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When a company posts a confidential posting online, is it OK to use the actual name of the company in your cover letter to them?
Sometimes they include a few hints like type of industry, town, and even a last name of contact. If I do some digging, I can eventually find the name of the place. However, when addressing them in a cover letter should I just pretend I don't know the company's name? I figured if they kept their name private then it is obviously for a reason, but sometimes I wonder if you come across as more 'attractive' per se after they see you've done some research on them.
I would say if they post confidential then keep it confidential UNLESS you found their company name after researching and found the actual job posting on their website. Then it would be obvious that you could apply directly via the company.
Otherwise, it depends on how/where you are finding the company name and where the original ad was posted.
If it is a job that you found on craigslist where there are many scam ads posted then you can always email them and ask for their company name. Let them know that you prefer to know the actual company name, website and company email to verify the legitimacy of the ad prior to submitting your resume with personal info. I have had good results doing this in the past.
If you know the company and know exactly who is hiring, either dig up their email or ping them on LinkedIn and express your interest this way. Byass the ****ty resume/application system. They want you to submit a resume so they can compare you to all the other candidates and pick the one that closely matches their requirements bu looking at their resume. If you soeak directly the hiring manager you have a chance to differentiate yourself and sell your skills.
As an employer in a niche industry that would attracts all sorts of weirdos and nut jobs if they had the company's name, we often recruit confidentially. However, if you figured out our name and instead of using Department 101 you wrote ABC Company in the cover letter, we won't hold it against you. We kind of expect people will do some form of research on a confidential company posting just to make sure it wasn't a scam. We would prefer the delivery information be as we posted it and not changed to our company's name, but anything personal inside is alright.
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