It’s been years since you’ve seen or talked to your old college friend. You’ve both moved on with your lives, but you’d love to catch up and see what they’re up to. How can you find them again? With the right tools and a little detective work, it’s not impossible to track them down. Check out these tips for reconnecting with an old friend.
1) Check old college records.
Your friend may have a website or a LinkedIn profile that will list their contact information, so start there. If you’ve lost touch with them but know where they went to college, look up alumni websites for your alma mater and see if they’re listed as former students. If they went to a particularly big school, you might be able to find their site through an Internet search engine using keywords from their name, such as “john smith [school name]” or “jane doe [school name].”
2) Contact mutual friends.
When all else fails, try contacting people who knew your friend while you were in college–especially people you know had mutual friends with them. Chances are they have a current address or phone number for your friend, which you can get by asking them for help.
3) Ask the college.
Many colleges keep alumni contact information on file and will release it to you if given a request from a third party, such as a friend or family member. Call your alma mater’s alumni office and ask them if they have contact information for your old friend. Keep in mind that there may be fees involved with obtaining this information, so check before sending out requests to every mutual friend you know.
4) Try social media search tools.
Tools like Facebook’s Graph Search and Spokeo can help you find someone even if all you have is their name. On Facebook, searching for people by name combined with your college city should turn up at least one result–and sometimes several results when combined with a high-profile college like the University of California. When using social media search tools, remember to take your privacy settings into account and avoid posting personal information (like your address) on social networks if you don’t want it exposed for all the world to see.
5) Use a People Search Site.
If you’re serious about finding your old friend and don’t mind spending a few dollars, you can use a people search service. These sites offer more in-depth profiles that include age, location, phone numbers, and even photos of people when available. You may also be able to subscribe to an email search service (for a price) to receive automatic updates if someone’s contact information changes or they move to another address.
6) Check for social media profiles.
You never know what kind of information you might find online–even on Facebook or LinkedIn–when trying to track down old friends and acquaintances. New algorithms could mean that their profile is visible only to friends or certain groups in your network, but it’s worth taking a peek before you give up hope.
7) Try a reverse phone number directory.
In some cases, you might find your old friend’s contact information by plugging their phone number into a search engine. A reverse phone number directory will show you the name and address for every listing matching your friend’s phone number–but you’ll need to pay for it. Reverse phone lookup sites let you search by just entering someone’s phone number, but they might charge a fee to access any records that turn up.
8) Visit the old college campus.
If you really don’t know where to search and can afford a trip, visit your alma mater and tap into its alumni network by visiting the office of your college’s alumni association. Don’t be afraid to ask around if you think your friend may still be in touch with someone from their past–alumni love helping out students who just want to catch up with friends they haven’t seen in years!
Finally
As you can see, there are several steps you can take to re-establish contact with someone you’ve lost touch with. With determination and perseverance (and maybe a little luck!), you could reconnect with your old friend in no time at all! Good luck!