How to Find Someone's Email on LinkedIn (the Right Way)
Great opportunities often begin with a single, well-timed connection and a bit of smart strategy. If you're job hunting, finding someone's email through LinkedIn can be a total game-changer. But it only works if you approach it with respect, clarity, and a human touch. After all, no one appreciates a cold message that feels like a midnight sales pitch.
This guide sets out the process step-by-step, explains why it sometimes falls flat, and shows how to make your eventual outreach feel personal instead of canned.
Why You Shouldn’t Just DM Everyone on LinkedIn
The platforms InMail and standard messaging systems aren’t broken, but they are narrow pipes. If there are no mutual connection exists, your note will probably not be seen.
A direct email bursts through that filter and lands in the private inbox where recruiters, founders, and hiring managers already scroll every morning. Delivered the right way, it feels tailored, professional, and far less spammy than another one-line hey, I’d love to chat.
That difference matters-and it matters even more when you’re trying to secure referrals or pitch a quick idea to an overloaded decision-maker.
Finding Someone’s Email on LinkedIn
Below are some of the tips to find a person's email address on LinkedIn:
Step 1: Start with Their LinkedIn Profile
Open the person's LinkedIn page and click on Contact Info. Sometimes a business or personal email waits right there, spelled out for you. More often, that section is blank. Even then, you have plenty to work with. Jot down their full name, current company, job title, and any shared connections who could offer a warm intro. That short list lets you move forward with real context.
Step 2: Use Company Domain Patterns
Most companies stick to a handful of predictable email formats. Think [email protected] or [email protected]. You can usually snag the domain by scanning the firm's homepage or checking the careers section. Once you spot the domain, the guessing game gets much simpler.
Step 3: Plug Info into Email Permutator Tools
Email Permutator tools do the heavy lifting for you. There are sites that crank out dozens of combinations by mixing the name with the domain. Email Permutator+ follows the same logic in a straightforward spreadsheet. Each permutation is one more chance to land the right inbox.
Once you have a short list of leads, run those addresses through an email checker. Hunter, NeverBounce, or MailTester.com are the usual suspects. A clean email list saves you the headache of bounces and gives your sender score a gentle nudge upward-especially nice when your outreach tray is overflowing.
Step four: Google the name, company, and the word email.
Press releases, corporate contact pages, and industry bios turn up more often than you think. In fact, a single hit can eliminate the guesswork for an entire team. You might even find the address hiding inside a research paper or panel write-up they contributed to.
If the old-school search leaves you empty-handed, turn to a Chrome extension such as Hunter or Skrapp. They comb LinkedIn and try to pin down a business address. Larger firms tend to leave breadcrumbs in public records, so the tools shine there. Small shops that route everything through Gmail or a personal domain usually stay under the radar.
The company's own platform and its LinkedIn page are usually the richest spots. Running the tools on both gives you an overlap you can trust. After that, double-check facts by hand so nothing slips through.
A friendly nudge from someone already in the circle works wonders and gets forgotten more than it should. Reach out to the mutual connection, ask them to drop an email. That one message hands you a live address and opens the door in a way cold outreach never can.
Referral Program Pros ran the numbers and found referrals of this kind land interviews five times more often than random applications.
Step five: Draft a quick note for your network
Hi [Name]. I just spotted you two dots away from [Target Person] on LinkedIn. I'm hoping to ask them about [one-sentence reason-job lead, joint project, whatever].
Could you drop us both an email and make the connection? I'll write the message if that speeds things up.
When Email Hunting Goes Too Far
Not every inbox is free game. Skip the sleuthing if the other person says they read DMs only, you have no good reason to break the barrier, or you're blasting a stock template that feels fake.
Trust lives in details like those, so respect the boundary and comment or react until the door opens naturally.
Crafting the First Email
Find the address, and the clock starts ticking. Email, unlike a DM, invites a greater pace and polish.
Subject Line: Quick intro from [mutual contact] or maybe Fun Idea about [shared interest]. Short and friendly feels better than salesy.
Opening: Hi [Name], [mutual friend] just mentioned you, or I saw your post on [specific topic].
Middle: I’m looking into [brief, concrete why] and think your input would be game-changing.
Close: If you're open, let me grab 10 minutes next week-or Im glad to swing by your office, coffee on me.
Below is a great template that can be used:
Subject: Quick Question About Your Team
Hi [Name],
I stumbled on your profile while scrolling through LinkedIn. The project your crew at [Company] launched last month really caught my eye. I'm trying to get a clearer picture of the day-to-day work in [specific area] and thought you'd be the perfect person to ask.
Would you have 10 or 15 minutes in the next few days for a voice or video chat? I'd keep it casual and just fire off a couple of friendly questions.
Either way, I appreciate you reading this and hope the rest of your week goes smoothly.
Referral Program Pros lives and breathes messages like this. We help job seekers strike that conversational balance in notes and cold DMs.
Practical Email Backups When the Inbox Is a Black Hole
If pure email goes silent, try these low-tech alternatives:
- Tap the LinkedIn Connect button and drop a one-line hello.
- Chiming in on their latest post-expert comments can break the ice faster than you'd think.
- Scan the company Slack workspaces or public community boards, folks often list their profiles there.
- Look them up on Twitter or see if they've set up a personal site-bios often include hidden handles.
Small gestures add up, and before long, the door cracks open a bit.
Guiding Principles for Found Addresses
When you do land an email, use it gently, never firehose the inboxes with bulk pitches. Keep the ask light, let the recipient step away if they're busy, and never lead with a hard sell.
Respect, plain and simple, is what keeps the lines open. A good outreach message lingers in someone's mind long after the screen goes dark. Text it as briefly and as friendly so the reader never feels cornered.
Trim the word count. Personalize the nod-and-wink subject line, then hit send. If silence stretches, circle back once, maybe twice. Beyond that, the tone shifts from curious to pushy, and you lose them.
Drilling down into a contact list one by one is a timesuck nobody enjoys. Referral Program Pros skips the scattershot blasts and roots for conversation-fueled exchanges instead. That shift gives the reply rates a noticeable edge.
Scrounging for addresses week after week wears out the clicker finger. A handful of plugins handle the chore in seconds.
ContactOut tacks the email right onto a LinkedIn profile. Apollo.io fills gaps, then stitches the info into CRM systems. Lusha zeros in on ABM and classic B2B lists.
For anyone still old-school, the outreach tracker spreadsheet parked on the Referral Program Pros site does the same work-just without fancy code.
Conclusion
Trick of the trade, earn the right to ask. Learning how to harvest an email address is the easy part. Convincing a stranger to invest five minutes in you takes kindness, context, and a dash of goodwill. Build first. Requests can wait.
Master the process, and nights spent scrolling job boards start to shrink. Faster intros, clearer chats, and opportunities that once felt out of reach suddenly materialize.
The full playbook lives at Referral Program Pros. Step-by-step guides, ethical outreach walkthroughs, and a community that believes referrals should feel human, not spammy.
