The trail is cold
January 7, 2011 7:48 AM Subscribe
How can I find a formar business contact with a common name?
My boss asked me to find a formar business associate who we have lost touch with. Our last communication with him was three years ago and we no longer have any accurate contact information. The trick is that his name is fairly common.
I know his title at the job he had back in 2007, and I know the name of another company he worked at previously. I know the college he attended and I think I know the year he graduated. Both those jobs and the college are in the same city, but he could have moved in the past three years. I've found his Linkedin profile, but he no longer maintains it.
I've tried basic white page searches, which return a good number of matches because the name is pretty common, but no way for me to cross reference and see if any of the names are my guy. I've tried unsuccessfully plugging the name, along with the companies he has worked for in the past, into Google. I've tried the same with the college but to no avail. The college does keep alumni records, but those are only available to other graduates from the college, so I can't access them. I've tried the databases listed in this Lifehacker article, but again, I can't find anyway of cross referencing the names that are returned.
Any thoughts on how we might contact this guy?
My boss asked me to find a formar business associate who we have lost touch with. Our last communication with him was three years ago and we no longer have any accurate contact information. The trick is that his name is fairly common.
I know his title at the job he had back in 2007, and I know the name of another company he worked at previously. I know the college he attended and I think I know the year he graduated. Both those jobs and the college are in the same city, but he could have moved in the past three years. I've found his Linkedin profile, but he no longer maintains it.
I've tried basic white page searches, which return a good number of matches because the name is pretty common, but no way for me to cross reference and see if any of the names are my guy. I've tried unsuccessfully plugging the name, along with the companies he has worked for in the past, into Google. I've tried the same with the college but to no avail. The college does keep alumni records, but those are only available to other graduates from the college, so I can't access them. I've tried the databases listed in this Lifehacker article, but again, I can't find anyway of cross referencing the names that are returned.
Any thoughts on how we might contact this guy?
Have you tried calling the company that he used to work for to find out where he went? Old fashioned and slower than an internet search, but possibly more effective.
posted by griseus at 7:57 AM on January 7, 2011
posted by griseus at 7:57 AM on January 7, 2011
You say he no longer maintains his LinkedIn profile, but have you tried contacting him on it? He may have forgotten about the site, but he still may be using the same e-mail account he started it with. If that's the case, then you could still get in contact with him through that.
posted by Tooty McTootsalot at 8:03 AM on January 7, 2011
posted by Tooty McTootsalot at 8:03 AM on January 7, 2011
If you're still on good terms, why don't you try a different approach?
I.e. instead of asking the alumni person or the HR person in a former company to hand over his details, why don't you ask them to forward a simple message to him.
Failing that, go through all *your* and use your colleagues' contacts etc and try and find an alumnus in their network who can contact him.
posted by MuffinMan at 8:17 AM on January 7, 2011
I.e. instead of asking the alumni person or the HR person in a former company to hand over his details, why don't you ask them to forward a simple message to him.
Failing that, go through all *your* and use your colleagues' contacts etc and try and find an alumnus in their network who can contact him.
posted by MuffinMan at 8:17 AM on January 7, 2011
Doesn't Linkedin allow you to contact the people to whom your colleague is connected? Perhaps contact those connections and ask them if they have any contact information for him.
posted by dfriedman at 9:36 AM on January 7, 2011
posted by dfriedman at 9:36 AM on January 7, 2011
Have you done a Google search of the known e-mail addresses you have (e.g. search for "joe@smith.com")? That can sometimes turn up related references or forums where the name was registered.
I would try for the concentric circles approach. Contact the company, or linked contacts, and ask. If you have Facebook, try putting out his name on your wall. Look for a fellow alumnus who is on your friends list and can ask. Etc. I guess it depends on how much you need to get in touch (e.g. is he the only one who understands some code, or do you have another project, etc.).
It's hard in this day and age for somebody to completely disappear, but it can also be hard to find someone if they aren't really willing to be found, either.
posted by dhartung at 11:53 AM on January 7, 2011
I would try for the concentric circles approach. Contact the company, or linked contacts, and ask. If you have Facebook, try putting out his name on your wall. Look for a fellow alumnus who is on your friends list and can ask. Etc. I guess it depends on how much you need to get in touch (e.g. is he the only one who understands some code, or do you have another project, etc.).
It's hard in this day and age for somebody to completely disappear, but it can also be hard to find someone if they aren't really willing to be found, either.
posted by dhartung at 11:53 AM on January 7, 2011
Know anyone with a Lexis password? Public record search is the easiest way.
posted by Ideefixe at 1:02 PM on January 7, 2011
posted by Ideefixe at 1:02 PM on January 7, 2011
Response by poster: Have you tried calling the company that he used to work for to find out where he went?
No luck.
You say he no longer maintains his LinkedIn profile, but have you tried contacting him on it?
Yep. No luck there either.
Know anyone with a Lexis password? Public record search is the easiest way.
I don't, but that's an interesting idea.
posted by Hoenikker at 10:50 AM on January 10, 2011
No luck.
You say he no longer maintains his LinkedIn profile, but have you tried contacting him on it?
Yep. No luck there either.
Know anyone with a Lexis password? Public record search is the easiest way.
I don't, but that's an interesting idea.
posted by Hoenikker at 10:50 AM on January 10, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Grither at 7:54 AM on January 7, 2011