In today’s digital age, the internet has become an indispensable tool for job seekers. However, without the right approach, searching for a job on the internet can feel like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Each week approximately 61 million people are actively searching through LinkedIn for jobs.
The sheer volume of job postings and websites can be overwhelming, making it difficult to find relevant opportunities that align with your skills and aspirations. It’s easy to get lost in the sea of information and miss out on potential career prospects.
That’s why it is crucial to have a strategic approach when navigating the online job market. By utilizing effective search techniques and leveraging technology tools, you can increase your chances of finding that perfect job amidst the vast ocean of possibilities.
One of the most common techniques is the Boolean search LinkedIn recruiters use to scrape data on potential candidates. By utilizing this advanced search technique, you can narrow down your results and find the most relevant job postings that match your skills and qualifications.
Boolean search allows you to combine keywords, phrases, and operators to create specific search queries. This means that you can exclude irrelevant results, include specific terms, or even search for multiple criteria simultaneously. By mastering the art of Boolean search on LinkedIn, you can save time and energy by quickly finding jobs that truly align with your career goals.
Below we share some tips on how to use Boolean search on LinkedIn to refine job searches and find your ideal role.
The Boolean Search Terms
By using specific operators and connectors, Boolean search allows us to refine our searches and retrieve precise results. By utilizing these search terms effectively, we can save time and effort by eliminating irrelevant information and focusing on what truly matters.
Boolean search terms are a set of logical operators that help us narrow down our search queries and improve the accuracy of our results. The main Boolean search terms include quotation marks [“”], AND, OR, NOT, parentheses [()]
Quotation Marks
When you put your search term into quotation marks, the search engine will match the exact query and return more accurate results. If you type in “marketing director” in LinkedIn’s search bar, you’ll get results that include people who have this exact keyword phrase in their title or profile. However, it may also show some other people who don’t exactly match the search term.
To get the exact results you want, put the words “marketing director” in quotation marks to tell the engine that these words must appear together on the profile.
It’s important to understand how Boolean strings work. By using quotation marks to filter out irrelevant results, you can reduce the number of search results.
AND
The AND operator is used to combine two or more keywords into one search string and returns results that contain the keywords. You may want to find job postings for Systems Engineers on LinkedIn. You only need to type in “Systems Engineer”, jobs, and LinkedIn. You will see the refined and exact results.
OR
OR returns search results that include all or some of the keywords. You might want to search either for Program Manager or Operations Manager roles. You would search for something like:
“Program manager” OR “Operations manager” AND jobs
This would generate job postings on Linkedin with the keywords “Program Manager”, “Operations Manager”, or both.
NOT
This operator can be used to exclude a search term that contains multiple terms or if you want to remove a search phrase where specific terms are present. A search for “Manager” but NOT “Sales”, will return results containing “manager”, and not “sales”.
Parentheses [()]
It’s best to use parentheses when creating more complex Boolean strings. This will tell LinkedIn how to process the search. This indicates the importance of your search, which is important when using multiple operators.
If you’re searching for two variables and one operator (for instance: “Marketing manager” AND SAAS), you don’t need parentheses. However, if you’re looking for multiple jobs within a certain industry or industry, you’ll want to include parentheses.
Important Factors You Should Consider
Boolean operators will only work when you follow the instructions.
- Boolean search operators AND, OR, and NOT should always be written with uppercase letters, not lowercase. As an example, content manager AND marketer.
- Use quotation marks when you use two or more phrases in a search, such as “content marketer”.
- When combining Boolean operators, use parentheses. For instance: (content marketer OR content manager) NOT content writer.
Final Words
Incorporating Boolean search techniques into your job hunt can significantly enhance your chances of finding the perfect opportunity. By refining your searches and eliminating noise from the results, you can focus on relevant positions while saving time and effort in the process.
