How to Find Out Where Someone Works 6 Aug 2024 3:12 AM (8 months ago)
Want to know about someone’s place of employment but prefer not to ask directly? Perhaps you would like to be aware of your classmate’s success in their career, or you may be intrigued by your new acquaintance’s job and question its veracity.
Whatever the reasons are, you can employ some simple and effective methods we will discuss below to find out a person’s place of work without much hassle.
5 Ways to Find Out Where Someone Works
In 2023, there were 134.06 million full-time employees in the United States. At large, all employment information for U.S. citizens is publicly available and can be accessed through various methods, both online and offline.
To pick one that best fits your requirements, be sure to take your personal expectations into account. Think of what kind of information you would like to find and how you intend to use it.
Here are some effective ways to find the work details of a person in question.
Method #1: Search on Google
Google is definitely one of the most common ways to find public records online, and this also includes information on someone’s employer. It uses certain search criteria and scans multiple online resources, from online directories to social media platforms, to find the right match.
Just enter the full name of the person you are searching for with some other personalized information. If you put your keywords in quotation marks, you will see the pages indexed by Google with those exact phrases.
Algorithms from Google are remarkably efficient concerning their search functionality. Google search is a free yet very effective way to find an individual’s work details.
It is, however, able to turn up only very basic information: employers, positions, and social media accounts. This is why we also recommend using other search methods.
Method #2: Turn to Social Media
Due to the staggering quantity of active users across a wide array of demographics, networking platforms can become effective online tools for finding employment information.
It is estimated that 246 million users log into their accounts every day in the U.S., which is about 72.5% of the country’s entire population. Therefore, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and X (Twitter) can help to a great degree in locating at least some words defining a person’s workplace.
You can initiate your search for such information on LinkedIn, a business-related networking site where professionals put up their resumes, seek job opportunities, build up industry connections, and develop knowledge and skills.
On LinkedIn, you will find details of a person’s work history, including information on past employers and a current position.
Many social networking sites, like LinkedIn, offer search bars that are useful in accessing information by name. For those profiles that are in private mode, you may have to send a friend request and be connected first before you can see a full profile.
If the information you need is still unavailable, check through their lists of followers — there you could find a common friend, an associate, or a relative who would help enlighten you with more details.
Method #3: Use a Specialised People Search Platform
A people search tool will turn up more detailed workplace information than any web search tool or popular social networking site. They save time, too, as the information of interest is generated in the form of a compact report, so you don’t have to sift through page after page of web content hoping to stumble on what you are looking for.
These specific tools seek out public records from reliable sources and collate them into a searchable database to make searches faster and more convenient.
For example, Nuwber People Search delivers to your fingertips information on more than 300 million U.S. citizens, including their phone numbers and email addresses, and 27 million businesses, among many more. Perform a free search by first, last name, location, company, job title, and several other search criteria.
The information that people search platforms can get can even go beyond a person’s employment status and other job-related information.
Besides contact and address details, they provide social media handles, information about relatives, associates, and property owners, as well as criminal records. But you should note that it is illegal to use people search engines in employment evaluation and pre-employment background checks.
While choosing a search platform that could give reliable results, consider the size of its database, methods adopted to check for data accuracy, and the depth of information it would provide.
Besides, be aware that not all people search tools are free. Some of these search services may include direct payment or even hidden charges. Therefore, always check their terms and reviews left by users before you sign up for any paid service.
Method #4: Contact an Employment Background Check Company
Currently, most employers run background checks on their potential candidates with the help of specialized services. Such agencies specialize in digging deep into a person’s job history leveraging credible sources to get precise data while staying legally compliant.
The drawback to this approach is the fact that such services can be pretty expensive. Thus, they are more appropriate for any critical decisions.
Method #5: Hire a PI
It may be that you need to know who somebody works for and you are short of time to handle all the groundwork involved, or maybe the information is just not easily found online. In that case, it is worth hiring a private detective.
These guys can conduct thorough investigations, but the price needs to be determined based on what kind of data you are trying to seek.
So, before you turn to the services of a private investigator, be sure to nail down precisely what you are going to find out, and ask for advice from people you know for a reliable PI who might deliver results.
Conclusion
For employers, deep background research into the work records of an individual is an absolute must if they are willing to avoid pricey hiring blunders.
Learning about someone’s place of employment can, however, be handy in many everyday situations. Like when interacting with a commercial traveler or even when online dating and trying to decide whether you should go on a date with someone or not.
Luckily, with AI and other sophisticated technologies today, there are ample tools and techniques to uncover information. We would advise starting with search engines such as Google or social media sites. These methods are free and generally available with few, if any, restrictions.
On the other hand, people search platforms offer more sophisticated results that are verified. What is critical to note is that this method may come at a cost and is not available for employee screening purposes.
Other means of finding workplace information include working with a PI and opting for employee vetting services. You can turn to them if search efforts from your side are relatively fruitless, or if searching for particular employment details becomes tricky due to compliance or accessibility challenges. These alternatives are more expensive but can be relied upon to find accurate, verified data.
FAQ
Can an employer’s HR department release information about employees?
Human Resources departments can disclose some information about those working in the company, provided you have a credible reason for the information needed. Thus, if you are aware of someone’s workplace, calling the organization’s human resource department could pay off.
You also need to be aware that not every employer will respond positively to the demand for information asked for. Or the amount of information they can divulge to you will still be minimal because of their employee data privacy policies.
Is it possible to find someone’s employment information with their SSN?
The answer is no. You can’t trace a person’s employment details using their SSN. It can only give you the state of an individual’s SSN and the issuing date, their aliases and associated names, and addresses linked to this particular Social Security number. But the obtained information can be used to identify the person in question, therefore forming a basis for a background check.
Is investigating someone’s work history legal?
It varies based on the kind of information you are seeking and the reasons for which you need it. As a rule, anybody can perform a public record search if the information is provided by reputable sources that comply with regulatory standards.
However, every platform has its restrictions. For instance, people search websites strictly forbid their use for employment checks and verification purposes.
It is always good to know the laws that apply and the specific terms involved when getting an individual’s details on a particular platform.
What kinds of employment information are classified as public records?
Public data is defined as records that the appropriate person or government makes accessible to the general public.
When you willingly publish where you work and in what capacity in your social media profile, that kind of information becomes public data. But employees’ salary or personal data a company has doesn’t.
Can anyone create a false work experience on the web?
A person can easily falsify employment information on their resume, personal website, and other resources.
For instance, they could exclude some employers with whom they have had a small work experience, lie about the duration of the work or the job title, or overstate their duties in a LinkedIn profile. It is essential to verify details and use reliable sources to ensure the accuracy of the information you obtain.
How Teaching Can Make You Unforgettable 14 May 2024 9:35 PM (11 months ago)
Recently, I posed this question on Twitter: “What was the name of your favorite teacher and what did he/she teach?”
I immediately got nearly a dozen responses, and the enthusiasm was palpable. English, history, economics, drums and literature teachers were lauded by fellow Twitterers who noted how the favored teacher was “encouraging,” “brilliant,” had “patience” or a sense of humor.
What I also found interesting was that no one forgot the name of that great teacher, which is kind of amazing when you think how many people claim they are “bad with names” even if they’ve met someone in business many times.
So, this got me to thinking about the power of teaching, and how we can use that in our careers.
While using LinkedIn and Facebook and other online networking tools can be helpful, and attending business and industry functions can be beneficial to your career, don’t forget that teaching may have one of the greatest positive impacts on your success.
Teaching, I believe, can take many different forms in the workplace. You can teach the new employee how to use the phone system, you can teach an older employee how to streamline a process, you can teach your boss how to access material on the Internet or you can teach a co-worker how to handle a difficult colleague.
The point is that you’re doing what great teachers do: Giving of your time and efforts with the purpose of passing on the gift of knowledge so that the student’s life will be enhanced, better and richer for having met you.
Don’t ever believe that you’re not patient enough, or smart enough or giving enough to be a teacher in the workplace. Even the smallest effort to pass on your knowledge can have a huge impact on someone else, and that’s very valuable in a workplace culture that is often so fast-paced and stressful that we forget someone’s name the minute we delete their e-mail.
Think back to your favorite teacher. What did he or she offer you that made you always remember him or her? How did they help you expand your mind and absorb the knowledge they offered you?
Now, consider what you have to offer someone else in the workplace. How can you use that knowledge to make yourself memorable, to form a connection that will last? Because let’s face it: Solid connections in the workplace not only benefit you now but in the future. Who do you think will help you when you’re looking for a new job or an important business contact — the person you helped teach, or the person you brushed off because you were too busy to help show the ropes?
“Teaching,” Albert Einstein said, “should be such that what is offered is perceived as a valuable gift and not as a hard duty.”
What are some ways you can “teach” in the workplace?
Research: Female Managers Focus More on Well-Being of Workers 14 May 2024 10:12 AM (11 months ago)
Corporate women in America are more burned out than men, but continue to offer greater support to their teams than their male counterparts, finds a new study from LeanIn.Org, Leadar and McKinsey and Co.
Specifically, the study of 400 organizations employing 12 million people, found that women leaders are helping their employees navigate work/life challenges, such as making sure workloads are manageable and making sure workers are coping and doing well.
The research also finds:
- Senior-level women are twice as likely as their male counterparts to dedicate time to diversity, equity and inclusions. McKinsey research has found that organizations that create strong, supportive cultures are more likely to retain the best people, leading to stronger bottom-line results.
- Women who take on this extra work aren’t being recognized for it. That’s why McKinsey researchers suggest that companies tie management performance and compensation measures to the overall well-being of workers.
- Even though artificial intelligence and robotics are becoming more popular in the workplace, more employers are focusing on the importance of human social and emotional skills in addition to decision-making and statistical skills.
If you’re in a job that feels as if it’s stagnating or you’re not getting enough support from your manager, it may be time to consider whether your boss may be the biggest obstacle to your success. If so, it might be time to consider organizations that reward managers for looking out for the well-being of the bottom line — and the employees.
Research: Internal Moves Smarter Than Job Hopping 14 May 2024 10:09 AM (11 months ago)
Job hopping has become more prevalent, especially as workers look for better paychecks and opportunities. But could you be making a mistake by leaving your current job, one that will hurt you financially and professionally in the long run?
New research from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania finds that workers who take advantage of different opportunities in their organizations not only get a pay raise with these moves, but they also receive greater responsibilities. This includes doubling the number of people they supervise and receiving a more advanced title.
While workers who job-hop to another company often get a pay raise, they don’t tend to also garner a bigger job title or more responsibility. Instead, the job is pretty much the same as their old job, and they are supervising about the same number of people.
Researchers say that while employees receive pay boosts with an internal job move, an external move may not have as much potential.
“[W]hen you move across firms, you get a pay raise — maybe 20%, or something like that. But what happens is, your time until the next promotion [is often delayed], so the trade-off there is a little more complicated. It does suggest that internal moves are quite important in moving ahead in your career,” says Matthew Bidwell, a management professor and one of the researchers.
Still, Bidwell says no one should believe that this means they shouldn’t accept a job at another company. You just need to be aware that while you’ll get a bigger paycheck, a promotion may be slower in coming.
“I get a bit nervous when people tell me about their career plans: ‘I’m going to go to this job. There’s not a lot of head room, but I’ll get great experience and I’ll use that experience to get hired into a higher-level job somewhere else.’ That turns out to be quite a hard transition to make,” he says. “So find a job where there is a room to grow inside the organization. You may not want to stay at that organization forever, but a least get a rung or two up the ladder, enabling you to move out to a higher rung elsewhere. That seems like a smarter career strategy.”
Recent research shows that while 83% of millennials admit that job hopping may not look so great on a resume to potential employers, 86% agree it won’t stop them from pursuing their professional or personal passions.
Even baby boomers have about 11 job between age 18 and 48, no longer believing they can stick with an employer for 30 years and then collect a pension and gold watch.
But based on this new research, it may be a good idea to consider whether you’ve really plumbed the possibilities at your current company before making a leap.
“It is those internal moves that lead to advances in pay, rank and responsibility, and provide long-term gains in pay and satisfaction,” Bidwell says.
Why You Need to Let Your Top Performer Go 14 May 2024 10:06 AM (11 months ago)
As a manager, would you let your top performer go to another department without a fight? Probably not. Most managers aren’t going to let their best employee waltz off to work for another manager.
But this “talent hoarding” is exactly what low-performing, non-agile, slow-to-change companies do, writes Kevin Oakes in Harvard Business Review.
This practice of hoarding superstars is natural, of course. Oakes, the CEO of the Institute for Corporate Productivity, says that research shows half of companies (and 74% of low performers) say that managers are often the No. 1 impediment to encouraging mobility of top performers.
It make sense, of course. Losing top performers can certainly adversely impact a department’s performance — and can then hurt a manager’s ability to rise in the ranks.
If companies want to become more agile and innovative — and better able to deal with unprecedented events like a pandemic — then they’ve got to change their thinking and how they move personnel. At the same time, managers have got to quit hoarding their top talent or risk these people leaving anyway because they are looking for more challenges and opportunities.
Oakes says that the best ways to ensure that top talent is used in a way that helps their own career and the company:
1. Don’t hide the talent. Call out the contributions these people bring to other departments, and reward managers for sharing them with others. Managers who help their people succeed and move around within a company become “talent magnets” and attract others who want to have a manager than helps with career development.
2. Celebrate lateral moves. Organizations need to make clear that lateral moves are just as valuable as upward trajectories to a career. When employees feel “stuck” and don’t have as many options, lateral moves can be a way to continue to grow their talents and value to the organization. Move all employees laterally from time-to-time to avoid “insider verses outsider feelings,” he says.
3. Normalize change. If there’s one thing that the pandemic has shown workers, it’s that change happens to every workplace. If a company culture normalizes change and treats it as a chance for opportunity, then employees will be less stressed and afraid of it. Mobility for workers within a company will be seen simply as part of a healthy business culture and something that makes a company stronger.
Should You Work With a Spouse? 14 May 2024 10:04 AM (11 months ago)
I’ve never watched “Sister Wives” before, but caught an episode last night where all the wives quit their jobs and moved from Utah to Las Vegas, Nev. with their husband. As I understand it, they want to launch a family business together, although they have no idea what that will be. And, based on what I saw last night with all the wives moving into different houses — and liking it — launching a business together will be an interesting development.
I recently interviewed a couple who not only run a company together, but advise other couples on how to do the same. I think the “Sister Wives” gang might learn a lesson or two from this story I did for my Gannett/USAToday column:
Most couples learn at some point that if they want to stay together, some joint efforts are best left to others — like trying to hang wallpaper or put together a computer desk.
Working on those projects together can strain even the strongest union. Yet how do thousands of couples work together every day running a business?
The secret is making sure you understand that wedded bliss doesn’t necessarily translate into career bliss, say Bethany and Scott Palmer, financial advisers known as The Money Couple. Love doesn’t guarantee that you won’t want to attack one another with staplers if you try to launch an enterprise together.
“You have to go into it with your eyes wide open,”Bethany Palmer says. “You may think it sounds really glamorous to run your own business, but you’ve got to talk about the challenges and the boundaries.”
That means, ahem, that pillow talk isn’t good for business or a marriage.
Scheduling time to talk about business — and knowing when to knock it off — is equally important.
“We always turn it off for dinner. We might have some time after the boys go to bed to catch up on something, but for the most part we keep it part of our day — even if that means we get up at 4:15 a.m. to talk,” Scott Palmer says.
Each say they grew up working for their fathers, and running a family business is in their DNA. They often take their boys, ages 7 and 9, on the road with them for seminars or speaking engagements where the kids help pass out books or assist in directing attendees.
“We’ve been very clear in our expectations when we take them along,” Scott Palmer says. “We tell them first you pay, then you play.”
At the same time, the Palmers say they pay attention for signs they may be too focused on their work.
“If they think we’re talking too much about business, they tell us,” Scott Palmer says of his sons. “And we stop.”
The Palmers often advise other couples about finances and starting their own businesses, and Bethany Palmer says it’s key that couples not lose sight of their personal relationship when launching a company.
She says she and her husband are religious about a date night every week, have a clear understanding of when they talk about work during their day, and remain flexible about how and when the work needs to get done.
The Palmers, authors of First Comes Love, Then Comes Money (HarperOne, $14.99) say they have several suggestions for couples who think they want to go into business together. Among them:
• Have equal footing. Just as a successful marriage is based on equality, so must be a business between partners.
“Capitalize on each person’s strengths,” Scott Palmer says. “Know what each person is good at and the expertise that person has.”
Adds Bethany Palmer: “It’s not going to work if one of you makes all the decisions and the other person is nothing but an assistant.”
• Don’t play the blame game. Just as McDonald’s and Coca-Cola have had things go wrong, so will a family business.
The key is that those companies continued to move forward, and so must a small business. Spending time blaming one another is a recipe for disaster, they say.
• Be analytical. Make a list of the pros and cons of starting a business, and understand how you handle and approach money.
The Palmers suggest spending at least a year determining your abilities, your skills, how you will handle conflicts, etc. Look at items such as setting salaries, hiring and firing employees, managing workers and tasks, getting insurance, marketing your skills and even planning the work space.
They liken it to building another family. Unless you’re both fully committed, it’s not going to work.
• Meet regularly. Chatting while making dinner or picking the kids up from soccer practice isn’t good enough.
Schedule regular work meetings to stay on top of key issues and make sure you’re on track with business plans, they say.
Do you think you could work with a significant other? What advice would you offer?