How to Find Out Where Someone Works: The Ultimate Guide

• Use a people finding website to identify key details that will make your search a lot easier.
• Check LinkedIn and Facebook. People often list their place of work on social media.
• If you cannot find where someone works online, you may want to hire a private investigator to help you out.

People Finder Websites

True People Search. If you have the person’s name, phone number, or address, True People Search will spit out whatever public information it has. It may not provide employment information, but it will likely give you more information to narrow it down. It’s free, too! There’s a free mobile app version of True People Search, as well.

Social Catfish. Social Catfish scans the internet, dating apps, public records, and social media for info. It does cost $5 for each search, but users are typically very pleased with the depth of the results. You only need a name, email, phone, username, address, or image. If any paid site is going to openly show you where someone works, it’s probably Social Catfish.

Instant Checkmate. Instant Checkmate only scours government data sources, so it will not show you where someone works. However, it is cheaper than other services that charge for this kind of search, and you 5 days of unlimited searches for only $1. While Instant Checkmate won’t tell you where someone is employed, it may provide you with info you need to help narrow things down.

Fast People Search. Fast People Search is free, quick, and straightforward. Search by name, phone number, or email to find someone. This site is also uniquely helpful because it provides lists of potential associates. If you know where any of the associates work, it could lead you to the person’s job. If you know any of the associates, you can always ask them if they know where the person works.

Social Media

LinkedIn. Sign up for a LinkedIn account if you don’t have one and search the person’s name in the search bar. If they have an active account, it will list the company they work for. Their profile will likely include their specific role and how long they’ve been there, too! If they work for a company with more than one location (like a bank or fast food company), you may need to contact nearby branches to find which specific location they’re at. If you can’t find them on LinkedIn, they may not have an account.

Facebook. Create a Facebook account if you don’t already have on and search for the person’s name on the platform. If you can find their account, they may have volunteered their employment information in the area under their profile pic. If their gig isn’t listed in their profile, scroll their timeline a bit. They may mention where they work in a status they’ve posted or have a photo of them at their job. If their profile is private, try friending them—even if your account is empty. A lot of people on Facebook accept any friend request. It helps to include a city if you don’t have any mutual friends. For example, instead of searching for “Jason Boggs” you might search for “Jason Boggs Boston” to narrow things down.

Instagram. This is probably the least likely option, but if you can find a person’s Instagram profile, you might get lucky. They may have taken a photo of them at work, a selfie in their work uniform, or a video clip of something happening at their job. This may give you some insight into where they work. The remaining social media options are very unlikely to yield results, but it won’t hurt to check Twitter, Tumblr, and Snapchat.

Alternative Options

Google search. Search the person’s name inside quotation marks and add as many helpful adjectives as you can. Search through the regular results and then scan the images tab to see if you can find them. Many companies list their employees on their website, so you could get lucky and find them listed somewhere. For example, if you’re looking for someone named Samantha Sanders, you might search “Samantha Sanders‘ Chicago.” If you had some additional clues, you might search “Samantha Sanders‘ Chicago banking bank branch.” Try every iteration of the person’s name (if you can). For someone named Samantha Sanders, do a search for their maiden name, or use “Sam” instead of “Samantha.” Putting quotation marks around specific terms will only fetch results that include those terms. This is helpful if they’re a chemical engineer, for example, because “chemical engineer” won’t search separately for “chemical” and “engineer.”

Private Investigator. If you’re trying to figure out where somebody works but you don’t want anyone to know (or you’ve exhausted every other option), reach out to a local PI. It will likely cost you around $50 an hour, but a professional investigator should be able to find out where someone works. This is a great option if you also want more information beyond the person’s job, like whether they’re dating someone or how they spend their free time.

Licensing agencies. Many heavily-regulated industries require certification or licensing of some kind, and depending on where you live, the roster of licensed individuals may be public. If you know which industry the person is in but you just don’t know where they work specifically, search online for a directory. Teachers, real estate agents, law enforcement, lawyers, and medical professionals are examples of industries that may work for this. For example, if you know a Louis Grossman who works in real estate, you could search something like “‘Louis Grossman’ realtor Illinois” to see if you can find where they specifically work.