How to send a cover letter without a contact name

A client recently emailed asking how to send a cover letter to a prospective company when you don’t have a contact name.
Since finding a name is highly preferred, here are three strategies to consider using as you put your sleuthing cap on:
1. Does the company have a website? Look up management teams or information about divisional leadership. Names can also be found in press releases or other media items.
2. Check the company out on LinkedIn and see if you can identify someone from there.
3. Place a call in to the company and ask. You’d be surprised! In some more tight-lipped companies, call in under the guise of mailing marketing materials to that individual and you need the proper spelling of their name.
Whose name are you trying to identify in the first place?
It’s best to identify a hiring manager title or the title of one level up from the ideal hiring manager. For a business development role, for example, the Director of Sales in a mid-sized company or the Chief Operations Officer in a smaller company.
Avoid directing your resume to “Director of Human Resources” (unless of course, you are applying for a position within the HR department) as it can lead to your resume falling into a black hole.
If all else fails and you are unable to identify a person by name, then use the title identified above in place of a proper name where you list the company address and then write the letter to the title as in “Dear Director of Sales.” This is much more preferable than using either the antiquated “Dear Sir or Madam” or the impersonal, form-letter sounding “To Whom It May Concern.”