E-BOOK

BOOLEAN search
With tips & tricks for Boolean & LinkedIn.

www.sourcingtraining.com
Content
1 Boolean basics ........................................................................................................................................... 3

1.1 AND, OR, NOT 3

2 Do your research for the right keywords .................................................................................................... 4

2.1 Basic research: 4

3 LinkedIn ...................................................................................................................................................... 6

3.1 LinkedIn basic & premium 6

3.2 LinkedIn Recruiter & Recruiter Lite 7

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1 Boolean basics
Nowadays almost everyone can be found online, including suitable candidates for your vacancy. By means
of sourcing you can find these candidates.
An essential part of this process of mapping, searching, and qualifying best candidates is learning "how" to
search. That's where Boolean Search comes in.

In this e-book I give you tips to find more and better candidates in less time using Boolean Search.

With Boolean, you can search more specifically in search engines (such as Google or Bing) and databases
such as (LinkedIn, Indeed or Monster.)
And often your ATS (applicant tracking system) also works with Boolean.

So, if you understand Boolean a little, you can search faster and more specifically? Yes, of course.

1.1 AND, OR, NOT

The basic principle of Boolean Search is simple: You combine your keywords with 'operators'. The three
basic operators are AND, OR or NOT (always capitalize) with which you can combine keywords.

In this example, I'm using the following three keywords it, recruiter, and talent acquisition.

Boolean operator What does it do Example Boolean search string

AND Only returns results that match both it AND recruiter
keywords.

OR Returns more results that match one it OR recruiter

of the two keywords.

Handy mnemonic: OR gives more

NOT Exclude a keyword recruiter NOT it

““ Allows search with two or more “talent acquisition”

keywords.

() Allows search using a combination of (recruiter OR “talent acquisition”) AND it

OR with AND or NOT.
(recruiter OR “talent acquisition”) NOT it

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2 Do your research for the right keywords
To get more and better results with Boolean Search you must use synonyms. For example, an it recruiter
can simply be called it recruiter, but also a tech recruiter, recruiting guru, sourcing expert, talent acquisition
advisor, chief of talent, etc.

What are the required keywords of the client or hiring manager, as stated in the job description? And what
other alternative keywords can you find? Use Boolean Search to combine terms that limit or broaden your
search area as best as possible.

And in terms of skills, they can be recruitment, Boolean, sourcing, recruiting, headhunting, research, etc. This
way you can further enrich your search. In the online training masterclass Boolean search, I teach you how
to properly research more synonyms and how to record them in a structured way.

2.1 Basic research:

Think carefully about exactly who you are looking for and what can be on his or her online profile. First do a
basic search in LinkedIn, for example. To stick with the example: “IT recruiter”.

Not only in terms of titles and skills, but also where do they work or have worked. You do this as follows:
i) At the top, you put your keywords “IT Recruiter”.
ii) Then choose people and choose location (for example, Australia).
iii) Then select All filters > and see the top 5 current or top 5 previous companies at companies.

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Then open several profiles and see what they have in them. What can you find?
1. Alternative titles in the past or what steps they followed.
2. Companies where they currently work and have worked.
3. Skills in the Skills Section.
4. Education and courses they may have done.
5. What groups they are members of.
6. And all the text they mention in their work experience, see if you can find specific keywords there.

And then do it the other way around: Enter some skills in your search bar, specifically from your initial
research, and now see if you can find alternative job titles.

Alternatively, you can also look at Google4jobs, LinkedIn jobs or Indeed, and see what you can find there
about alternative job titles. For example, LinkedIn taught me that a tech recruiter is also called technical
recruiter, or technical talent sourcer. And you can immediately see which organizations are recruiting.

This way you build up knowledge of your target group and you know better what you are looking for. Without
research the search will not go well.

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3 LinkedIn

3.1 LinkedIn basic & premium

With a large net, you catch a lot of fish. But also, a lot of “waste” that you don’t want to add. With common
job titles, such as recruiter, talent acquisition, recruitment specialist, sourcing expert, you create a lot of
search results. Sometimes too many results and then you must apply additional search criteria.

Does the vacancy require an IT recruiter with experience in recruiting devops, developers or software
engineers? Then use those terms in your Boolean Search. Or look for companies who are having tech
recruiters.
That way, you will find candidates who are a better fit and be different from the recruiters who search too
generically. And you will spend less time looking for the right candidate.

Example Boolean string

(“tech recruiter” OR “technical recruiter” OR “technical talent sourcer” OR “tech sourcer”) AND (devops OR
developer OR “software engineer”)

This above search query creates an error in your basic or premium

account in your LinkedIn account, how is that possible?
This has to do with the restrictions LinkedIn imposes on you. After 6-7
operators you will get this error. They want you to use their paid variants.
Without being very clear about this .

You can split this search into keywords and titles. This allows for a more options, here step by step.
i. At the top you put your keywords (devops OR developer OR "software engineer")
ii. Then choose persons and possibly location
iii. Select All Filters > below Keywords – Title (this will find only current titles)
iv. Copy the second part of your Boolean string here (recruiter OR recruitment OR "talent acquisition"
OR sourcer)
v. If you want to use more keywords, titles, or companies. Without running into any limitations.
Use the sourcing training boolean builder, for free. Use the orange button, it will give a strange
annotation. For example: ("technical recruiter" OR("tech recruiter") OR("tech talent sourcer"))

Credits for finding this strange annotation of Boolean goes to Irina Shamaeva.

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3.2 LinkedIn Recruiter & Recruiter Lite

If you want to run the above search in your Recruiter or your Recruiter Lite account, you run into fewer
limitations. Because the number of Boolean keywords, titles etc. you can use is larger.
So, you don't run into limitations so fast.

You can choose the standard job titles that LinkedIn provides. In this
case it also gives some alternative titles. IMO not so good.

It is my experience that you can use this to effectively replace your

Boolean Strings you have built. The results are better and often
provide more search returns.

Again, split into job titles and keywords. And of course, you have many more search filters at your disposal.
In the LinkedIn Recruiter Masterclass and LinkedIn Recruiter Lite Masterclass I give advice about all filters
and which one’s work and which ones don't. And a little scoop most of them will break your results.

Also, for your convenience you can use the Sourcing Training free Boolean builder.
These are the first steps you can take to have better, more focused, and sometimes more or less results.

You also will receive a excel sheet after downloading this document. This excel sheet you can store the
research and copy and paste it into the Boolean builder.

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"There is no
such thing as a
good search
without
research"

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