Tapping the Hive Mind: Greetings and Salutations!

[athelind]

Question:

When responding to a job posting that doesn't list a specific contact person, what's the best way to open a cover letter? I've been using "Dear Sir or Madam", but that sounds a little vague, a little stiff, and a lot like the opening to a Beatles song.

Obviously, the ideal option is to address a cover letter to a specific person, by name, but this is not always possible.

Should I stick with "Dear Sir or Madam", use some other gender-neutral salutation, or just leave it off entirely and dive right into the "Look At Me, I'm Wonderful!" part of the letter?

[Poll #1561114]

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Comments

[moonfires.livejournal.com]

On mine, I just use "Dear Hiring Manager" without anything else. The job is probably both in the subject of the e-mail and the letter itself, or the letter needs to be generic that such specificity is not possible.