With over 1 billion members, how can you search for and find the right people on LinkedIn?

You can find high-quality connections by taking advantage of LinkedIn’s people search tool.

LinkedIn’s people search tool even allows you to search for people anonymously using the private mode. This feature ensures that you can view profiles without the other person knowing.

Unless you’re using a paid LinkedIn subscription, you may run out of searches for the month. Mastering LinkedIn search will help you stay within your monthly search quota.

We’ll show you how to fine-tune your LinkedIn search to get the most accurate results and build connections.

How do I Search for People in My Field on LinkedIn?

People in your field or industry could be your most valuable LinkedIn connections. You can share valuable insight, discover job opportunities, and access industry-specific training, webinars, and events shared by your connections. 

For example, you’re a business consultant looking for other business consultants to connect with on LinkedIn. This is how you’d find them:

Step 1: Place your cursor in the search bar on your LinkedIn feed and hit Enter.

Step 2: Click the People filter below the search bar. When the page loads, click All filters.

Step 3: In the pop-up window, scroll down till you reach the Industry section.

Step 4: Select Business Consulting and Services and click Show results. If you don’t find your industry in the options, click Add an industry and type the name of your industry in the text area.

How to Search for People by Job Title on LinkedIn

Looking for someone with a specific experience on LinkedIn?

Use LinkedIn’s Keywords filter and boolean operators to find people with specific job titles.

Step 1: Place your cursor in the search bar on your LinkedIn feed and hit Enter.

Step 2: Click the People filter below the search bar. When the page loads, click All filters.

Step 3: In the pop-up window, scroll down till you reach the Keywords section.

Step 4: Put the job title in the Title text box and click Show results. Use keywords with LinkedIn’s boolean search operators for more accurate results.

How to Search for People in Companies on LinkedIn

Find job opportunities, potential clients, or industry news by connecting with the right people from the right companies.

Here is how you can connect with industry leaders to achieve your professional goals:

Step 1: Place your cursor in the search bar on your LinkedIn feed and hit Enter.

Step 2: Click the People filter below the search bar. When the page loads, click All filters.

Step 3: In the pop-up window, scroll down till you reach the Current company section.

Step 4: Select your desired company and click Show results. If your desired company isn’t on the list, click Add a company and type the company’s name in the text box.

How to Search for People by School Attended on LinkedIn

People are more likely to accept your connection request if you share something.  Connecting with people who attended your school can lead to valuable networking opportunities and shared experiences.

Let’s say you’re searching for people who attended Harvard Business School.

Step 1: Place your cursor in the search bar on your LinkedIn feed and hit Enter.

Step 2: Click the People filter below the search bar. When the page loads, click All filters.

Step 3: In the pop-up window, scroll down till you reach the School section.

Step 4: Click Add a school and type Harvard Business School in the text area to add the school.

Step 5: Click Show results to bring a list of LinkedIn users who attended Harvard Business School.

On the search results page, you can type a name in the search bar to filter the results by name if you’re searching for one person.

How to Search for People by College Grad on LinkedIn

Sometimes, you may need to find LinkedIn users who graduated from a particular school. LinkedIn has an Alumni feature that you can use.

For example, if you want to find people who graduated from the University of Oxford between 2005–2010, this is what you’ll do:

On your LinkedIn feed, type “University of Oxford” in the search bar and hit your Enter key. Use the Schools filter to ensure only schools appear in the search results.

Open the University of Oxford page and switch to the Alumni tab. Change the Start year to “2015” and the End year to “2010”.

Scroll down the page to see 59,494 LinkedIn users who attended the University of Oxford from 2010–2020.

How to Search for People Privately on LinkedIn

To anonymously view someone’s LinkedIn profile so that LinkedIn doesn’t notify them when you visit their profile, change your Profile Viewing settings to Private mode.

Here’s how to do it:

Shortcut: Click this link to open your Profile viewing options. Then click Private mode.

To learn more about viewing LinkedIn profiles in private mode, read our blog post here.

How to Search for People That Work at Companies in a Certain Industry on LinkedIn

Improve your networking efforts and get new opportunities by connecting with professionals in a specific industry.

To start, you’ll need to do some due diligence outside LinkedIn to find out which companies are in your desired industry.

You can use these tools to find companies by industry:

Once you’ve gathered the list of companies in your preferred industry, move to LinkedIn.

Step 1: Place your cursor in the search bar on your LinkedIn feed and hit Enter.

Step 2: Click the People filter below the search bar. When the page loads, click All filters.

Step 3: Scroll down in the pop-up window till you reach the Current company section. Click Add a company to add those companies you got from your research one by one. When you’ve added as many as you want, click Show results.

Find People With Taplio’s Lead Database

Try Taplio’s database if LinkedIn can’t find the right people for you.

Taplio’s lead database has 3M+ contacts that you can filter by criteria such as country, industry, job level, topics, etc. Alternatively, you can tell Taplio what you’re looking for, and it will find the right contact for you.

Taplio has a 30-day free trial, so you can test its lead database without paying. Also, you get access to its post generator, industry news finder, LinkedIn analytics, mentions tracker, and more!

Wrapping It Up!

In conclusion, LinkedIn’s people search feature can be a powerful tool for building profitable networks and connecting with others.

Whether you are searching for people in your field, by job title, or in specific companies, the steps outlined in this post can help you find the people who matter most to your career and/or business.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to search for someone on LinkedIn without them knowing?

Select private mode to browse LinkedIn profiles anonymously. Once activated, the profiles you visit won’t be able to identify you as the viewer. Instead, they’ll simply see that someone anonymously viewed their profile without knowing your identity.

Does LinkedIn show who searched for you?

The Search Appearances profile feature shows how many people discovered you through a LinkedIn search. Additionally, it provides insights into those who searched for you, including their companies and job titles, helping to identify professional opportunities that are relevant to you.

Will someone know if I view their LinkedIn profile without logging in?

No, they cannot. LinkedIn tracks profile views through the account of the logged-in user, so if you’re not logged in, your visit is not associated with the profile you viewed.

Can non-LinkedIn members see my profile?

Your public profile is accessible to non-members, viewers who aren’t signed into LinkedIn, or individuals who haven’t connected their LinkedIn account to other approved services, depending on your off-LinkedIn visibility settings.

Can someone see if I viewed their LinkedIn in private mode?

No, if you’re browsing profiles with LinkedIn’s private mode enabled, the profile owners won’t receive a notification. Even users with a LinkedIn Premium subscription won’t be able to see that you’ve visited their profiles while you are in private mode.

How do you stop someone from looking at your LinkedIn profile?

  • You can block a specific member so they don’t see your profile on LinkedIn:
  • 1. Go to the profile of the person you’d like to block.
  • 2. Tap the More icon in the top right of the screen.
  • 3. Tap Report/Block from the dropdown menu.

Why do I appear in LinkedIn searches?

If you show up in LinkedIn search results, it means your profile matched the criteria of someone searching on the platform.

Can organizations see that I visited their LinkedIn Page?

Only if you allow organizations to see when you visit their LinkedIn Page by turning on the button on in the page visit visibility section.