Dear…

I’ve been hanging in there and have gotten quite a bit of freelance work last month. However, the search is still on for that perfect design studio who needs an awesome designer who loves coming up with meanings behind various pieces of a design (me!). Fear not, I can still afford 3 meals a day, proper housing, and enough left over to hang out with friends. Although getting a gig at a design studio would be nice. Anyway, this brings me to the topic of this post: writing to job post.

When I was still in high school, I ALWAYS respond to job poster with a Dear Mr/s. [last-name]. I also called my teachers as Mr/s. [last-name] so why not do the same? When I got into college, and I especially got this from my art professors, teachers were fine with me calling them by their first name. It was really strange at first, but I slowly got used to it. Now that I’m older (in my twenties), and have been working in the field, I have no problem calling my client by their first name either even though they may be older than me. Which brings me to the question I sometime face when responding to job post these days: should I address a person by their first name…or last name in my email?

So far, what I’ve done is to simply address them by their first name. So Dear Cindy for example. It’s not too impolite or too close for comfort. I definitely suggest not using Hi Cindy since that just sounds way too personal, and she hardly knows you. Your thoughts are welcomed in this dilemma some students/post-grad might be facing out there.