How do you address someone in a letter when you don’t know who you’re addressing?!

[Wendyer]

I’m writing a cover letter for a job, but there’s no specific person I’m writing to. How do I start the letter? “Dear Sir/Madame”?

Madam not madame. Or 'to whom it may concern'?

Dear Sir or Madam,

Dear Sir/Madam is correct

Yes exactly: Dear Sir or Madam

Thank you :)

To Whom it May Concern and yours faithfully NOT sincerely.

Related thing -- for the sign-off, use 'yours faithfully' if you're doing 'Dear sir/madam'.

'Yours sincerely' is only used when you use a person's name.

Dear Hiring Manager is also a good modern alternative if you don't want to sound like an accidental transport from the 19th century.

Oh that’s a good one @stalkersaga, I’ll remember that thank you.

I kind of thought it would be sir/madam but, just as you said, wondered if that had fallen out of use now (been a while since I applied for a job!)

What area are you applying for a vacancy in?

Dear Sir/Madam is fine and still in everyday use in most business, it's not some throwback to the dark ages.

@torquewench charity sector.

I would just stick with “Dear Sir or Madam”.

Nobody is going to pay any attention to it. It’s a neutral, correct introduction. There really isn’t any need to try and be trendy with “Dear Hiring Manager” or something similar.

The ideal situation would be to address it to a named person but if that’s not possible, dear sir or madam is absolutely fine.