Simple can sometimes be magical. Boolean search in recruitment is one such simple method— magical too.
Did you know that 62% of recruitment & HR leaders cite time-to-hire as one of the key success KPIs in hiring?
So, if you’re a recruiter, and if you could quickly fill job openings with quality hires, wouldn’t that make you a hero?
Our guess is it will.
Now, a pertinent question is
“How do you minimise time-to-hire, and subsequently cost-of-hire?”
Of course, you need to automate your hiring workflows, but is that enough?
Can you do something more?
Well, we have an intel. There is a secret weapon that top recruiters have in their hiring skills arsenal, which many recruiters lack. Shhhh… (keep it a secret), it's a Boolean search skill.
Top-performing recruiters use boolean search to hire the right talent. When used correctly, Boolean searches help lower time-to-hire.
But what’s a Boolean search?
How to use Boolean search for hiring?
Is Boolean search a skill that you should learn in 2024?
More importantly, if you’re considering adding a SaaS recruitment tool to your HR stack, is Boolean search capability a must-have feature?
Read this Skima Insight to find answers to all these questions and more.
Why Do You Need Boolean Search In Recruitment?
Have you ever used LinkedIn for scouting talent?
Or any talent-sourcing platform like Monster, Bayt, or Naukri?
Well, if you have, then to discover talent, you must have used their respective search engines.
Right?
In these recruitment portal search engines, when you perform a normal search “Python Django developer,” the candidate results that you get might not always be of the best quality.
The search results sometimes may list profiles that don’t contain all the keywords that you searched for.
Sometimes, they would also contain profiles that fulfil your certain criteria, but also have the red flags that you don’t seek.
For example, you searched for ‘Python Django developers,’ but you got results from both India and the US, while you only wanted US candidates.
This means you lose your precious time wading through profiles of candidates who might not be qualified for the job.
A Boolean search recruiting strategy solves this problem, and-
- Saves your time
- Improves your average time-to-hire
- Reduces your average cost-of-hire
- Enhances your quality of hire
What’s Boolean Search In Recruitment?
When you search “python django developer,” you’re performing a simple search, but when you look for "python OR django AND developer," you’re performing a Boolean search.
Here, ‘OR’ and ‘AND’ are Boolean operators.
With Boolean search, you can refine the search results by using Boolean operators & modifiers in your search queries.
There Are 3 Boolean Operators— AND, OR, and NOT.
Boolean operators are words or symbols used as conjunctions to include or exclude keywords in search queries.
Basically, it specifies your choices more clearly to the search engines, and in return, the search engines respond with accurate & precise matching results.
When you use these operators to perform a search, it’s called Boolean search, aka Boolean searching.
The combination of your keywords and Boolean operators together is referred to as Boolean strings.
Boolean searching significantly speeds up your talent discovery process, and subsequently the effectiveness and precision of your recruitment workflows.
Thus, enables you to tap into the full potential of a recruitment platform.
But, how does it really work? How does using AND, OR and NOT Boolean operators impact your recruitment workflow?
We shall explain that. However, first, let’s understand the functionality of the 3 Boolean search operators.
Thereafter, we shall explain how LinkedIn Boolean Search is a bit different.
Later, we shall see LinkedIn Boolean Search examples to further clarify things.
AND Boolean Search Operator
1. Each AND operator in a Boolean string joins two search keywords. Consider this to be your means of expressing, "I want both this and that."
2. It is used when you need to narrow down your query to only include those search results that have both the AND-operated keywords.
3. For example, when you enter "accountant AND tax," the search engine is instructed to locate applicants who possess both accounting and tax expertise.
OR Boolean Operator
1. Each OR operator in a boolean string disjoins two search keywords. It's similar to stating, "I'm cool with either this OR that."
2. It is used when you need to expand your query to include all search results that have at least one of the OR-operated keywords.
3. For example, a Boolean search query "developer OR programmer," leaves room for applicants who may fit either description.
NOT Boolean Operator
1. Each NOT operator in a boolean string excludes one search keyword. It’s akin to saying "I want a technician, but NOT an automotive one."
2. It is used when you need to narrow down your query to exclude the results that may contain the NOT-operated keyword.
3. For example, a Boolean search “marketing NOT healthcare” instructs search engines to list only the profiles that are in marketing but not in healthcare.
What Are Boolean Modifiers? Why Do You Need Them?
Actual uses of boolean searches can often be very complex. It may not always be as simple as “designer AND textile.”
Sometimes, you may need to search for talent who are textile designers, have computer-aided design (CAD) skills, a work experience at Zara, and are a US resident living in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, or San Jose.
On top of that, you do not want results for freelancers automotive designers, or graphic designers.
How do you perform a query as complex as that?
Well yes, you can use Boolean search operators, but alone they are not enough sometimes.
If you actually want to learn how to use Boolean search in recruiting to expedite the hiring process, you also need to be good at using Boolean modifiers.
Boolean modifiers are special characters that can be used alone or in combination with Boolean search operators to improve the accuracy of your search results.
3 Standard Boolean Modifiers— Parentheses, Quotes, Asterisk
Parentheses () are used for grouping complex queries. An example of a Boolean search in recruitment with parentheses could be
python AND developer NOT (java OR javascript)
This query should give you profiles of Python developers who are not Java or Javascript developers.
Quotes “” is used for getting exact keyword matches. A LinkedIn Boolean search example with quotes to find profiles that are into talent acquisition could be
“talent acquisition specialists”
This gives you all the profiles that have these keywords together in the same order in a candidate’s profile.
Asterisk * or Wildcards are used to include all the variants of a word. For example, some candidates write in their profile ‘marketer,’ while others write marketing. You can perform the following Boolean search to include both-
market*
Also, some search engines support ‘+’ and ‘-’ as additional Boolean search modifiers-
- ‘+’ is equivalent to AND Boolean search operator
- ‘-’ is equivalent to NOT
However, not all modifiers are supported by all recruitment search platforms.
LinkedIn Boolean Search
The concepts of Boolean search and operators are consistent across all search engines, including LinkedIn Search, Google, and other platforms.
Note: There is a catch in LinkedIn Boolean Search. People get confused when using LinkedIn Boolean search.
Because it gives bizarre results when compared to a simple LinkedIn search.
LinkedIn Text Search Example
If you perform a plain search (without any Boolean operators) on LinkedIn for the keyword “developer marketing,” it throws you 389K results.
AND LinkedIn Boolean Search Example
Now, when you want to narrow down the results using AND LinkedIn Boolean search, you would expect the number of results to decrease, whereas, it actually increases 3X.
In the following ‘AND’ LinkedIn Boolean search example, we have the boolean string “developer AND marketing”. As you may observe, it yields 1.03M developer profiles who have also mentioned marketing skills/experience in their profile.
Woah! Wait, what? Ideally, AND boolean search should have given fewer profile results compared to the plain search. But here, that’s not the case.
Isn’t it confusing?
Well, let’s figure out what’s happening.
With LinkedIn, the plain text search is not how it works in a normal search engine.
LinkedIn serves you results for plain search queries based on their custom algorithm (probably designed for intent & relevance).
Thus, the maths don’t add up.
But with that exception, everything else is fine with LinkedIn Boolean search.
All 3 Boolean operators work smoothly, consistently, and accurately on LinkedIn.
NOT LinkedIn Boolean Search Example
Here’s another LinkedIn Boolean search example with the Boolean operator NOT i.e., “developer NOT marketing.”
This gives you 9.8M results for developers who have no marketing experience/skills mentioned in their profile.
OR LinkedIn Boolean Search Example
Lastly, if you want to expand your search results to any of the keywords ‘developer’ or ‘marketing,’ you need to use the OR Boolean operator. A LinkedIn Boolean search example with an OR operator could be “developer OR marketing.”
This gives you 64M results, wherein each of the profiles has either a developer, or a marketing background, or both.
Awesome! Now that you've had fair exposure to how you can perform Boolean searches, let’s understand how you may use your Boolean skills to improve recruiting outcomes.
How To Use Boolean Search In Recruiting?
1. Discover The Right Candidates On Recruitment Portals
You can use Boolean search on recruitment platforms to filter profiles based on different criteria-
a. Skills & Location
This Boolean search recruiting strategy comes in handy when you want to find candidates who are more likely to work from the office, and thus you search for talent in a specific region. This is also helpful in diversity hiring, offshore hiring, or when you’re opening your business in a new locality.
Example- Java AND (developer OR engineer) AND “New York”
b. Degree or certification
This Boolean search strategy comes in handy when you want to hire people with specific educational backgrounds.
Example- PhD AND (computer science OR information technology) AND “PMP certified”
Similarly, you can scout profiles based on seniority, industry, last company, job position, language, etcetera.
2. Discover The Right Talent On Search Engines Like Google & Social Platforms Like Twitter & LinkedIn
You may use Boolean search queries on Google to find candidates’ downloadable resumes and CVs too.
Of course, you can only download the ones that are available to be downloaded, not just any resume.
Such a query would make use of certain parameters that Google supports to help its users perform advanced searches.
An example for Google Boolean search to find downloadable CVs/resumes of Python software developers-
filetype:PDF (intitle:resume OR intitle:cv OR inurl:resume OR inurl:cv) (“Python developer” AND “Python programmer”) -job -jobs -sample -examples -template
This search uses Google-specific search operators filetype, intitle, inurl, and -.
Basically, it gives you all the PDF format downloadable resume links (search results) for search terms ‘python developer’ or ‘python engineer,’ wherein ‘resume’ or ‘CV’ is used in the page title or page URL.
Additionally, it narrows down the results by excluding any search result that has any occurrence of ‘job, jobs, sample, examples, and template.’
So, you get only high-quality search results.
3. Enhance The Talent Discovery Capability of Your ATS or CRM
You may use Boolean search to discover the purple squirrels hidden in your ATS or CRM database. The elusive purple squirrel exists if you know where to find it.
In every ATS, there are 1000s of candidates who may have expressed interest in joining your organisation, but due to workload, recruiters couldn’t even take a glance at their resumes.
Due to this lack of visibility, recruiters and employers often miss good candidates.
Using Boolean search in recruitment, you can be more efficient in using underutilised resources, and tap into your existing hidden talent pool to fill vacancies.
Let’s understand in detail how you can use Boolean search capabilities to augment the powers of your ATS or CRM.
How SKIMA Expands The Boolean Search Capabilities of Your ATS?
In general, all the ATS would support Boolean search out of the box.
But some may not.
Unfortunately, even those who support Boolean search aren't always effective.
Most of these platforms are designed to serve everyone i.e., all recruiters.
Thus, they are not designed robust enough to carry out custom & complex boolean searches.
Enter SKIMA— your go-to SaaS tool for talent intelligence.
SKIMA is built to help you identify & hire the best-matching candidates in the blink of an eye. It’s an AI-powered talent intelligence platform.
Amidst a suite of top-notch features that it offers to recruiters, aka TA, or HR professionals, there is a hidden gem i.e., SKIMA’s search capabilities. It can be used on top of your ATS and helps you perform powerful Boolean searches.
- SKIMA integrates with all major recruitment ATS in the market- BambooHR, Workable, Lever, JazzHR, Jobvite, Breezy, Freshteam, and others.
- It helps you tap into the dark data that your ATS sits on i.e., candidate’s information in ATS that isn’t analysed or utilised. You can easily integrate SKIMA into your ATS, and perform highly complex Boolean searches to discover talent which otherwise you may have missed.
- You can use SKIMA right from within your ATS, or you can use the SKIMA dashboard.
- You can configure SKIMA to automatically import all the job applicants' data including their resumes from your ATS to your SKIMA account to leverage SKIMA’s talent intelligence capabilities.
- You may even import candidates' resumes/CVs manually to perform boolean searches on them.
Wait, why talk about it, when you can experience the magic?
Here, book a demo to see SKIMA AI in action.
End Note
Recruiters & talent acquisition specialists use Boolean searches to strategically filter not-so-relevant candidates and rather zero in on profiles that match their exact needs (qualified candidates).
As the recruitment industry grows, the use of Boolean search in recruiting strategies will become increasingly important. It’s already a crucial component of every recruiter’s toolkit.
Thanks to SKIMA AI, using Boolean search to tap into the hidden talent pool and underutilised candidate’s data in your ATS has never been easier.
Sign Up and try it now, to experience the magic of SKIMA AI in recruiting. Lastly, subscribe to SKIMA Insights to be a top performing recruiter.
Keep rocking!
