"To Whom It May Concern" in a Cover Letter: Is It OK? 7 Better Alternatives

You can open a cover letter with “To Whom It May Concern”, but it is the weakest choice you have: use it only when no name, team, or company can be found, and otherwise pick one of 7 better alternatives, starting with “Dear Hiring Manager”. Hiring managers read the generic phrase as a signal that you sent the same letter to dozens of companies. The fix is cheap: 5 to 10 minutes of research usually finds the right contact, and when it does not, a targeted fallback like “Dear Hiring Manager” still beats the old formula.

TL;DR: “To Whom It May Concern” in a cover letter is grammatically fine and professionally weak. Use it only when the listing names no company, no department, and no person, and your own research finds nothing. In every other case, pick one of the 7 alternatives below. Never write “Dear To Whom It May Concern”.

What you’ll take away:

• The 4 rare cases where “To Whom It May Concern” is still defensible
• Why recruiters skim past letters that open with it
• 7 better alternatives, ranked from formal to modern, with the industries each fits
• A 5-step method for finding the hiring manager’s name
• Formatting rules (colon vs. comma, capitalization, spacing) for whichever greeting you choose

Can You Use “To Whom It May Concern” in a Cover Letter?

Yes, it is correct, and it is rarely the best option. Nothing about the phrase is a grammar mistake. The problem is what it says about your application: that you did not know, or did not look up, who would read it. For a cover letter, where the whole point is to show you wrote to this company, that is a bad first line.

When Is “To Whom It May Concern” Still Acceptable?

Four situations keep the old salutation defensible:

• Truly anonymous applications: The job listing has no company name, no contact information, and no department, and your research turned up nothing. This is rare but happens with recruitment agencies.
• Formal recommendation letters: A reference written for multiple unknown future recipients.
• Legal or compliance documents: Some formal business communications require neutral addressing.
• Mass correspondence to institutions: Writing to a government body or organization with no identifiable contact.

Skip it whenever the posting mentions anyone by name, title, or department; the company has a visible team page or LinkedIn presence; you have already spoken with someone there; or you are applying through a referral. The underlying rule is simple: if you could have found a name and didn’t, the salutation tells the recruiter exactly that.

Why Do Hiring Managers Dislike It?

It signals zero research. Hiring managers want candidates who show initiative. A generic greeting suggests you copied the same letter across dozens of applications without checking who would read it. The Indeed career advice team recommends a named or role-based greeting for the same reason: personalization is one of the first things a reader registers.

It feels dated. The phrase comes from an era when finding a contact at a company required real effort. With LinkedIn, company websites, and a phone call, there is rarely an excuse now.

It creates distance. The formality reads as impersonal rather than respectful. “Dear Hiring Manager” or “Dear Marketing Team” stay professional while showing you at least identified the role or department.

What Should You Write Instead? The 7 Better Alternatives

When you cannot find a specific name, these 7 alternatives are almost always stronger, ranked from most formal to most casual:

#	Salutation	Best for
1	“Dear Hiring Manager”	The universal safe choice, works across industries
2	“Dear [Department] Hiring Team”	Shows you identified the relevant team
3	“Dear Recruitment Team”	Large organizations with central hiring
4	“Dear [Company Name] Team”	Adds a personal touch without needing a name
5	“Hello [Company] Hiring Team”	Tech companies, startups, creative industries
6	“Hello [Department] Team”	Companies with a clearly informal culture
7	“Hi there”	Only for explicitly casual environments, use with caution

Industry context decides how far down the list you can go:

Industry	Recommended approach
Finance / Law / Government	“Dear [Name]” or alternative 1, formality expected
Corporate / Enterprise	“Dear [Name]” or alternatives 1 to 4
Tech / Startups	Alternatives 5 to 6, or first name if known
Creative / Media / Agencies	Alternatives 5 to 7

A tool like ResuFit’s cover letter generator matches the salutation and the whole letter to the tone of each specific company and role, so the greeting never clashes with the culture you are applying into.

“Dear Hiring Manager” vs. “To Whom It May Concern”: Which Should You Use?

Criterion	“Dear Hiring Manager”	“To Whom It May Concern”
Addresses	The person deciding on this job	Anyone who happens to read it
Signals	You know a specific role will read it	You don’t know who will read it
Best for	Cover letters with no name found	Reference letters, verification letters, notices
Tone	Professional, direct	Formal, distant
Punctuation (US)	“Dear Hiring Manager:”	“To Whom It May Concern:”

For a cover letter, “Dear Hiring Manager” wins in every row that matters. Keep “To Whom It May Concern” for documents meant for an unknown reader, such as a letter of recommendation or an employment verification letter.

How Do You Find the Right Contact?

Before reaching for any fallback, spend 5 to 10 minutes on research:

1. Check the job listing carefully: The hiring manager’s name sometimes appears at the bottom, in the “apply to” section, or in the email address itself.
2. Search LinkedIn: Look up the company, filter by “Recruiting,” “Talent Acquisition,” or the department name. The person who posted the job is often the right contact.
3. Visit the company website: Team pages, “About Us” sections, and press releases often reveal key personnel.
4. Call the company: A quick call to reception, “Could you tell me who’s handling the hiring for the [position] role?”, works more often than you’d expect.
5. Check the careers page: Many companies list their recruiters with photos and direct contact details.

If none of these yield a result, that’s when you reach for alternative 1, “Dear Hiring Manager”. The old phrase stays in the drawer.

How Do You Format the Salutation Correctly?

Whichever greeting you choose, get the mechanics right. These same formatting rules cover the salutation in any professional letter, cover letters included:

• Colon or comma: In US business letters, use a colon after the salutation (“Dear Hiring Manager**:”), as the Purdue OWL guide to business letters recommends. In UK English, a comma is standard (“Dear Hiring Manager,**”).
• No “Dear” in front: “To Whom It May Concern” is a complete salutation. “Dear To Whom It May Concern” is a common error.
• One blank line between the salutation and the first paragraph.
• Capitalize properly: “To Whom It May Concern” takes every word capitalized; “Dear Hiring Manager” follows the same rule.
• Consistent tone: A formal greeting followed by casual language creates a disjointed impression. Match the letter to the opening.

The greeting sits inside a larger addressing block: header, date, and recipient details all follow regional conventions too. Our guide to the cover letter address format covers all 8 addressing scenarios with US and UK examples, and our formal letter format guide shows where the salutation sits in the full layout.

How Do You Strengthen the Opening Paragraph?

A generic salutation puts extra pressure on your first paragraph. Make it count:

• Name the specific role in your first sentence, so the reader never guesses which position you’re targeting.
• Show company knowledge: A recent achievement, product launch, or company value that connects to your application.
• Lead with your strongest credential: A number, a result, a specific skill. Something that earns attention immediately.
• Be direct: Skip the “I am writing to express my interest in…” formula. Start with impact.

Learn more about powerful openings in our article on 5 ways to begin a cover letter that grabs attention, and see full letters built this way in our cover letter examples and templates.

What Are the Regional Differences?

Formality expectations vary across English-speaking markets:

Region	Norms
US (Tech)	“Hi [First Name]” is common; “Dear Hiring Manager” is the safe default
US (Corporate)	“Dear Mr./Ms. [Last Name]” preferred in finance, law, consulting
UK	Higher formality expected; “Dear [Title] [Last Name]” standard
Australia	“Dear [Department] Hiring Manager” strikes the right balance
Canada	Similar to US, with more weight on academic titles where applicable

A greeting that is perfectly appropriate in San Francisco can feel too casual for a London law firm. When applying internationally, check the local convention first.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Using “Dear Sir or Madam”: As dated as “To Whom It May Concern”, with gendered assumptions on top. “Dear Hiring Manager” is better in every scenario.
2. Misspelling the name: Getting someone’s name wrong is worse than not using it at all. Double-check LinkedIn and the company website, then give the whole letter one more editing pass before you send it.
3. Mixing formality levels: A formal greeting followed by casual language creates a disjointed impression.
4. Forgetting to update: A cover letter addressed to the wrong company is an instant rejection. Always check before you send.
5. Over-personalizing: “Dear John, I loved your podcast episode from last Tuesday” is too much for a cover letter. Keep it professional.

Conclusion

“To Whom It May Concern” had a long run, but its time as a default greeting is over. The priority order is clear: a specific name beats a department, a department beats a generic title, and any of the 7 alternatives beats “To Whom It May Concern”. Every step up that ladder improves your odds of getting read.

ResuFit builds tailored cover letters for every application, from the salutation to the closing line, so your first impression works for you instead of against you.