I'm writing a cover letter at the moment and I want to make it as formal as possible. I've searched the internet, but I'm not entirely sure who the hiring manager is. My best guess would be Tim Johnson but that is little more than an informed guess. It could likely hurt my chances if I am wrong. Does anyone know for sure who the hiring manager at Epic Games is?

When writing a formal letter to a hiring manager, I've always used "To the hiring manager,", etc...

^ This. A lot of games companies do not like to necessarily announce the person responsible for hiring as to avoid unwanted messages queries etc. There is an expectation that the information packages on their websites should be sufficient to a prospective employee.

I feel like if I were a hiring manager at a company that presumably gets thousands of applications per year I'd be pretty pissed off if someone posted anything online that led the general public to email me directly instead of using the application process we have been streamlining for years.

If I was Mr. Johnson, I'd be pretty pissed about being linked to in a random call-out in some forum somewhere, and I certainly wouldn't consider the guy doing the linking for any kind of employment.

I feel like if I were a hiring manager at a company that presumably gets thousands of applications per year I'd be pretty pissed off if someone posted anything online that led the general public to email me directly instead of using the application process we have been streamlining for years.

I'm sure he will be so angry about my inquiry that he will hunt down my personal information and blacklist me from potential candidates.

I'm sure he will be so angry about my inquiry that he will hunt down my personal information and blacklist me from potential candidates.

The point is he'd probably be really angry at whoever spilled the beans, and just instantly send every email not on a whitelist to his trash.

Hiring manager (the top one) for such a company typically won't have anything to do with actual hiring, they deal with internal organization of the hiring process.

Global companies operate mostly regionally. The hires they make will usually be for work at regional office, with hiring process often dictated by that office alone, to adapt to local culture, laws, opportunities. Recruiters are the ones responsible for casting wide nets and harvesting CVs, often filtering them on their own. Then there's localized events, such as job fairs, internships, university scouts.

Top level hiring managers, especially those in HR are typically unable to provide any help at all due to legal requirements. HR will filter for a given position, so even if they do put your CV forward, it will have no benefit at actual selection process.

Instead, the person that could help is the one reviewing the post-screened applications, these will usually be leaders of the team doing the hiring or producer/director/??? of a project that issued the posting. For outsourced or general positions, it will be the person in charge of that operation. All of this depends completely on circumstances.

What's more is that job positions change. Addressing one person in particular, unless it's direct communication, will have no benefit if such an entry goes into database. One year from now, when someone reviews such application, the original person doing the job might be replaced or their position might not exist anymore. Reviewing such application will then look somewhat inappropriate, as if it applied only to something that no longer exists.

Hiring portal is also likely to be outsourced, so most of the screenings will be done externally and unrelated to hiring company. By the time the filtered applications trickle to original company, the decision has mostly been made and it's more about arranging the on-site interviews or similar.

I know it's the "traditional wisdom" to include a specific salutation, and it might even still hold for small companies where you can be sure of the target.

Personally, in games and other less-formal industries I would worry that it sends the wrong message when you go out of your way to be extremely formal. It's like someone who shows up to the interview wearing a suit and tie -- Its a running joke inside the industry that the only people who ever wear suits to work are CEOs and job candidates. It, in some small way, reflects that the person might be wound a little tight, doesn't quite get the culture, or maybe is either trying to gloss over their technical deficiencies or lacking confidence in their own skills.

In the end, I don't think that being extra-formal is ever going to be the feather that tips things your way, all else being equal between yourself and another candidate. I think you would do better putting your efforts into other means of projecting your confidence and professionalism.

All IMHO, of course.

Instead of starting a corporate investigation on a public forum, you might just you know.. give them a call and ask?