Covering Letter Etiquette

[lou100]

Hi, I am reponding to a job advert via email. I have the name of the lady who I need to write to but how do I address her in the mail? say for instance she is called samantha smith, would I say Dear Samantha, Dear Ms Smith? Help please I dont want to get it wrong and upset her !!

[delboy3]

If you don't know her marital status, I would use her full name e.g. Dear Samantha Smith...

[spaced]

Dear Ms Smith. Never include a first name. Ms is accepted if you do not know whether she is married or not

[andrea81]

My husband went through some training on this after leaving the army and the best thing to do is to ring the company and ask, I know its a long way about it but it is the way to empress.

[TheWinner]

If you know her name (which you do), you address the letter to Ms. S. Smith and end your letter with Yours sincerely. Make sure you spell it correctly (not a capital S on sincerely).

You use the term Ms. when you don't know whether she is a Miss or a Mrs.

If you had not known her name, it would have been correct to address it as Dear Madam, and end with Yours faithfully.

[TheWinner]

For future use, here is a good link.

http://www.speakspeak.com/html/d2h_resources_l etter_writing_phrases.htm

[lou100]

Thank you everybody, there's some brilliant help from you all...