How to Use the Salutation To Whom It May Concern

How to Use the Salutation To Whom It May ConcernHow to Use the Salutation To Whom It May ConcernTo Whom It May Concern is a letter salutation that has traditionally been used in business correspondence when you dont have a specific person to whom you are writing, or you do leid know the personenanthroponym of the person to whom you are writing. Of course, you should make every effort to find a contact name to use on your letter or inquiry, but sometimes thats just not possible. When its not, you can use To Whom It May Concern. There are also now other better options that can be utilized to start a letter,or the message can be written without a salutation. Here is when and how to use To Whom It May Concern, as well as a few examples of alternative salutations to use when writing letters. How to Find a Contact Name Ideally, you will try to learn the name of the specific person to whom you are writing. For example, if you are writing a titel letter for a job application, and do not know the name of the employer or hiring manager, do your best to find out. There are a number of ways to discover the name of the person you are contacting. If you are applying for a job, the name of the employer or hiring manager may be on the job listing. However, that is not always the case. Some employers dont list a contact person because they may not want direct inquiries from job seekers. You can look on thecompany websitefor the name of the person in the position you are trying to contact (you can often find this in the About Us, Staff, or Contact Us sections). If you cannot find the name on the website, try to find the right person on LinkedIn, or ask a friend or colleague if he or she knows the persons name. Another option is to call the office and ask the administrative assistant for advice. For example, you might explain that you are applying for a job and would like to know the name of the hiring manager. If you take all of these steps, and still do not know the name of the person you are contacting, you can use To Whom It May Concern. When to Use To Whom It May Concern When should you use the term? It can be used at the beginning of a letter, email, or other forms of communication when you are unsure of who exactly will be reading it. This might happen at many points in your job search. For example, you might be sending a cover letter, letter of recommendation, or other job search material to someone whose name you do not know. It is also appropriate to use To Whom It May Concern when you aremaking an inquiry(also known as a prospecting letter orletter of interest), but dont have a person of contact. Capitalization and Spacing When addressing a letter To Whom It May Concern, the entire phrase is typically capitalized, then followed by a colon To Whom It May Concern Leave a space after it, then start the first paragraph of the letter. Alternative Letter Greetings to Use To Whom It May Concern is sometimes considered outdated, especiall y when writing cover letters for jobs. Dear Sir or Madam is another salutation commonly used in the past, but it may also come across as old-fashioned. There are alternatives you can usefor letter salutationswhen you arewriting lettersto apply for jobs or other communications when you dont have a name of a person to write to. Here are some options Dear Hiring ManagerDear Recruiting ManagerDear Hiring CommitteeDear Search CommitteeDear HR ManagerDear Human Resources RepresentativeDear Personnel ManagerDear Customer Service ManagerGreetingsHelloRe (Topic of Letter) You can also write a greeting that is still general but focuses on the group of people you are reaching out to. For example, if you are contacting people in your network forhelp with your job search, you might use the greeting, Dear Friends and Family. Another Option Leave Off the Salutation Another option for starting your letter is to leave off the salutation entirely. If you decide not to include a salutation, startw ith the first paragraphof your letter.

Men and women are wary of hanging out together after work

Men and women are wary of hanging out togetzu sich after workMen and women are wary of hanging out together after workYour colleague of the opposite gender invites you to happy hour one-on-one after work- should you accept?Many Americans believe you should decline, according to a new poll by Morning Consult in partnership with the New York Times. Surveying 5,282 registered voters in May, the poll found that over 60% of men and women were okay with having work meetings alone with someone of the opposite gender.But outside of work,boundaries were drawn.Over half of women and 45% of men said it was inappropriate to have dinner alone with a person of the opposite gender unless they wereyour spouse. Lunch and car rides were more socially acceptable but dinner and drinks were big no-nos.60% ofwomen and 48% of men surveyed believed it wasinappropriate to have drinks with a man who isnt your partner.Not surprisingly, the more religious the respondent, the more likely he or she was to report that behauptung behaviors were inappropriate.Here is a surprise, however Younger women policed how they interacted with men more than older women did. The study didnt explain why, but it could be that younger women sense that their youth presents a danger that could be taken advantage of during off-hours drinking.What this poll shows in general, however, is that Americans are deeply anxious around how they present themselves and how their actions are perceived with people they work with.The men and women surveyed said they worried about the situation turning sexual, flirtatious, or into a case of sexual harassment. These fears are not unfounded studies have found that work spouses can become a very real threat to real spouses.Even if interactions are innocent, both men and women worried what other people wouldthink, so as a preventative measure they would remove themselves out of the equation. The men and women interviewed by the Times reported conducting meetings in groups or in ro oms with windows where other people could see.But not being able to socialize with colleagues of the opposite gender disproportionallyhurts women. If the ski trips, golf outings, and happy hour drinks are boys-only, women miss out on the key socialization opportunities that could advance their careers. Thats what Ellen Pao famously alleged against her employer Kleiner and Perkins, a venture capital firm, in her gender discrimination lawsuit. She said she and other women were not allowed to go to work tripswith men or meetings with important guests like Al Gore because women kill the buzz.But without that one-on-one face time, when it comes to promotions and projects, women wont come into the boss mind.

Three types of stories every leader should master

Three types of stories every leader should masterThree types of stories every leader should masterThe fact that people are wired to react so strongly to stories should motivate business leaders to develop their storytelling skills. But what business situations call for a story?You might have guessed the answer - it depends. It depends on both the situation and what youd like to accomplish in the situation. The situation might be a staff meeting where youre introduced to the people on yur new gruppe, for example. As their new boss, your objective might be to get them to like and respect you and to start dismantling the barriers of mistrust and uncertainty. Another situation might be that members of your team have lost enthusiasm for their work, and your objective is to restore their engagement and give them purpose, so they understand the why of what theyre spending most of their waking hours doing.Or maybe valuable members of your team feel unappreciated or dont get the credit they deserve. In that situation, your objective may be to reinforce or highlight certain norms and behaviors with your stories and to draw positive attention to them.Below are three types of stories that every leader should master. My hope is that they inspire readers to dig deeper into this topic and to identify and cultivate potential stories that can help you accomplish important objectives.1. Stories we tell ourselvesWe constantly assemble bits and pieces of information of what we observe around us and automatically turn them into stories that tend to reinforce our long-developed beliefs. If those stories are positive ones - you admire a colleague and tend particularly to notice the admirable things she does, you pride yourself on your own punctuality and pat yourself on the back whenever you find yourself (again) to be the first person to show up at a meeting - these perspectives are often uplifting and empowering.The problem comes when we tell ourselves negative stories. For inst ance, if I feel that the people around me are lazy and incompetent, the stories I create will be based on the morsels of data that confirm that belief. Or if I feel that I dont meaaya up to others expectations, the stories I create will reinforce this self-assessment, prominently featuring my mistakes, my failures, and others expressions of disappointment in me. And so a vicious loop is created where negative perceptions - including of the self - determine the stories we tell ourselves, which in turn play out in full color to reinforce these perceptions.Clearly, these arent productive narratives, nor do they serve the people and organizations we lead. And while Im aware that years of cognitive behavioral therapy may sometimes be the most effective solution to modify such beliefs-and-valuespowered narratives, Id like to suggest that we have the option to intervene any time we recognize (self-awareness) the unproductive nature of the stories we tell ourselves.Its clear that the stor ies we tell ourselves have an impact not just on our own behavior, but also on our engagement with others and in turn on their perceptions of us as leaders, colleagues, and partners. By carefully examining our dominant narratives and making sure they contribute positive value to our and others lives, were one step closer to wielding real influence with the power of storytelling.2. Stories we tell others about ourselvesWhether you are a leader joining a new team, or a job candidate in the first round of interviews, or someone meeting a potential new client for the first time, the stories you tell about yourself often set the tone for how the relationship will unfold, if it does, that is. Which are the right stories in such scenarios? Its hard to go wrong with stories that illustrate your humility, good judgment, integrity, and expertise and experience. As for what to emphasize, putting yourself firmly into the shoes of your audience should provide clues. The needs and expectations of the people in your audience will, of course, vary, depending on the context of the meeting and their future goals as they involve you.For instance, if you are the new boss meeting the members of your team for the first time, you know theyll wonder about your leadership style and how youll treat them. Acknowledge this and share a personal story or two that shows you empathize - maybe from when you met your boss for the first time. Mention the lessons youve learned in managing others and make sure to highlight any mistakes from which youve grown. Share examples of how youve navigated new cultures in the past - organizational or regional - and what youre hoping to learn in this next stage with their help. This shows humility, humanizes you, and reduces the power distance that can hamper the open and honest dialogue that builds trust.If your audience - whether a group or an individual - is looking to engage you for your expertise, share stories that illustrate how youve delivered results or solved similar problems for others. Mention the challenges you encountered along the way and how you met them successfully - even if it took a few attempts to get it right. This is also an elegant way to share your strengths without bragging about your accomplishments.When others want to get to know us, they arent just looking for the content on our LinkedIn profile. They want to know the real us to determine whether were trustworthy and whether associating with us will be of positive or negative value to them. Thats why recruiters and hiring managers no longer have qualms about digging into our social media proles and online musings to evaluate our reputation and our judgment.And judgment is key whenever we share personal information. Faulty judgment can result in some awkward moments if not lasting reputational harm.Faulty judgment in personal stories isnt always this glaring. But if you are unsure of how your stories might land, run them first by people you trust. In the end, with personal stories, less is more and humility is better.3. Stories we tell our teams or organizationsThe type of storytelling that is intrinsic to successful leadership is the ability to tell compelling stories of the future, to articulate a vision, to both internal and external audiences. Leaders need to master another kind of story too - this kind is about organizational values.Whatever the management goal, there are storytelling strategies that can help further it. A former Facebook director of engineering, Bobby Johnson, once saw the need for a cultural shift in the companys infrastructure team. Although many of his engineers were drawn to exciting new projects and innovations, Johnson knew that other Facebook engineers, the ones who worked behind the scenes to ensure that the existing systems ran faster and better than before, also did critical work. He wanted to highlight these unsung heroes, both to honor them and to get more engineers interested in their less gl amorous but nonetheless essential work. To accomplish this, he would take every opportunity - in one-on-ones, in meetings, and in group e-mails - to share stories of important fixes that these day-to-day engineers made and to publicly praise them.Similarly, if you want people to speak up more in meetings and challenge each other, share a story of how a lone dissenting voice was able to change your mind about a decision youd made, and how this wouldnt have happened if the person hadnt felt comfortable in challenging you. Or if you want to increase collaboration among teams, share a story about two teams who decided to join forces and whose combined creativity and brainpower led to important breakthroughs for the organization. And if its courage and risk-taking you want to promote, highlight stories of risk-taking colleagues - and include their failures, to make the point that learning from mistakes is just another way forward.As you can see in the three types of stories above, the formula for telling a story is simple. Decide which values you want to promote and which behaviors you want to encourage, and then make those traits the themes of your stories, and include characters who demonstrate the desired traits. Do these stories have to be true? It helps if they are, and its even better if your audience knows the protagonists. However, hypothetical scenarios can pack just as big a punch, as weve learned from neuroscience research and our own experiences from the myriad of stories that surround us.Harrison Monarth is the CEO and Founder of Gurumaker and author of Executive Presence The Art of Commanding Respect Like a CEO. An Executive Coach, he teaches C-suite leaders, senior executives, high potential managers and other top professionals effective leadership and positive behavior change for professional and organizational success. For more information, please visit, www.gurumaker.com and connect with Monarth on Twitter, HarrisonMonarth and LinkedIn.