BOOLEAN SEARCH: binary logic resulting in a value of either true or false. 

BOOLEAN STRING: a combination of words and characters you use to conduct a search.

CANDIDATES (active vs passive):
Passive candidates – someone who is being considered for a job but is not actively seeking it.
Active candidates – someone who is actively seeking a new job.

CANDIDATES PIPELINE: a list of candidates who meet the qualifications for a job opening and are interested in the position.

BENCHMARK:  is the name for the process of identifying potential candidate pools or other companies that has a relevant skill set or service that you need.

SEARCH ENGINE: a software tool that indexes, searches, and identifies information on the web.

X-RAY: searching for results from one website or document.

AND

The Connector

• The word AND allows recruiters to include and connect specific skills into a search query.
• Use AND to narrow down your search for candidates who only meet ALL of your specifications.

Think of ‘AND’ as the wolf of the pack who commits everyone to the 8 pm dinner

reservation for just the six of you – and no one else.

📌 The more times ‘AND’ appears in your search query,

the lower the volume of search results. 

Example: YOU’RE SEARCHING FOR DEVELOPERS WITH C#, XML, AND JAVA SKILLS. 
YOU WOULD TYPE IN: Developer AND C# AND XML AND Java
Results: probably 0 or very low number 

OR

The Expander

• The word OR allows recruiters to expand their candidate search to include similar, related terms or phrases.
• Use OR to connect terms and to increase the number of results that appear.

OR is the friend who gives you options.

Example: YOU WANT TO CAST A WIDE NET AND RECRUIT FOR BOTH A FRONT-END AND 
BACK-END ENGINEER. YOU'D TYPE IN: HTML OR CSS OR Javascript OR Ruby OR 
Java OR C# OR C++ OR Python OR PHP
Results: probably a large number of potential candidates who has at least 
one of mentioned technologies

NOT

The Excluder

• The word NOT allows recruiters to exclude unrelated skills, titles, companies, and other keywords or phrases from a search query.
• Use NOT to refine your search and leave out any unwanted, irrelevant information on a candidate.

NOT is also the friend with the dinner reservation who specifically asks you

don’t bring along that guy who somehow always forgets his wallet at home.

Example: YOU’RE RECRUITING INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTOR CANDIDATES WITH 
EXPERIENCE WORKING IN SALES, AND YOU DON’T WANT RESULTS TO FILTER IN 
ENGINEERS WHO HAVE LISTED SALES-RELATED SKILLS IN THEIR PROFILES. 
YOU'D TYPE IN: sales NOT manager NOT director NOT chief NOT engineer NOT 
developer NOT programmer
Results: 0

“ ”

The Enforcer

• Quotation marks allow recruiters to search words and phrases exactly as they appear.
• Use quotation marks to search for specific, distinct words and phrases that may be particular to the type of position you’re hiring for. Quotation marks must be used to search for exact phrases.

Quotation marks – the friend who means what he says.

Example: YOU’RE HIRING A DATA SCIENTIST WITH EXPERIENCE IN 
MACHINE LEARNING AND NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING. YOU'D TYPE IN: 
“data scientist” AND “machine learning” AND “natural language processing”
Results: all specific words will be grouped and recognize as group

( )

The Combiner

• Parentheses allow recruiters to group search terms for more advanced searches, multiple search phrases and criteria.
• Using more than one Boolean command to build your search string? Use parentheses to combine them before you hit Enter.

Think of them as the ones who strategically plan where everyone sits at the wedding party.

Example: YOU’RE INTERESTED IN HIRING A CONTENT MARKETING MANAGER WITH 
EXPERIENCE IN WORKING IN THE B2B RECRUITING TECH INDUSTRY. YOU'D TYPE IN: 
(“content marketing” AND manager) AND (B2B AND recruiting)
Results: you would get someone who is in content marketing with 
managerial experience and b2b and recruiting :) 

Here are a few other sample queries to get you started:

[Title] who live near [Location]

People who work at [Competitor] and like [Job function]

People who like [programming language] and live near [Location]

[Title] who live near [Location] and speak [Language]

Professional or Personal Information

PRO: Although Facebook is typically used for personal reasons, some still use the site for networking purposes.  It is an ideal place for recruiters to turn a “Facebook friend” into a candidate.  Any “friends” can potentially become a professional relationship.

CON: Most people and/or prospective candidates use Facebook for personal reasons and feel as though their personal and professional lives should be separate. Recruiters using Facebook to make a professional connection could be a turnoff to a candidate.

Sourcing for Talent

PRO: As the recruiter, should you find qualified talent on Facebook, it may be through a company’s page. Many candidates follow their company’s Facebook page. Here is where you may have an opportunity to source for candidates. Take a look at the candidate’s name and then source for them on another social media site, LinkedIn, Twitter or possibly a job board such as Monster, CareerBuilder, or Indeed.

CON: Not everyone that follows a company or organization is an employee. So, be aware of this factor when sourcing for candidates via Facebook.