Boolean Search

What Is A Boolean Search?

Boolean Search organizes and filters your searches using a mix of keywords and the three primary Boolean operators (AND, OR, and NOT). It produces more precise and relevant results, allowing you to filter through suitable prospects while excluding irrelevant ones. 

Boolean has just five essential syntactic elements that need to be understood, which is a key initial consideration. As follows:

1. AND
2. OR
3. NOT
4. ()
5. “”

You may develop a wide variety of search operations by properly combining these with the terms you want to take into account. Since there is no restriction on how frequently you can use any of these search criteria, you may construct extremely precise search strings, which can help you save time when filtering the results.

How Can Boolean Search Be Performed?

Any search engine on the Internet can do Boolean searches using specific symbols, and there is no limit to the number of symbols you may use in a single search string.

1. AND: By putting AND between two search terms, the user can get results that contain both (or all) of the terms. The search results must contain the search phrases that come after the AND.
2. OR: When a user wishes to search for anything that could include either set of search phrases, he or she writes OR. There are many combinations that can be made.
3. NOT: After the desired search phrase, a user can indicate that they do not want a certain search term to appear in the results by writing NOT. By doing this, the terms won't be mentioned.
4. Quotation marks “”: Users who wish to find a specific term in a search should enclose it in quotation marks.
5. Parenthesis (): Using parentheses allows for the separation of words and the preference of certain ones.

How Can Recruiters Use a Boolean Search?

Boolean search terms are some of the most crucial tools at a recruiter's disposal. If recruiters are comfortable with Boolean search keywords, they can find candidates who are a good fit for the position they are attempting to fill more quickly.

Furthermore, candidates that would not be discovered using conventional search techniques can be located using Boolean search terms. Boolean search terms should thus be covered in detail in any recruiting training session. Interviewers may make sure they can find the best candidates for the position by giving recruiters the knowledge they need to use Boolean search terms.

Top recruiters need to be proficient in Boolean search writing in order to receive useful applicant search results from a variety of applications, including LinkedIn, numerous job sites, and Google.

Conclusion

Boolean search is used to obtain search results more quickly and precisely. The Boolean search employs operators, which include the terms AND, OR, and NOT. These terms use logic to help search engines focus or amplify search results.

There are a number of other Boolean modifiers you can use to enhance and further refine your Boolean searches, as well as a number of additional guidelines for using Boolean in different other search engines and databases outside of LinkedIn.