Learn English – the best salutation to use in cover letter when I don’t have contact information

letter-writingsalutationsword-choice

I prepare to write a cover letter to several banks. The application is online and I need to submit it to each employer.
So how could I write in the salutation of the cover letter. I don't have the contact of HR people. Could I write something like this:

To whom it may concern,
…

Dear Citibank HR,
…

Best Answer

According to Debrett's General Rules for Writing Letters:

The sign-off depends on the salutation. As a broad rule, if you addressed the letter to 'Dear Mr Debrett' the sign off is 'Yours sincerely'. If addressed to 'Dear Sir/Madam', then 'Yours faithfully' is correct.

If you don't know the name of the person to whom you are writing, start with 'Dear Sir/Madam' and end with 'Yours faithfully'. However, I would strongly urge you to find out the name of the HR manager. Individually addressed letters are obviously more personalised and, while it won't make a huge difference, will appear better than standardised ones.

EDIT (CLARIFICATION): The only traditionally appropriate way to start a letter to an unknown person is 'Dear Sir/Madam'.

Related Topic