Every once in a while, you may find yourself stuck in an odd situation where you don’t know how to respond. These One Minute Manner posts are designed to help you out of those awkward moments!
Today’s lesson: Androgynous names and how to address them when writing formal correspondence.
The Situation: I’ve been busy job hunting and cover letter writing this past month, and one of the things I’ve run into quite a bit was trying to figure out how to address the hiring manager in the cover letter. For example, a job posting may read:
ContainerWorld Forwarding Services, a leading provider of logistics, inventory management, warehousing and trucking services, is looking for a permanent full-time Receptionist to join the Company this summer.
Please send your resume and cover letter with salary expectations and career plans to pat@containerworld.com
Note: This is an actual job posting, I just changed the email address to reflect the subject for today. If you’re interested in applying for the job, check it out here.
I have a name: Pat. Great, I can address the hiring manager personally, but is Pat a Patricia or a Patrick? What are my options here?
A) Err on the side of caution and use “Dear Pat” to open my cover letter.
B) Research Container World’s website to see if there are any clues as to whether or not this “Pat” person is male or female.
C) Call Container World and ask.
D) Guess.
Now, I could guess, but that’s just bad form. Unfortunately for me, I also have an androgynous name so when people see my resume, they have no idea – at least not right off the bat – whether or not I’m male or female. I try to make this easy for them by including a profile picture of myself in my email signature and also by making it clear that I’m female on this website. I have an advantage because I know how it feels to be addressed as Mr. Lesley Chang, and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone – especially a potential employer.
My most likely course of action here would be to research Container World’s website. It’s the least intrusive way to find out more about a person, be it a CEO, hiring manager, receptionist, or any member of the staff. If it’s not clear on there, I could call to ask.
If you’re unable to discern the gender of the hiring manager, or any person you’re writing to for the first time, the proper form of address is to use their full name. In my case, I’d use “Dear Pat,” to open the cover letter, as the last name wasn’t provided.
An extra bit of advice: When writing to government officials, clergy and other officials with honorific titles such as “The Honorable Linda Reid”, consult this list!! It’s pretty comprehensive and tells you exactly how to address people in formal writing.
