Searching for people on LinkedIn by email address can be very useful when you want to connect with someone but don’t know their full name. LinkedIn allows you to search for members using email addresses, but there are some limitations to be aware of.
Searching by Email on LinkedIn
To search for someone by email address on LinkedIn, follow these steps:
- Go to www.linkedin.com and log into your account.
- Click on the search bar at the top of the page.
- Type in the person’s full email address and press enter or click the search icon.
LinkedIn will search its database for members associated with that email address. If there is a match, their profile(s) will appear in the search results. If no matches are found, you’ll see a message stating “We didn’t find any LinkedIn members with [email protected] as an email address.”
Tips for Email Searching
- Make sure you enter the person’s full and exact email address, including the correct domain (e.g. @company.com). Even small typos will result in no search results.
- Try alternate email addresses the person may have used to sign up, like a personal gmail account.
- Not everyone has their email address listed on their public LinkedIn profile, so lack of results doesn’t guarantee the person isn’t on LinkedIn.
- You can only see the profiles of LinkedIn members who are within 3 degrees of connection from you.
- If you get multiple matches, look at location, company, and position details to identify the right person.
Limitations of Email Search
While the email search function can be handy, there are some limitations to what it can achieve:
- Partial email matches don’t work – You need the person’s exact, full email address to return any results.
- Common email names may have multiple matches – Searching for [email protected] could return multiple profiles for different Johns.
- The email address is not displayed in results – You won’t see the actual email address used in the search listed on a member’s profile.
- Not everyone has an email listed – Many LinkedIn members choose not to display their email publicly on their profile.
- Limited by your network – You can only search profiles up to 3 degrees away, unless you have a premium account.
Alternative Search Options
If searching by email address doesn’t work, there are a few other options you can try to find someone on LinkedIn:
Search by Name
Search for the person’s full name or try variations of their first and last name. Use filters like location, company, school, etc. to narrow it down.
Search Within a Company
Go to the Company page and search for people under the Employees or People tabs. You can filter by location, title, school, etc.
Use the URL Trick
If you know the exact URL of someone’s public profile, plug that into the search bar to go directly to their page.
Browse Connections of Connections
Look through the connections of people in your network who might know the person you’re trying to find.
Use Premium Tools
Upgrading to a Premium account gives you access to more advanced search filters and the ability to send InMail messages to people outside your network.
Should LinkedIn Allow Email Search?
The ability to search by email address on LinkedIn raises some privacy concerns. Here are some pros and cons of allowing this type of search:
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Overall, the ability to search by email gives users more options to connect on LinkedIn, but steps may need to be taken to prevent abuse. LinkedIn could potentially:
- Require user consent to allow email searching
- Anonymize emails in search results
- Limit searchability based on user settings
- Restrict email searches from recruiters or sales professionals
Conclusion
Searching LinkedIn by email address can be a useful way to find connections, but it has limitations. Not everyone’s email is visible or searchable, and you can only see profiles up to 3 degrees away unless you upgrade to Premium. While the feature provides more search options, LinkedIn may need safeguards to protect privacy and prevent misuse of email addresses.