"To whom it may concern". Some so-called experts have widely disseminated the idea that these five humble words are as palatable to job application reviewers as a semi-dried tomato mousse atop a creme caramel.

They argue that this well-used opening gambit demonstrates a lack of creativity and enterprise. As an applicant you should always begin cover letters with a recipient's name, they say. And if there's no addressee on a job ad, this is simply a tacit invitation for you to show your initiative and undertake some investigative research.

All logical enough, but a bit rich coming from people who will also assure you that you need to robotically repeat in your cover letter "keywords" mentioned in the job ad and then summarise the main points from your CV using "professional business language".

Give me a spell! If the person reading the cover letter wants to read keywords and corporate malarkey they're either a computer program (highly likely, as regular readers of this column will know) or the the HR equivalent of Nurse Ratched, a starched uber-administrator who would love nothing more from a salutation than grammatically crisp cold detachment. "To whom it may concern" could be just the gambit to get her in the mood for hiring.

And if it's not "To whom it may concern" it might be "G'day gang" or "Hello possums" or "Dear imminent colleague (let's be honest here)".

Frankly, the cover letter cognoscenti should keep their dissemination to the bedroom. And you should start your cover letters any way you damn well please.

Jonathan Rivett writes letters at www.haught.com.au