Our coworkers are way more than just people we know from work. We spend countless hours with them, and there is a chance for us to develop these relationships enough to become friends. When we change our job or work environment, chances are we can lose the connection with these people. During the moments of nostalgia, the need for establishing these relationships once again can surface.
We can see that there are no situations that are as frustrated as the situation when we’re not able to conduct it properly. This is especially true when you have their contact information, but for some inexplicable reason, their LinkedIn profile is missing or set to private. Although it can be a time-consuming process, tracking down your old colleagues online is definitely worth the effort. That way, you can relieve many memories of how it used to be by collaborating with them.
Here are seven pieces of advice to make the process as easy as possible. Let’s take a look at them.
Use an Online People Search Site
The first place to start looking for someone online is by visiting sites like Unmask. These places allow you to look for anyone by name or phone number. They also often have public records files where you can find additional data about the person, such as their address, age, and marital status. All of these factors are crucial for creating a much more efficient filter.
To use these sites, simply enter the person’s name or email address in a bar and start the journey. Then, you would be provided with a list of potential matches. If you look for someone that has a LinkedIn profile, the page will be filled with the results you can use to continue the task more efficiently. You can then click on their profile to view more data about them. Without any doubt, we can say that this method is the most efficient one.
Use Google
The next method to track someone down online is by using Google search operators. This involves using specific terms and phrases to help you narrow down your results. For example, if you’re looking for someone’s LinkedIn profile, you can use the following query: site:linkedin.com “name of a person.” When you do that, the results page will consist of relevant pages to take into consideration. This method works for lots of things, such as finding a person’s personal data for finding a specific website.
For a long list of Google search operators, check out this guide. We can draw an analogy between this method and some other methods we use for making this engine much more efficient. Naturally, it can be don’t only when the user knows all the small details that can make this approach much more efficient. Thankfully, this is not a complex thing to understand. So, you will not need more than a couple of minutes until you’ve mastered this skill completely.
Search Social Media Sites
Another great way to find old colleagues online is by searching social media sites. The reason why believe these are a good place to look is that there are billions of people on these networks, and filters can be highly-detailed. Simply enter their name into the bar and hit enter to look for someone on social media. If the individual you look for has an account on these, it will be displayed at the top of the results. You can then click on their profile to view more data about them.
Thankfully, using social media can be much more efficient than we’re used to. For instance, you can locate the company’s account, and start looking through the accounts that follow it. When you do it, you can impose some other methods to take a look at even more details than before. For all these reasons, we believe that social media is a method that needs to be focused on heavily. Otherwise, you can expect the research to be as efficient as you want it to be.
Check Company Websites
If you know the corporation that your colleague worked for, you can check their website to see if they’re listed on the staff page. Most large companies have a database of their staff that you can go through. Simply enter the business’s name and the word “staff” into Google and start looking through the results. If the company website doesn’t have this page, you can return to Google and insert a query “company name + employees.” The results you get will consist of parts of the query you have inserted.
Big corporations have a habit of being transparent about the members of their teams. So, this habit was adopted by almost all the smaller ones. If you’re lucky enough that your ex-co-worker is now working at a smaller business, then you can expect that this query will be even more efficient. The reason is rather simple, going through a smaller database is not as complex as is the case with bigger ones. No matter what the situation is, you can expect that this method will provide all the relevant data you need. That’s why we believe that checking the company’s website should be high on your list of priorities.
Search Online Forums
If you don’t know the company that your colleague worked for, or if they didn’t work for a large company, you can try searching online forums. Forums are a great place to find people who are looking for old colleagues. Simply do a Google search for “forum name + old colleagues.” For example, if you want to find a forum for people who are looking for old colleagues at Coca-Cola, you would insert “coca-cola + old colleagues.”
This will return a list of websites that contain information about finding old colleagues at Coca-Cola. These forums are places where the existing and past workers gather to discuss various topics and reconnect with each other when they feel the need to do it. We believe that chances of finding some of your friends at these places are rather high. It is definitely not a method you should avoid.
Check Email Databases
If you don’t have your colleague’s email address, you can try searching company email databases. These databases contain information about employees who have worked for a company in the past. To search an email database, simply enter the company name and the word “email” in an engine. If you are lucky enough that an individual uses the real name for the creation of an email, then you do not have a complex task in front of you.
The site will then return a list of results. If the company website doesn’t have an online directory, you can try doing a Google search for “company name + employees.” This will prove pages that have data about the employees. Sometimes, it means that you will look at a high number of results. Therefore, you will need to invest about an hour before finding exactly what you’re looking for. So, we feel that looking through these databases is the way to go.
Conclusion
If you want to track down an old colleague, there are plenty of ways to do it. Whichever method you choose, be sure to take your time and be patient. In this article of ours, we’ve provided you with a couple of methods that can be quite effective. Adding some unique elements can make them more efficient. It may take a while to find the data you’re looking for, but it’s definitely worth it in the end.
