Always make sure you start and end your letters correctly.
If you are writing to Mrs Jane Smith then you should start the letter 'Dear Mrs
Smith' and finish it with 'Yours sincerely' - N.B. 'sincerely' does not start
with a capital 'S'.
Particular care is required when you are writing to a
woman. If she has just written her name as Jane Smith do you start the letter
'Dear Jane' or 'Dear Ms Smith'. She might be offended if you refer to her as
'Ms' and you might not feel comfortable writing 'Dear Jane' as it sounds too
familiar. To get round this problem all you have to do is ring the company and
ask them how she likes to be addressed. If there is not a telephone number for
the company in the advertisement just call Directory Enquires (dial 192). When
you ring the company all you have to say is that you are writing to Jane Smith
and you would like to know whether she is a Ms, Mrs or Miss so your letter can
be correctly addressed.
If the advertisement just says reply to J. Smith how would
you address the letter? Dear Sir? or Dear Madam? Dear Mr Smith? You would be
well advised to ring the company and find out J. Smith's full name and title (Mr/Mrs/Ms/Miss).
Remember politeness costs you nothing, but it can really pay dividends and you
will probably be the only person who has bothered to find out. This may
distinguish you from everyone else who applied - being noticed is the key to
writing a potential interview-winning covering letter.
If the advertisement just says write to the Personnel
Department or reply to Box Number 55 it may not be possible for you to find out
who will be handling your reply. In these cases you will have to start your
letter 'Dear Sir/Madam' and finish the letter with 'Yours faithfully'. Please
note that 'faithfully' does not start with a capital 'F'.
