hiring manager’s name for maximum impact.

CV templates 

Address the hiring manager or recruiter directly

Address the hiring manager or recruiter by name to start building a rapport with them.

Something simple like, “Hi Lucy” will do the trick.

According to recent research , simply seeing your own name can trigger a strong response in the brain. So, be sure to do this, to captivate the recruiter’s attention.

Build your CV now 

How to find the recruiter or hiring manager’s name

You may be wondering, “How do I figure out their name?”

There are several ways to find out the name of the person handling the job opening, which we’ll look at below.

When you’re reading a job advert, you’ll sometimes find the name and email address of the person you need to get in touch with directly in the ad.

Look out for the section that says “For enquiries” or “Contact person”.

For example, the advert might say something like:

“For more info, please contact Susan Wright at [email protected].”

Usually, this person manages that job vacancy.

If you see this information, it’s your lucky day – job adverts are the simplest way to find the correct name.

Company website

If you can’t find the recruiter’s name on the job advert , and you’re applying for a job directly via a company, check out their website.

Keep an eye out for a “Who We Are” , “About Us” or “Our Team” section.

Here, you’ll usually be able to find the info about the people who work there, including the head of the department or hiring team connected to the position you’re applying for.

Look at the people’s profiles to get the one that fits your job’s department.

If you have trouble finding it directly, use the search bar on the company’s website and type in “Head of [Department Name]” or “HR Manager”.

You could also run a Google search for “[Company name] + team” for a quick way of finding an About Page for a particular team or department.

LinkedIn is one of the best ways to find a hiring manager or recruiter because millions of them are registered on the platform.

Firstly, ascertain the company that posted the position and the team it’s connected with from the information provided in the job advert.

When you know the department and organisation, head over to LinkedIn . Here, you can use the search bar to look for the company name, department or job title associated with the job opening.

Let’s say you’re applying for a marketing vacancy at Tesco. You can search for “Marketing Manager” in the search bar like this:

Once the search results appear, click the “People” filter button to narrow down your findings further so that you’re only seeing people (and not companies or groups).

Then make sure you choose your target company under “Current Company” – this ensures you only view people who are current employees.

You will need to type the name of the company into the text box like this:

Click on the name of the company you typed in. In this case, it’s “Tesco.”

Then hit the blue “Show results” button.

And examine the profiles that come up.

You’ll be able to find the person handling the job applications by looking for titles such as “recruitment manager” or “team leader” .

And once you view their profiles you may even be able to get hold of their phone number or email address.

Contact info

Here is how you can find a person’s email address via the contact details, if they have entered them.

Click on their profile then seek out the “Contact info” section.

This sits under their profile picture and headline.

If the user has made their contact info visible, you’ll see it here.

About section

Often, you can locate additional contact info, such as email addresses, in the “About” or “Summary” section of their profile.

To do this, scroll down to the user’s “About” section.

If the user has decided to include their email address, you’ll see it here.

If you can’t find an email, you can contact them directly through LinkedIn.

Here’s how you’d do this:

• Send a connection request – Send the person a connection request and a message. When they accept your request, you’ll be able to write an accompanying message.
• Use InMail – If this specific individual isn’t in your network, use the LinkedIn InMail. This is a premium feature which lets you send messages to LinkedIn members outside of your network – it’s useful but do. Of course, there is a fee to use this feature but it’s a useful tool.

What if you can’t find a name?

Don’t panic if you can’t find the name of the individual you’re trying to address. This will happen a lot during your job search .

In such cases, it’s absolutely fine to begin with a friendly “Hi.”

But don’t use expressions like “Dear Sir or Madam” – this sounds extremely outdated and aloof.

If you use the word “Hi”, this ensures your cover letter is more amicable and modern , even when you’re unsure of the person’s name.

This is a courteous and simple way to start if you have difficulty locating the specific hiring manager’s name.

How to write a cover letter email subject line

A recruiter’s inbox gets flooded with applications, so when you write your cover letter email , your initial goal is to entice them to read your email.

You must catch their attention with a compelling subject line and give a captivating reason for them to click on your message.

Avoid using generic subject lines, such as:

• “Check This Out” – Subject lines like this sound spammy, and hiring managers may ignore it.
• “Important” – Recruiters won’t know why your email is important – they might deem it clickbait.
• “CV Attached” – This subject line doesn’t offer any context or engage the recruiter in any way at all.
• “Hire Me” – This comes across as too blunt and provides no context.
• “I Need a Job” – This sounds too direct and may sound a little too desperate.
• “Looking for Work” – While you’re being upfront, this isn’t an engaging subject line.

Instead of including any of these generic subject lines, you must promote your selling points right off the bat.

For instance, use subject lines that highlight your skills and expertise in a concise, screen-friendly title.

Determine your main strengths as an applicant and invent a way to integrate them into your subject line.

You could say something like:

• “Veteran Graphic Designer with a Portfolio of Projects”
• “Registered Nurse with Intensive Care Unit Expertise”
• “Committed Secondary School Teacher with 10 Years’ Classroom Expertise”
• “Certified IT Professional with Experience in Network Security”

These subject lines are effective because they communicate key information and value to hiring managers clearly and concisely. Each tells the recruiter about your qualifications and expertise and is tailored to the specific job or field.

A recruiter is more likely to open an email from someone who can potentially meet their requirements.

A quick tip: Remember, subject lines have a limited amount of space – you’ll probably only be able to squeeze in between 30 and 35 characters.

How not to address a cover letter

When you’re addressing your cover letter , some things simply aren’t worth including. These old-fashioned or overly formal ways of starting a cover letter can make a negative first impression.

So, avoid the below phrases in your cover letter greeting:

• “Dear Sir or Madam” – This is far too old-fashioned and doesn’t show much effort. It’s also fairly impersonal.
• “What’s up, [Department Name]?” – This is excessively informal and will probably give hiring managers the wrong impression about you. It also doesn’t address the specific person.

Steer clear of these unimpressive ways to address your cover letter and plump for a more personal, engaging approach, like “Hi James” or “Hello Sarah”. Don’t forget, you need to get the perfect balance of friendliness and professionalism.