Dear... ???

[mariap]

I am applying for a job by email and my contact names are all women. How should I addressed it? 'Dear Sirs', doesn't sound really well.... does it?

[Gef]

Either use the persons actual name (Dear Mrs. Smith / Ms Jones etc) or use Dear Madam.

[templeman]

If you are writing to a company the correct form of address is Dear Sir. That is because you are actually addressing the company and not an individual. You follow this with " For the attention of Mr / Mrs Smith "
You sign off with Yours Faithfully.
If you actually write to a person you would start with "Dear Mr / Mrs Smith" and finish with Yours Sincerely.

[woofgang]

templeman, your answer is surely right but given some ladies'sensitivities, may not be the best way forward (and why are companies male... Ann Summers...). May I suggest that iof you are writing to all or both ladies then "Mesdames" (no "Dear") has a certain style, otherwise write to one name. Also think that the type of company should be kept in mind, I would probably use a different approach with a bank from the one I would use to an advertising agency or similar "creative" business

[hal]

Phone them up and ask them who to address it to.

[woofgang]

Okay, this is a nitpick, but I personally get cheesed off by letters that start Dear Sir/Madam as I think that the applicant should have bothered his cookies to find out which it is!!

[woofgang]

sorry, touch of unintended genderism there, I should of course have written "bother his or her cookies"

[mariap]

Thank you all for your answers.

[woofgang]

Yup, which is why I said that my comment was a nitpick :-))

[Lennon]

If all else fails go for 'to whom it may concern'.

[Janetex]

When writing to a company it is always Dear Sirs, unless you know that the company is owned/run by women, then it is Dear Mesdames. When writing to a firm it is the same, unless you are writing to a partner of the firm in which case you address it to that partner's name and then Dear Sir or Madam and then, when writing to anyone else in the firm, you address it to the firm with attention to whatever the person's name is, then Dear Sirs. When a woman chooses not to use Mrs Miss or Ms as a title, it is appropriate to use her actual name (first and last) although not in formal correspondence.