If you follow the Stafflink blog, you may notice that we often talk about something called “Boolean”, usually when we’re giving advice to other recruiters and related professionals in the HR or IT industry.
As a job seeker you might skip over these posts, thinking that this isn’t for you. Today I’m going to show you why this Boolean logic thing is not just for recruiters, it’s for job seekers too.
What is a Boolean?
Maybe you’re wondering, what is a Boolean? It is a funny word after all. It sounds a bit like a toy from the 80’s or perhaps some sort of monster.
Well, it is neither.
It is actually a wonderful algebraic notation used to represent logical propositions. In other words – it helps recruiters data mine to find candidates on the internet.
So what does this have to do with you? Well, Boolean logic can also work to the job seekers advantage. It can help you data mine to find new opportunities and job postings on the internet!
But how you ask? Let me show you.
First you need to know the Boolean Basics
| Command | What It Does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| AND | Any search terms that follow an AND command must appear in the result. The AND function is represented by a space. | Java Developer – will produce results with both Java and Developer |
| OR | Let’s you include several options in your search. | banking OR finance – will produce results that contain one or more of the stated words |
| ” “ | Use quotation marks when you want to search for an exact phrase | “Java Developer” – gives results that contain the phrase ‘java developer’ |
| ( ) | A clause within brackets is given priority over other elements in the search string. Commonly uses with OR search strings. | (“Java Developer” OR “J2EE Developer” OR “Java Programmer”) AND (toronto jobs) |
| site: | Tells Google to search for keywords within a particular site | site:www.linkedin.com java jobs toronto |
3 steps to finding a job with Boolean logic
Now that you know the basics, follow these 3 steps to use Boolean logic to search for a job.
1) Write down the names of Job Titles and/or Companies that you would like to search for and your preferred locations for the position.
Example: (“Business Analyst” OR “Senior Business Analyst” OR “Business Systems Analyst” OR “Sr. Business Analyst”) AND (IBM OR Microsoft OR CGI OR Deloitte) AND (Toronto OR Markham OR “Richmond Hill” OR Vaughan)
2) Think of some websites that you would like to target, where jobs may be posted.
Example: (site:indeed.com OR site:monster.com OR site:careerbuilder.com OR site:ibm.com OR site:linkedin.com)
3) Open your Google Search Engine and type in the your search string. Hit search and voila results!
Example: (site:indeed.com OR site:monster.com OR site:careerbuilder.com OR site:ibm.com OR site:linkedin.com) (“Business Analyst” OR “Senior Business Analyst” OR “Business Systems Analyst” OR “Sr. Business Analyst”) AND (IBM OR Microsoft OR CGI OR Deloitte) AND (Toronto OR Markham OR “Richmond Hill” OR Vaughan)
Here’s a screenshot of the results that came up when I tried the example search in step 3.
The first few results from the Boolean search string example in Step 3.
Let me know how your searches go and if you need any help!
Can you focus in to get the most relevant job postings by date?
That’s tricky because you never know how the date will be displayed in the job postings. Try adding 2016 to the end of your search string. Or be more specific and add (February 2016). Hopefully that will bring you more current results.