Preparation of Boolean Search Strings and The Operators

Detailed Notes on preparation of Boolean
Search strings and all the operators

Finding the best candidates can take time and effort. After all, there
is likely to be a range of different aspects that you are looking for in
your new employee and it can be difficult to narrow this down in your
search. Thankfully, using Boolean search strings enables you to
achieve a more specific search. By combining keywords and
phrases within the Boolean operators AND, OR, NOT, “speech
marks” and (brackets), you are able to limit, widen or define your
search. This means that you’re presented with only the most
relevant candidates. Below, we’ll talk you through the different types
of Boolean search strings you can use to improve your chances of
finding the best talent. The tediousness of sifting through resumes and
websites, trying to find a hidden gem of a candidate, is a scenario that
every recruiter can empathize with. And, in recent years, recruitment
technologies that harness artificial intelligence have been added to the
mix, at times creating an extra layer of unneeded complexity and time.
If I have your attention, then let’s talk about Boolean search in

recruitment.
Yes, Boolean search. That thing your high school librarian taught you
when you were trying to find books for your homework assignment. What
Laxminarayana Bupathi
Senior Staffing Consultant for US Process,
Professionals Resume Builder at Freelancer & Trainer for US Staffing
Story Writer at Telugu Film Industry
Reach me at [email protected]
you might not know about Boolean search is that it’s still very much in
use today across virtually all digital search interfaces.
Boolean search is such a pervasive tool that you may not even realize
that you use it on a daily basis. For example, if you put quotes around a
search term in Google, you’re using Boolean search. Google, in fact,
wouldn’t even be here without Boolean search – a large portion of its
search functionality relies on these principles.
Boolean search: Boolean search is a structured search process that
allows the user to insert words or phrases such as AND, OR, NOT to
limit, broaden and define the search results. ... By using Boolean search,
employers can narrow down the pool of candidates they are presented
with by specifically looking for what is required in that role.
How to perform a Boolean search

Boolean searches can be done on any search engine across the Internet
using certain symbols and there is no restriction on how many you use in
one search string.
Five elements of Boolean search:

1. AND: placing AND between search keywords will allow user's
results to include both (or all) of the keywords. The search terms that
follow the AND must appear in the search results.
2. OR: user writes OR when he/she wants to search for something
that has the possibility of including either set of search terms. All
combination possibilities will come up.
3. NOT: when a user dos not want a specific search term to appear in
the results, he/she writes NOT after the preferred search term. This will
prevent the terms from coming up.
4. Quotation marks “”: when users want to search for an exact phrase,
they use quotation marks around that phrase.
5. Parentheses (): placing parentheses allows separation of the terms

and preference to be given to specified ones.
Boolean Search Strings Basics

Based on some mathematical theory in which all variables are either
‘true’ or ‘false’, Boolean search on Google is one of the best sourcing
tools for recruiters. The definition of Boolean search is that it’s a type of
search that allows users to combine keywords with operators such as
AND, NOT and OR to produce more relevant results.
Here are the basic operators for Boolean search strings for recruiters:
AND
When you want to include two (or more) criteria in your search, the
operator AND narrows down your search. For example, a Boolean
search string for recruiting Android developers should include ‘developer
AND android’. This will produce results that include both keywords.
Venn diagram of the Boolean AND operator

A AND B | A ∩ B
OR
The OR operator, on the other hand, allows us to expand our Boolean
search results. People might use different words to say the same thing.
OR is particularly useful for synonyms, like ‘bank OR finance OR
financial.’
Venn diagram of the Boolean OR operator

A OR B | A ∪ B
NOT
The NOT operator excludes unwanted terms from your Google sourcing
search. Instead of NOT, you could also use the minus symbol followed
by your unwanted term without leaving a space (e.g. ‘NOT recruiter’ or ‘-
recruiter.’)
Venn diagram of the Boolean NOT operator
A NOT B | A – B
Brackets ()
You can use brackets to group multiple search strings and set your
priorities. This will come in handy, as most candidate searches are
complex and combine different keywords. For example, ‘(developer OR
designer) AND Java’ indicates that Java knowledge is a must-have both
for developers and designers. But, in a ‘designer OR (developer AND
Java)’ search, Java knowledge is important only for the developers
you’re looking for – not the designers.
Venn diagram of Boolean search examples: Brackets to group multiple

search strings
(A OR B) AND C | (A∪B) ∩ C
Quotation marks “”
If you want Google to consider the phrase you’re searching for as a
complete phrase, you should put it in quotation marks. For example,
leaving a blank space between ‘customer’ and ‘service’ will provide
pages that contain both of the words ‘customer’ and ‘service,’ but not
necessarily together. You should type “customer service” to get more
relevant results when sourcing passive candidates.
How to find candidate resumes with Boolean search strings
When sourcing professionals online, social profiles alone may not
provide a well-rounded view of someone’s skills and experience.
Sourcing resumes with Boolean search helps you better evaluate passive
candidates. And, if you already have a candidate in mind, use Boolean
search strings to discover their resume on various platforms.
To begin your search for professionals who have posted their resumes,
craft parts of a generic search string to use in every search. This string
should:
Exclude irrelevant results. When looking for passive candidates, you
may often stumble upon pages with job ads, sample resumes or resume
services. All these are irrelevant to your search (false positives) and can
be excluded using the NOT (“-”) operator. Add terms based on the
irrelevant results you get each time:
Expand your search
Once you develop a search string to find resumes, add more terms to
target your search results. Use our examples to look for resumes by role
and skills. You could also look for resumes that mention a passive
candidates’ location, phone number and email addresses.
Combine your search of resumes with combing social profiles to find the
best candidates for your roles.
In this article, we’re going to answer:
• What is Boolean search?
• How can I use Boolean search in recruitment?
• What are the basics of Boolean search?
• How can I take my Boolean skills to the next level?
• The core principles of using Boolean search in recruitment, as well as
some Google search strings you can use to make the most out of the
world’s most powerful search engine when sourcing candidates.
But before we do that, let’s dig a bit deeper into what Boolean search is.
What is Boolean search?
In a nutshell, Boolean search is a structured search process that uses
keywords, or operators, to limit, broaden, or define the desired search
results. The goal is to start with a broad concept (i.e. recruitment) and
refine your search query and the corresponding results to only the
information that is relevant to your needs (i.e. recruitment managers).
Boolean search was invented by English mathematician George Boole in
1847. He laid out the concept and underlying principles in his seminal
work entitled The Mathematical Analysis of Logic. Since this ground
breaking piece, Boolean has been the tool of choice for virtually all
libraries, virtual databases, and search engines.
How can I use Boolean search in recruitment?
For our purposes, Boolean search in recruitment relates to using
these techniques to search and filter through resumes, search
engines, targeted websites, or ATS systems to find and shortlist
candidates that fit your search parameters.
Boolean search operators can be broken into two levels of complexity:
basic functions and advanced functions. We’ll dig deeper into each
shortly. By using and combining these operators, you can refine or
broaden your search results to your needs.
Why use Boolean search in recruitment?
Using Boolean search in recruitment lets you leverage large databases
like CRMs, LinkedIn, Indeed, Google, or your own ATS, to perform
searches that find relevant candidates quickly. It’s a massive time saver,
and it’s a powerful tool for finding exactly the candidate profiles you’re
looking for.
When sourcing candidates, you will always have a list of required skills
and qualifications that constitute an “ideal” candidate. Often, though,
these candidates can be incredibly difficult to find, especially if they’re not
actively looking for new work. Recruiters can use Boolean search to
refine search results in their platform of choice to narrow in on only the
candidates who fit their criteria.
The benefits of Boolean search for recruiters are numerous:
• Saves time and effort spent manually sifting through stacks of
information;
• Optimizes the effectiveness of in-house HR technologies;
• Extends the reach and possibilities of free search platforms and
websites;
• Helps find otherwise hidden talent;
• Gives the ability to craft powerful, but customizable, search strings to
meet every job requirement and open position;
• And provides more targeted and relevant search results and candidate
pools.
As you probably know, the first step in hiring the perfect fit for a given
position is targeting and sourcing the right candidates. You need to know
what your own requirements are, and what attributes a candidate must
have to fill that gap. Lastly, you need to go out and find candidates who
meet those requirements.
Boolean search is a perfect tool for the job, and all you need is the
knowledge of how to use it.
Now that we’ve talked about what the technique is, let’s start building out
your Boolean search string cheat sheet, starting with the operators.
10 important Boolean search string operators
As mentioned, Boolean operators can be broken into basic and
advanced functionalities. Let’s start with the basics.
Basic Boolean operators
The easiest Boolean search operators to get a handle on are:
1. AND
2. OR
3. NOT
4. BRACKETS ()
5. QUOTATIONS “”
6. ASTERISK *
Advanced Boolean operators
The four advanced operators we’ll add to this Boolean search string
cheat sheet include:
7. TILDE ~
8. NEAR
9. FILETYPE
10. URL: & SITE:
Let’s take a look at all of the above, and some examples of how you can
use them in recruitment.
1. AND
The AND operator is used when you want to include two or more search
criteria. It’s generally used to narrow search results by adding an extra
variable that must be present in the search result.
For example, if you’re looking for somebody who works in marketing,
who also has manager-level experience, then you may type the following
string into your search engine or ATS.
marketing AND manager
Naturally, the next step here is the OR operator.
2. OR
Using OR in your search string indicates that you want to
see multiple entries or variables in your results. This operator acts to
expand your search results to include a wider range of information.
OR can be used when different words or job titles say the same thing,
and can be used alongside AND to refine your results.
For example, you can use this string to refine your marketing manager
search.
marketing AND manager OR leader
Again, this logic leads to the next operator: NOT.
3. NOT
As you probably guessed, NOT is used when you want
to exclude specific terms or requirements.
For example, if you’re looking for a mid-level manager, you’ll want to
exclude executive titles that might be caught up in the above search
strings. You can do so like this:
marketing AND manager OR leader NOT executive
NOT also works if you use a minus symbol, followed by your term with no
space, like this:
marketing AND manager OR leader -executive
4. BRACKETS ()
If your math brain is going off and asking: “wait a minute: how is the
search engine supposed to know which operator takes priority,” then
you’re ready to hear about BRACKETS. Brackets in Boolean search work
in a similar way as the BODMAS principle in math, which dictates which
parts of an equation are calculated in what order.
BRACKET operators are used to specify which parts of the search
take priority over other elements. They specify which sections you want
to emphasize, compare, or exclude.
So, if you’re looking for someone who is a marketing manager OR
leader, but not an executive, your string would look something like this:
marketing AND (manager OR leader) -executive
As your strings get more complex, brackets will become your best friend
that keeps thing organized and logical.
5. QUOTATIONS “”
The next basic Boolean operator – and one you likely use often – is
QUOTATIONS. This operator is used to search for an exact phrase that
you’re looking for. This is a good option if you know exactly what search
result you’re hoping to find, and want to exclude anything that doesn’t
include that term.
Adding quotes around a single word, or multiple words will treat that
string as one search term. For example, if you only want to see people
who have Marketing Manager on their resume, and don’t care about any
synonyms, then your string would look like this.
“marketing manager”
The opposite of QUOTATIONS, which keeps your result sharply
focussed, is ASTERISK, which aims to expand your search.
6. ASTERISK *
ASTERISK is used to widen your search to include variations on your
keywords or phrases. Think of this operator as a tool for finding a pool of
candidates who use a variety of different words to describe similar tasks
or skills.
By placing an ASTERISK next to the root of the word you’re searching
for, the search results will be expanded to include any possible word
containing that beginning.
For example, the search string:
admin*
… would bring up results for administrator, administration,
administer, etc.
ASTERISK is a great operator to add onto a search string to find
complementary skills. For example, a marketing manager with
administration skills:
“marketing manager” AND admin*
These 6 basic operators are a powerful introduction to Boolean search in
recruitment and can be used for the majority of your candidate sourcing
needs. But when dealing with larger and more complex databases or
search engines, you may find that these basic operators don’t quite cut it.
The following advanced operators can be added to your Boolean and
Google search strings to get even more refined results for your candidate
sourcing.
7. TILDE ~
The TILDE symbol is useful for expanding or reducing your search
results, depending on how you use it. That’s because it
includes synonyms of the keyword that you’re tagging with the TILDE
symbol.
For the advanced Boolean operators, we’ll expand our Marketing
Manager search strings to include specific types of documents you may
be looking for on Google that belong to a candidate.
To find a resume, CV, curriculum vitae, etc. for a Marketing Manager,
you might type the following string:
~CV “marketing manager”
This will include all search results for marketing managers’ resume-type
documents.
Because synonyms of CV might include, for example, job descriptions
– which, as a recruiter, you don’t need to see – you can combine TILDE
with your NOT operator as well.
~CV “marketing manager” –job-description
This Google search string will give you results showing only actual CVs
(and their synonyms) for marketing managers. You can keep layering
NOT operators to further reduce unwanted results.
8. NEAR
NEAR lets you search for specific words or phrases that appear close to
each other in a document, on a web page, or wherever you’re searching.
This is a proximity search operator that will automatically search for
results that include key phrases located 1-10 words apart in the text.
For example, if you want to look for the CV (and synonyms) of Marketing
Managers who have paid advertising credentials, your search string
might look like this:
~CV “marketing manager” AND (paid NEAR ad*)
In this string, I’m indicating that a requirement is that the CV should list
paid advertising in some form within the document.
I also included BRACKETS to isolate the NEAR operator, an AND
function to indicate that this marketing manager must also have these
skills, and an ASTERISK beside ad to ensure that I include all possible
variations of the terms.
9. FILETYPE
A great tool for finding elusive CV documents on the web is the
FILETYPE Boolean operator. Often, when you search for candidates on
Google or on a social media platform, you’ll be directed to a web page
containing incomplete information. Being able to quickly find a full CV
document on the web – if it exists – is a great way to quickly see a
complete overview of the candidate.
To do this, you can specify the type of file using the FILETYPE
operator. For example, to find PDF documents for marketing managers’
CVs, you could search:
~CV “marketing manager” Filetype: pdf
Use this Boolean operator within your ATS to quickly find complete
resume documents that match your requirements.
10. URL: & SITE:

The last Boolean search operator we’ll cover is the URL: and SITE:
functionality. These operators let you search for skills and experience
within a specific website or URL. This is an incredibly powerful way to
quickly scan niche websites where your target candidates typically
congregate.
The key to success with this operator is to know your candidate
intimately. You should understand which sites they go to, the terminology
they use, and the skills and experience they’re likely to have. Armed with
this knowledge, you can search specifically for people you know will have
the requirements you’re looking for.
Let’s say you’re looking for a software developer on LinkedIn who has
experience in FinTech. Your string could look something like:
site:linkedin.com ~CV “software developer” AND “fintech”
It’s important to note when using Boolean search for recruitment that the
more operators and layers you add to your strings, the narrower your
results will become. This can, and likely will, exclude candidates that may
be qualified for your position.
It’s important to regularly tweak and test your Boolean search strings to
ensure that they’re giving you the most useful results possible. Keep a
number of ready-made strings handy to save time, but also be aware that
a qualified candidate may slip through the cracks.

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Detailed Notes on preparation of Boolean

Search strings and all the operators

If I have your attention, then let’s talk about Boolean search in

How to perform a Boolean search

Five elements of Boolean search:

5. Parentheses (): placing parentheses allows separation of the terms

Boolean Search Strings Basics

Venn diagram of the Boolean AND operator

Venn diagram of the Boolean OR operator

Venn diagram of the Boolean NOT operator

Venn diagram of Boolean search examples: Brackets to group multiple

Expand your search

10. URL: & SITE:

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