How to track down an email address online

August 3, 2024

By Kim Komando

If you’re on the job hunt but can’t seem to get to the interview stage, I’ll let you in on a tip: Find the hiring manager or team leader’s email address online, and send a personalized note after you apply. It’ll help them put a face to a name and help you stand out in a sea of resumes.

Tracking down emails isn’t just for job seekers. You might do it to network, connect with an old friend, find sales leads or even complain to Jeff Bezos about your bogus Amazon purchase. Here’s how.

Start with a search

It’s obvious, but it can work. If a web search like “John Smith” and the word “email” doesn’t turn up anything, try this:

• Put the full name in quotes. It’ll make sure you get results for the first and last names together.
• Add any other identifying info you know. Things like the company name, city or other keywords can narrow it down.

The more common the person’s name, the harder it can be to find their email address. You have to go a layer deeper.

Try online directories

There’s a chance you can find the person’s email address on their social media profiles. If not, use online directories where you can find email addresses, phone numbers and more. (You definitely want to get yourself out of these public directories. I use Incogni for that because it’s a major pain to DIY!)

If you’re searching them for someone else, though, it’s worth seeing what you can turn up.

• WhitePages.com shows you some free info, but you have to pay for premium details like emails and phone numbers. If you have a list of contacts you’re looking for, a five-day trial is only $1; otherwise, it’s $5.99 a month for 20 contacts.
• Hunter.io lets you search a company’s domain for employee emails (25 free a month). If you know where the person works, it’s a great option. Even if they don’t have the person you’re looking for, it’ll give you a good idea of the email format.
• From a privacy standpoint, FamilyTreeNow spooks me. Before I removed it, they had a bunch of my old addresses and cell numbers. The person you’re looking for might be on there.

Use a Chrome plugin

• Email Extractor can help you find email addresses on webpages. You can’t search for specific email addresses, but it’ll extract any addresses listed on a domain.
• Email Hunter is another one worth trying, and it’s also from Hunter.io. It extracts email addresses associated with pages you visit and automatically saves them to a notepad.

If all else fails, guess

I’m serious. Most companies use simple naming structures for addresses, like john⁠.⁠smith@companyname⁠.⁠com. Worst case, your email will bounce and you can try a different format.

If you want to talk to me, you don’t need to track down my email address. Just drop me a note here — I read them all myself.

🎱 I asked my Magic 8 Ball which email program to use. It said, “Outlook not so good.”

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