Who To Address A Cover Letter To
You should address a cover letter to the hiring manager of the job youre applying for, or the HR manager of the company. A basic cover letter salutation uses the hiring managers first and last name and includes a Mr., Ms., or other relevant professional title before their name.
But youll often find yourself in situations where theres no personal contact information in the job post or if youre cold emailing for a job, youre unsure of who to contact. Either way, youll need to address your letter the right way, and addressing the hiring manager is the safest way to do so.
Outdated Or Irrelevant Social Media Profiles
Do not include on your resume social media accounts that host unprofessional content, do not support your current job goals, and are not regularly updated. If you’re going to include the URL to a social media account on your resume, make sure it reflects your personal brand and serves to demonstrate why you’re qualified for the job.
In addition, create at least one professional online profile on sites like LinkedIn or GitHub and include the link at the top of your resume. If you work in a creative field, consider creating an online portfolio or blog that has a mobile-responsive design so employers can access your site from any device.
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If You Have Found A Job Posting On A Third
A safer option would be to find the same posting on a secure site or the companys direct website. If you suspect a fraudulent or otherwise suspicious job posting on Indeed, please immediately. You can visit our Guidelines for Safe Job Search for additional information.
or do a web search on the company along with search terms like scam to see if job seekers have experienced issues in their applications.
Related: The Complete Guide To Researching a Company
If you dont live in the same city as the job youre applying for, listing your current address can get your resume quickly rejected. Especially if the employer is looking for a local candidate. Instead, consider adding a line notating your intent to relocate, like this:
It is important to be honest with employers about your current physical location if they indicate wanting a local candidate, but adding your willingness and desire to relocate to the employers area can give your application a better chance.
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How To Find Out Who To Address A Cover Letter To
In many cases, the hiring managers name will be mentioned in the job description. If you cant find the hiring managers name in the job description, make the effort to find their name elsewhere. Its worth the extra work, so use the following sources to help you find the hiring managers name:
- The company website: See if you can locate the hiring manager on the About Us or Company Directory page of the companys website.
- LinkedIn: Browse the companys LinkedIn page and use filters such as position title, location, and personal names to find out who heads the hiring team.
- Google search: A can help you uncover the name of the hiring manager. Simply insert the company website and relevant title into Google in the following format: site:resumegenius.com position title
- Contact the company: If youre still unable to find the hiring managers name, call or email the company and ask for the contact persons name . Explain that youre applying for a position and youd like to address your cover letter to someone responsible for filling that position.
Addressing your cover letter to the hiring manager directly allows you to quickly establish a personal connection and shows youve done your research. A cover letter addressed to the right person and tailored to the company youre applying for is more likely to get noticed than a generic cover letter sent to multiple companies.
This is why its so crucial to address a cover letter the right way.
Should You Include An Address On Your Resume
How you include your address on your resume can influence the recruiters perception of you as a worker, your value proposition, and your job offer. With this in mind, theres a lot to consider before you decide whether or not to put your address in your . Some questions you may ask yourself are:
- Why would a recruiter want an address on your resume?
- Why would I consider not including my address on my resume?
- What are advantages and drawbacks of either including or not including my address on my resume?
- Are there any scenarios where I need to include my address on my resume?
- What should I do if I dont want to include my address on my resume?
- What should I do if Im relocating?
- Where should I put my address on my resume?
- What have others who have gotten hired done?
All of these questions and more are answered in the following post.
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Your Mailing Address Or Current/preferred Location
We recommend candidates not include their mailing addresses on resumes. However, if the recruiters ask for it, then here are some tips to keep in mind:
- Include your full mailing address instead of just the city and the state.
- In case you have privacy concerns, it’s perfectly alright if you do not include address on resume instead, just write the city/state.
- Use the complete state name if the abbreviations are easily confused with another.
The Resume Trick That Can Help You Get Your Foot In The Door
Given that most recruiters and major companies use applicant tracking software to sift through candidates, Thompson says that not including your location on your resume makes the ATS more likely to skip over you altogether. That doesnt mean you have to take yourself out of the running, though for applicants open to relocating, including an objective statement outlining a willingness to move, accompanied by the citys ZIP code, can make all the difference.
To make things even clearer, Thompson recommends including a specific move date to clear up any worry on the hiring managers side. And of course, put them way up at the top to grab the recruiters attention.
As she tells it, something to the tune of, moving to XYZ area effective XYZ date, is key. Specific phrases like, willing to relocate, can also help applicants get flagged by ATS software, though Thompson says it doesnt always solve the ZIP code search issue with companies or outside recruiters. For the most part, its best practice to include the ZIP code of the city youre looking to wind up in somewhere on the resume.
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Poses A Risk To Your Privacy And Security
A major concern for many job applicants is the potential security risk when sharing personal information.
Listing your full name and address can put you at risk for:
- Misuse of your personal information
Thankfully, there are laws in place to protect you from employers misusing your information.
Nonetheless, it can still be nerve-wracking to include your exact address.
Plus, you may feel uneasy about a companyâs digital security measures.
If the proper security measures are not in place, a security breach could lead to a leak of your information.
This is a major reason why many applicants choose to exclude their street addresses from their location information.
Pro Tip: Always verify that the company is legitimate and the job posting is real before submitting your personal information! Only you can ensure you are safe from identity theft.
Reasons You Might Leave Your Address Off A Resume
Because your address is sensitive information, managers often understand why you prefer to exclude it. Fortunately, you have complete control over your resume, allowing you to minimise the details you provide. You may include information that shows your residency without revealing too many private details like house number and street. Here are some reasons you can leave your address off a resume:
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What Is A Resume The Essentials You Need To Know
Resume is a word youll hear a lot during the job-hunting process. A resume, sometimes called a CV or curriculum vitae, is a document that lists your work experience, education, skills and achievements.
Youll need a resume for almost any job application. Its considered essential information to give to an employer so they can weigh up whether youre suitable for a role, and if they want to invite you to a job interview.
For Security And Privacy Concerns
It’s okay to leave a postal address off a CV if you have reasons to be concerned about security. But be sure to list a working professional email and telephone number instead. This means that a recruiter can still contact you if they wish to take an application forward. They can always request it later if you’re chosen as a candidate.
You may also wish to omit a postal address on a CV for privacy reasons. It can be a specific concern or general desire to keep your address from being used for unwanted reasons. If you are concerned that your information is going to be shared, it’s acceptable to omit your address. This is often the case when you’re sending a job application through a third-party site, especially if you feel it may be shared with other parties without your consent.
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How Long Should My Resume Be
Keep your resume short and to the point, so you can make a good impression when an employer takes a quick glance at it. Consider making your resume one or two pages if you have less than 10 years of professional experience. Senior executives or academics may like to have resumes that are three or more pages long.
Use A Horizontal Resume Header And Write Your Address In One Line
An address on the resume can sometimes benefit you, but it shouldnt take up too much space when your professional experiences and relevant skills can better help you land an interview. So pay special attention to the font size and the way your address looks on your resume. Make it easy for the hiring team to read your address but also keep it simple and clear.
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Your Address Takes Up Space On Your Resume
If you have more than a few years of professional experience and are trying to write a one page resume, you know that every bit of space on the page is important.
A full address takes up a lot of valuable real-estate in your resume header, and either pushes your resume onto a second page or messes up your resumes layout. If your formatting is just a little bit off, its better not to include your address on your resume so you can keep the page clean and easy to read.
Additionally, cutting your address frees up space to include other information in your header that might be more relevant in todays job market, like your LinkedIn profile or a link to your portfolio.
If youre still struggling to get your resume onto one page after cutting your address, try reducing the size of your resume margins.
City And Province Or Territory
This is the most common format for including your address on your resume. This method is ideal for candidates who want to include their location but are uncomfortable disclosing their exact address. You can separate the city and province or territory with a comma to make it organized.
Example:Regina, Saskatchewan
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What Should My Resume Include
- Personal details Start by listing your full name and contact information, including your phone number and email address.
- Career objective or summary These are short statements to help you pitch yourself. If youve recently left school or university and dont have much professional experience yet, begin your resume with a career objective a sentence or two outlining your skills and your work ambitions. If you have experience in the workforce, you might want to include a short career summary instead, describing your experience and where youre aiming to go next in your career.
Next, include your education or work experience start with whichever is more recent.
After this, its a good idea to add some more information to reinforce or add to the picture of what youve got to offer.
- Skills, strengths or interests You could create headings for these topics and list information thats relevant to the job youre applying for. Highlight any relevant professional memberships, too.
- References Most employers will require references from people you know professionally who can vouch for your skills and abilities. You could include contact and company details for a former employer, manager, or an academic advisor if they agree to be your referee, or you might wish to write references available on request.
Optimizes Your Resume For Applicant Tracking Systems
Competition for jobs can be extremely high.
As a result, hiring managers can end up with hundreds of applications and resumes to look through.
Employers use Applicant Tracking Systems to sort through resumes with greater speed.
ATS software can automatically filter and sort resumes submitted for a specific job.
An ATS uses specific keywords and guidelines to eliminate resumes that are not a good fit for the job.
The inclusion of an address is one of the key factors that ATS software scans for.
If the employer you are reaching out to uses this software, the ATS may discard your resume if there is no address!
Other elements of a resume that ATS look for include:
- Typos and grammatical errors
- Proper formatting
- Simple section titles
Hint: Do you need more help optimizing your resume? Check out our guide on How to Write the Perfect Resume!
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Employers Know How Long Your Commute Will Be
When employers do some further digging into the location of your address, they could also be doing a quick calculation of how long your daily commute would be. This can work against you if your daily commute is long. Employers know that people who travel a significant distance to work are often tired and stressed, which are two factors that can cause employees to quit early. Obviously, this potential problem can throw up a red flag for employers.
Case Study: Adams It Resume
Moving into sales in IT, Adam included a general location when applying to Software AG. This showed the recruiter he was within vicinity of their offices and that his commute would be minimal much like in Ramseys case.
With the Enhancv resume builder, you can craft a resume that blows all other applicants out of the water. From design options to bullet and section suggestions and content writing tips, were here to help you land your dream job!
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What Do You Put For An Address On A Resume When Your Former Employer No Longer Exists
Related
Though you may boost your credibility by listing the names of respectable companies and their exact location on your resume, it’s not your fault if your former boss suddenly closed shop and left town with no forwarding address. Submitting an application letter or resume without an address for a former employer who went belly up shouldn’t be a problem because it’s acceptable to simply list the company’s name and the city where you worked.
The primary purpose of a resume and cover letter is to portray your skills and qualifications to a prospective employer. When someone reviews your resume, knowledge of the companies that shaped your past professional experience also helps the hiring manager understand the type of training you may have received. Your career progression, however, is more noteworthy than the street address of a company that’s no longer there.
What Other Information To Include In Your Resume Header
Along with your address, there are a few other pieces of information you should include in your resume header.
Lets break down what to include, what is optional, what you should leave off.
Here’s what to include:
In 2022 and beyond, job seekers can expect to find more opportunities for remote work and job leads from LinkedIn. Keep the previous information in mind when searching for these roles or .
Use the tool to ensure your location is up to date on the platform.
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How To Address A Cover Letter Without A Name
If youve exhausted all your options and still cant find the hiring managers name, or youre not positive its the right name and dont want to risk addressing the wrong person, its better to be on the safe side.
So dont worry, there are plenty of options you can try if the hiring managers name is unknown. Here are the most common ways to address a cover letter without a name:
- To Whom It May Concern
- Dear Human Resources Director
Privacy Concerns And The City State Solution
Now that snail mail has no part in the application process, your street address is not necessary. Employers will need your address in the onboarding stage for tax purposes, but not before then. Thats good news for applicants with privacy or discrimination concerns.
However, we do recommend including your city and state for the reasons described above.
Heres what that looks like:
Joe Jobscan | Seattle, WA |555-555-5555 | joe@jobscan.co | linkedin.com/in/joe-jobscan
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