Live Life Team
Ideally, if you are communicating across borders with someone, you’ve had the opportunity to meet them already and can ask them directly for their contact information! However, sometimes you are in the position of needing to reach out to a key contact for a business endeavor or you have to connect with the friends or family of someone you know. In any case, finding that number may prove more difficult than finding one closer to home.
In the event that you are trying to find someone’s number outside the USA, you’ll need a bit of information to begin searching for it.
For starters, it is ideal if you know the person’s first and last name so that you can identify the most likely candidates to call. Second, it is great if you know the specific town that they live in, or even their place of employment. This information will help give you other options for getting in touch with someone if you can’t connect with them directly.
Using a social networking site like Facebook or LinkedIn may help you get in touch with the person without having to use indirect methods. If their names are common, however, and you aren’t sure of what they look like, this may prove to be a challenging route to take. LinkedIn is helpful if you know where they work, because that will narrow your potential contacts dramatically, but they may not even be on that site or check it very often.
If you’ve been unable to connect with the person directly, you will want to do a bit of research on the area codes for phone numbers in the person’s area of residence. While this won’t guarantee you find the right one, it will narrow your search and help familiarize you with what area codes and phone number formats are common to the region.
Once you know what types of phone numbers to expect, you can try some alternative methods for finding their number. One method is to go through their employer’s directory, which may be accessible online or through their employer’s head office phone number. So long as you know their first or last name, this method usually allows you to get in touch with the right person.
If you have been unsuccessful using the methods discussed so far, another option is to research local online directories (for example, Canpages for Canadian business numbers). You could also try reaching out to a local help line and ask an agent to direct you to a resource that could yield some success.
