Our best tips to use the Boolean search in your recruitment process

The internet now offers recruiters many opportunities to find the perfect candidate. However, the web is so large that the search can be lengthy and time consuming, unless you use the right technique. We recommend using the Boolean search. It will save you the trouble of sifting through tons of resumes to find the right talent. In other words, the Boolean search is an effective method to sort through the millions of resumes and profiles available on specialized platforms.

What is a Boolean search?

First, it's not a new generation technique. This method relies on the algebra of the mathematician George Boole. It aims at representing a document's content in a comprehensive way. It may seem complicated at first, but in reality, it's a practical solution and quite simple to perform. The Boolean search was developed in the 19th century. It was already used before it appeared on the web to find specific information in libraries and archives, among other things.

In any case, the Boolean search has become an important ally for recruiters. It facilitates and accelerates the hunt for the right profile. How does it work? It allows you to refine your searches according to the criteria you're looking for in a candidate. In order to do this, you need to use Boolean operators, which are specific words and signs. They will help you narrow or broaden your search results according to your needs.

Why should you use the Boolean search method in your recruitment process?

The principle of the Boolean search is to start with a generalized concept. In our case, it will naturally involve recruitment. Then, you must refine your search by adding relevant keywords to get results that match your expectations. The first advantage of this method is to save time. All the results that appear will fit your criteria. 

The Boolean search allows you to use different databases such as Google, LinkedIn, some CRMs or even your own ATS. You have several options to find relevant profiles without wasting time.

Besides saving time, the Boolean search gives recruiters the following advantages:

• Optimize in-house HR technology ;
• Free and effective use of search engines and websites ;
• Find great hidden talent ;
• Create more powerful and customizable search filters to find the right people for the job ;
• Perfectly targeted search results and candidate pools.

As a headhunter, you know that the most important aspect of the recruitment process is to target the right candidates. To do this, you must determine the job requirements and skills a candidate must have to fill the position. The Boolean search allows you to find candidates who meet these requirements.

 

Top 10 Boolean operators for recruitment

As mentioned above, a Boolean operator is a specific word or sign that can make all the difference. There are several operators to refine search engine results. However, when it comes to recruiting, the following 10 operators are the ones to consider. They are classified into two categories: basic operators and advanced operators.

6 basic Boolean operators

AND

"AND" is the most used Boolean operator across all industries. As you might guess, it is used to get search results that include two or more different keywords. It is placed between two keywords and allows you to refine and target your searches for more relevant results. 

For example, if you want to recruit someone working in marketing with management skills and experience, we recommend using the marketing AND director search string.

OR

The "OR" Boolean operator in a search string allows you to get results that match one keyword or the other, or both at the same time. In other words, it allows you to broaden your searches while targeting them appropriately. 

For example, if you use the commercial OR salesman string, you will see all results that include the words "commercial", "salesman" or both. 

As you can see, this operator is very useful for job names with variants and synonyms.

NOT

The "NOT" Boolean operator is used to narrow down results. It helps you find profiles that match a specific criterion and not another. It can also be replaced by the minus sign (-) pasted directly in front of the keyword (without a space) to be excluded. 

Using this Boolean search operator is quite tricky. If you exclude a particular keyword, you might miss out on promising profiles that include both keywords. 

For example, if you use the search string accountant NOT manager, your results will include accountant profiles with no management experience. Similarly, the search string accountant -Marseille allows you to find accountants who do not live in Marseille but also have no experience in the city.

The asterisk sign

If you put a * at the end of a string of letters, you will get results that include all words that start with that string. This broadens the search and allows you to find variants of your keyword. In most cases, these variants are words from the same family or root. 

For example, if you enter techni* in the search bar, the results will include the terms "technique", or "technician".

Quotation marks

Enclosing a phrase in quotation marks gives you results that include the exact same words in the same order. This is a useful Boolean operator for very specific searches. It allows you to better filter the results. 

For example, if you search for "senior sales manager", you will find profiles with the title "senior sales manager" and exclude everything else. The search results won't include synonyms either.

Parentheses

If you want to give priority to a word or phrase in a search string, you must enclose it in parentheses. This Boolean operator does not change the number of results, but it prioritizes the words in parentheses. It works like the PEMDAS principle or order of operations in mathematics. It determines which parts of an equation should be calculated first to get the correct result. Parentheses are useful for long and complex search strings. 

For example, if you type the following string (Marketing research officer) nantes,  the results will first show profiles containing the phrase "marketing researcher" before suggesting profiles with the entire string.

 

Advanced Boolean operators : 

The tilde

The tilde can be used to both narrow and broaden search results depending on how you use it. When placed in front of a word without a space, it generates results that include synonyms of the word preceded by the Boolean operator. This advanced Boolean operator is used to find a specific type of document such as a resume. 

For example, you can enter the search string ~Resume Accountant to find real resumes of accountants. However, since synonyms are considered, the results may show resume examples of candidates applying for an accounting position. In this case, you can narrow your search by using the basic NOT operator before the word.

NEAR

NEAR is a Boolean operator that allows you to search for words or phrases that are close to each other on a web page or in a document. This is a proximity operator that generates results with two different keywords separated by 1 to 10 words. This is particularly useful for more specific searches. 

For example, you can use this type of search string: bilingual NEAR sales agent

FILETYPE:

The FILETYPE Boolean search operator is used to find information that is difficult to locate online. Generally speaking, web pages found through Google and social media searches only contain part of the information. Seeing the entire resume of a candidate allows you to know if the profile is suitable for the position or not. You need to put a filetype: in front of a file type such as pdf, xls or doc. This will give you access to the files in the desired format. 

Your search string could look like file type: pdf human resources manager

URL: and SITE:

These two search operators are used to find specific information such as a job type on a website or web page. When they are placed in front of a domain name without any space, they allow you to specify which website should be searched. 

For example, you can use the search string site:linkedin.com ~VP production manager.

Combining operators

The power of Boolean search comes from the ability to combine multiple Boolean operators within a single query. This allows you to get high quality results compared to a traditional search.

For example, if you're looking for the Linkedin profile of a marketing manager in the Marseille area who has never worked at Carrefour, the Boolean search will be: "marketing manager" Marseille NOT Carrefour

CONCLUSION

The Boolean search is a method that emerged long before the Internet, unlike other popular recruitment tools such as AI. Yet, it remains effective to accelerate recruiting without compromising on quality. In fact, the Boolean search allows you to find profiles that precisely match your criteria. How does it work? Just use a Boolean search in the search bar of an appropriate website (Google or Linkedin for example). As you can see, there are two main categories: basic operators and advanced operators. You can also combine two or more operators in a search string to get even more precise results.

The Boolean method is easy to use when you learn how to apply it. The operators must be used properly to get the desired results. In any case, you can always outsource this difficult task by using an external recruitment service. Hunteed gives you access to the expertise of many recruitment agencies to handle your recruitments. Hunteed offers you a digital solution to manage every step of your recruitment process. Our human resources experts are here to help you find the best profiles. They will use the Boolean search on their own database. They will suggest the most deserving candidates and the final decision will be yours, of course.