How to Personalize Your Job-Search Communications

It pays to individualize your cover letters, emails and thank-you notes.

After interviews, send a handwritten thank-you note to everyone you met.

The simple answer to "when do I need to personalize my job-search communications?" is always. The hard part is knowing what communications need to be personalized and how to make them so. 

Frankly, there's no excuse anymore for not addressing emails and cover letters to an actual person. Gone are the days when you had to find a contact by picking up a phone or hoping someone's listing was in the Yellow Pages. The Internet is an expanse of data that allows you to find a person in an organization and address your communications to that person. "Dear Sir/Madam" and "To Whom It May Concern" don't cut it any longer.

Yes, this will require extra work and some digging on your part, but it's well worth the effort. Most people read those standard salutations and cringe, wishing the person had gone a bit further to find someone to address their correspondence to. While it's not always possible to find this information, the majority of the time it is. 

What Communications to Personalize

The first step is understanding what communications should be personalized. The answer is anything that is considered correspondence – namely, emails and cover letters. Even when you are asked to send your job application to a generic email address, you should not use a generic salutation. 

Sometimes a job posting lists a contact person, and you'll be in luck. In that case, you will look ridiculous if you do not address your email and cover letter to that person. The appropriate salutations are "Dear Mr. [Last Name]" or "Dear Ms. [Last Name]." Check your email and document to ensure it's the correct version and properly addressed before sending. If you are applying through an online application system, the same principle applies, as this is not a green light to use a generic greeting. 

From that point on, you should personalize all of your correspondence. For example, if you have an interview, you should be sure to get business cards of everyone with whom you met and write customized (read: different) thank-you emails to each individual within a day of the interview. If you are very interested in the opportunity, also send a handwritten thank-you note to each person you met. Do not copy what you said in your email. The point is to make it distinct. It does not have to be a long diatribe; short and personal will suffice. 

How to Personalize Your Communications

Now you know that your correspondence shouldn't be generic. The hard part is the next step, which is finding the name of an human resources person or manager in the department you are applying to. The first place to look is the company's website. Many supply biographies of directors and organizational leaders. Check for HR managers and heads of departments that you think the job might fall under. 

If you cannot find this information on the company's website, try searching on LinkedIn. There you can use search terms, such as certain job titles and the company name, to narrow your search. This will produce results more quickly than a general search engine, such as Google or Bing. Two caveats are that not everyone keeps their LinkedIn profile up to date and some people do not have profiles. 

If the company website and LinkedIn fail you, try your favorite Internet search engine. Use terms similar to what you used on LinkedIn. This search may surprise you by producing results from company news releases or other media. You can choose whether to address your email and cover letter to a person in HR or the particular manager you may fall under (even if it likely wouldn't be a direct-report situation). 

The worst case scenario is that you spend time searching and find no one. That's OK, because you put in the effort and did your best. The employees will also be aware that they are hard to find on the Internet.

Go ahead and use a generic salutation, and try to include a line or two in your email or cover letter that demonstrates you've done your homework on the company. Explain why you are interested in the company – for example, did you hear about it from someone or read something about it? – and why you think your background is a good fit. Then press "Send," follow up a week to two later if you do not get a response saying your application was received, and hope for the best.