Boolean search queries can be a recruiters secret weapon to saving time in finding the right secret squirrel for the job.
Boolean is a type of search term(s) that are utilized by recruiters to find a specific type of candidates online or through their own ATS database. Recruiters use it to source resumes that are a good fit for a job description they are staffing. As a talent acquisition professional, understanding Boolean search strings can help you streamline your sourcing processes and increase efficiency within the overall hiring function.
ClearanceJobs has long seen the value in Boolean searches on our site, but there’s also Intellisearch. The tool makes it easy for recruiters to find top candidates without having to do a separate search every time. All you have to do is literally copy and paste a job description or ideal resume and let IntelliSearch do the heavy lifting. Intellisearch can be used by itself or with Boolean parameters so you can really refine your candidates.
BOOLEAN OPERATORS YOU CAN USE
But not every search engine is as smart as Intellisearch, so understanding the science of Boolean is important as recruiters are scouring every resource for candidates at their disposal. Here are some key Boolean operators you will want to use.
1. AND
AND helps you to catch more candidates that use similar words. It uses two or more search terms into one Boolean string, such as “BA AND Business analyst”. When you use this operator, you’re homing in your results to satisfy however many “AND” requirements you include.
2. OR
Like the “AND” operator, you are including a few search terms to satisfy, but only one or the other. This operator opens up your search results to include one query or the other.
3. NOT
NOT is denoted by the minus symbol (-), which excludes any criterion that you are not looking for and don’t want included in the results.
4. Parentheses
Parentheses really help you to build out your search strings! This operator lets you couple many Boolean search strings into one long and detailed candidate search.
5. Quotation marks
Finally, quotation marks allow you to get results containing an exact phrase such as “SIGINT Intelligence Analyst with FS Polygraph”.
5 Boolean Search String Examples
Looking for specific Boolean search string examples? Here are a few you can copy and paste in your databases to make you a master sourcer:
1. Cleared Professionals in General
(“SECURITY CLEARANCE” OR COMSEC OR CLASSIFIED OR NACLC OR SSBI OR SBPR OR POLYGRAPH OR “CI”” OR “FULL SCOPE” OR “FSP” OR “LIFESTYLE POLY” OR “DOD SECRET” OR “PUBLIC TRUST” OR “SPECIAL ACCESS” “YANKEE WHITE” OR “TOP SECRET” OR “SCI” OR “CI POLY” OR “CI POLYGRAPH” OR “INTERIM SECRET” OR “DOE Q” OR “DOE L” OR ” TSSCI” OR “TS/SCI WITH POLY” OR “TS/SCI”)
2. Cleared Security Analyst
(“SECURITY ANALYST” OR “INFORMATION SECURITY ANALYST” OR “CYBER SECURITY ANALYST” OR “CISO” OR “NETWORK ANALYST” ) AND (SECURITY CLEARANCE) AND (Sec+)
3. Cleared Cybersecurity Professional
(CYBERSECURITY) AND (SECURITY) AND AND (CSF OR NIST) AND (CISSP OR CISM OR CISA OR GICSP) AND (TOP SECRET)
4. Cleared Data Scientist
(“MACHINE LEARNING” AND “PYTHON” AND “ALGORITHMS” AND (“DATA MINING” OR “TEXT MINING” OR “DEEP LEARNING” OR “AI” OR “ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE” OR “DATA SCIENCE” OR “DATA SCIENTIST” OR “DATA ANALYSIS” OR “DATA ANALYTICS” OR “NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING” OR “NLP” OR “BIG DATA” OR “NEURAL NETWORKS” OR “REGRESSION”)
5. Cleared Intelligence Analyst
(“INTELLIGENCE ANALYST” AND “ALL-SOURCE) AND (“SIGINT” OR “GEOINT”) AND “ARMY” AND “INTELLIGENCE” AND “ANALYSIS”
If At First You Don’t Succeed…
If ever you find your complicated Boolean search string isn’t giving you results, work from being really specific to redacting items from your query.
