diff --git a/pyslurm/pyslurm.pyx b/pyslurm/pyslurm.pyx
index 06d901e3..103c09b9 100644
--- a/pyslurm/pyslurm.pyx
+++ b/pyslurm/pyslurm.pyx
@@ -1985,7 +1985,7 @@ cdef class job:
             apiError = slurm.slurm_get_errno()
             raise ValueError(slurm.stringOrNone(slurm.slurm_strerror(apiError), ''), apiError)
 
-    cpdef find_user(self, user):
+    def find_user(self, user):
         u"""Retrieve a user's job data.
 
         This method calls slurm_load_job_user to get all job_table records
@@ -1999,14 +1999,12 @@ cdef class job:
             int apiError
             int rc
             uint32_t uid
-            char *username
 
         if isinstance(user, str):
             try:
-                username = user
-                uid = getpwnam(username)[2]
+                uid = getpwnam(user).pw_uid
             except KeyError:
-                raise KeyError("user " + user + " not found")
+                raise KeyError("user %s not found on this system." % user)
         else:
             uid = user
 
diff --git a/tests/test-job.py b/tests/test-job.py
index ab6d70d2..5df684bf 100644
--- a/tests/test-job.py
+++ b/tests/test-job.py
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 from __future__ import absolute_import, unicode_literals
 
 import pyslurm
+import sys
 import time
+
 from nose.tools import assert_equals, assert_true, assert_false
 
 from common import scontrol_show
@@ -79,6 +81,24 @@ def test_job_scontrol():
     assert_equals(test_job_info["work_dir"], sctl_dict["WorkDir"])
 
 
+def test_job_find_user_string():
+    """Job: Test job().find_user() (String)."""
+    user = "root"
+
+    if sys.version_info < (3,0):
+        user = user.encode("UTF-8")
+
+    test_job_output = pyslurm.job().find_user(user)
+    assert_true(isinstance(test_job_output, dict))
+
+
+def test_job_find_user_int():
+    """Job: Test job().find_user() (Integer)."""
+    user = 0
+    test_job_output = pyslurm.job().find_user(user)
+    assert_true(isinstance(test_job_output, dict))
+
+
 def test_job_kill():
     """Job: Test job().slurm_kill_job()."""
     test_job_search_before = pyslurm.job().find(name="name", val="pyslurm_test_job")