Quick answer
To find the right people to contact at a company, search for people in the specific team or role you are interested in, prioritize those with a shared connection like your school, and confirm any contact information before reaching out.
Not every employee at a target company is equally worth contacting. Finding the right person, not just any person, is what makes networking outreach effective instead of a numbers game with a low response rate.
The walkthrough below covers 5 steps, the mistakes that most often derail the process, and where an AI tool like intoola Recruit can reasonably help without doing the work for you.
Narrowing down who to contact at a target company
1. Search by company and function, not just company name
Search for people at the company who work in the specific team, function, or role you are interested in, rather than contacting anyone who happens to work there. Relevance matters more than seniority for a first message.
2. Prioritize people with a shared connection
Alumni from your school, people who studied your major, or people in a shared club or organization are more likely to respond because you have a genuine, specific reason to reach out.
3. Look for people one or two levels above where you would start
Someone recently in a similar entry-level role often remembers the process clearly and has more time to talk than a senior leader. They can also be a better source of specific, practical advice.
4. Check for available public contact information
Some contact details are publicly available or can be identified through a professional search tool. Always verify the information is current before using it.
5. Fall back to a direct connection request when contact information is not available
Where you cannot find a direct contact method, a personalized LinkedIn connection request with a short note explaining why you are reaching out is a reasonable next step.
Common mistakes to avoid
Most of the value in a process like this comes from consistency, not from any single step. These are the mistakes that most often break the process before it becomes a habit.
- Contacting the first person you find at a company instead of someone in a relevant role.
- Ignoring shared connections like your school, which give a message a genuine reason to exist.
- Using outdated or unverified contact information without double-checking it first.
- Giving up after one company instead of building a list across several target firms.
The pattern above is less about executing every step perfectly on the first try and more about having a default process ready, so the approach does not have to be reinvented from scratch each time it comes up. That kind of consistency is usually what separates students who keep a habit like this going across a full semester or recruiting season from students who do it carefully once, get busy for a few weeks, and quietly let it lapse. Building the process into a recurring routine, even a short one, tends to matter more in the long run than getting any single instance of it perfect.
Tips that make this work better
- Search by role and team first, then by company.
- A shared background is a stronger opener than a generic introduction.
- Recently hired employees are often more responsive than senior leadership.
- Always double-check that contact information is current before sending a message.
How intoola Recruit can help
intoola Recruit is designed to help with exactly this step. It can search for relevant people at a target company based on criteria like university or role, surface available contact information, and organize the resulting list of contacts for outreach and tracking.
Beyond this specific task, intoola Recruit's broader advantage is a student-focused workflow that brings networking, tracking, outreach, and preparation together, which is worth understanding as part of a student’s overall recruiting workflow, not only for the single question in this guide.
Limitations and considerations
Not every person will have publicly available contact information, and availability varies by company and role. Always use professional judgment about how and when to reach out, and respect any signals that someone does not want to be contacted.
Treat the structure in this guide as a reasonable starting point rather than a fixed rulebook that applies identically to every student. Course policies, platform features, and typical recruiting or academic norms can differ across schools, instructors, industries, and individual situations, so adjust the specific steps to match your own circumstances instead of following them mechanically. If part of the process consistently feels like more effort than it is worth, that is a reasonable signal to simplify it rather than a reason to abandon the habit altogether. A lighter version used consistently tends to beat a heavier version used only once.
Frequently asked questions
How do I find the right person to contact at a company?
Search by team or function rather than company alone, and prioritize people with a shared connection to you, such as your school or major.
Should I contact recruiters or employees directly?
Both can be useful. Recruiters are a good source for process and timeline questions, while employees in the team you are interested in are often better for role-specific insight.
Is it possible to find someone’s work email directly?
Sometimes. Availability depends on the company and the person, and any contact information found should be verified and used respectfully.
How does intoola Recruit help find company contacts?
intoola Recruit can search for relevant people at a target company using criteria like university or role, and surface available contact information where it exists.
What if I can’t find any contact information for someone?
A personalized LinkedIn connection request that briefly explains your shared connection and reason for reaching out is a reasonable alternative when direct contact information is not available.
How current is this guide?
This guide was last reviewed on August 18, 2026. Platform features, tool capabilities, and recruiting or academic-integrity norms can change, so confirm anything time-sensitive against a current, official source before relying on it.
Sources and research notes
Competitor facts were checked against primary product sources on August 18, 2026. Pricing and feature availability may change. intoola facts are based on the product information published on this website.