Learn how to combine keywords with Boolean operators to precisely define the talent you’re looking for.



About Boolean searches

Boolean searches allow you to combine keywords with Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) as well as other types of notation (parentheses, quotation marks, asterisks) to precisely define your search. Using Boolean, you can achieve a high level of control over your search results. 


In TalentNeuron, you might want to use Boolean logic to:

  • Search multiple skills while keeping your search broad

  • Filter by an exact, meaningful phase (like “emergency room”)

  • Find job postings that mention specific benefits (or other content not searchable through our search filters)

  • Look at job postings within a particular industry



Where to enter Boolean strings in Plan and Recruit

  1. In Plan, create a new Talent Profile or edit an existing Talent Profile to open the Talent Profile flyout. 

  2. Then, click Keywords to open the Boolean search box.



  1. In Recruit, click Advanced search to begin a new search or Edit search if viewing an existing search.

  2. Then, click Keywords to open the Boolean search box.



About Boolean in TalentNeuron

Before we dive into the different Boolean operators and their meanings, there are a few things to know about how our keywords box works.


The keyword box searches the entire text of the job posting, including the title and description, but also other sections like the company mission statement or benefits description.


Our system replaces spaces and commas with the AND operator. For example, accounts receivable becomes accounts AND receivable. To avoid this, use parentheses and quotation marks (more on that below).


Lastly, our system will “stem” any words not in quotation marks. For example, searching forecast will pull in job postings that contain forecast as well as forecasting, forecaster, and forecasts.



Boolean operators and syntax

Operator

How it works

When you might want to use it

Example strings

AND

Returns job postings that contain both keywords

To search for talent that must have two or more skills

java AND c++

OR

Returns job postings that contain any of your keywords

To search for spelling variations or synonyms


To search for talent with at least one of many skills

“call center” OR “call centre”


“cloud computing” OR “public cloud”

NOT

Excludes job postings that contain a certain keyword

To exclude common terms that might appear as a result of your search

android NOT ios

“” quotation marks

Returns job postings that contain the exact phrase within the quotation marks

To exclude results that contain only one word of a multi-word phrase

“vice president” 


(searching without quotations will include results for “president”)

() parentheses

Groups keywords together ensure logic is applied correctly

To search for one of two alternative skills plus another mandatory skill

(java OR php) AND sql

TITLE:()

Searches just the title of a job posting

To precisely search by title or to search for variations on a title

TITLE:(vp or “vice president”)



Examples of advanced searches with Boolean

Using the operators from the above table, we can create more advanced Boolean strings:

  • developer AND (android OR iOS) NOT windows
    Searches for android developer and iOS developers, but excludes windows developers


  • NOT TITLE:(VP or “vice president” or dir or director) 
    Excludes vice president and director titles from your search


  • scheduling AND (“call center” OR “call centre” OR “phone center” OR “phone centre” or “support center” OR “support centre”)
    Searches for “scheduling” and similar words, plus any of the listed synonyms for “call center”



Validating your Boolean search

To make sure that your Boolean search is written correctly, you can always look at the job postings that are being pulled into your search results.

  • In Plan, in any of the results tables, hover over the result, click the tri-dot icon, and then click View job descriptions.


  • In Recruit, go to the Top titles widget on the Role page. (You can also visit any of the other widgets on this page.) At the bottom of the widget, click Show job descriptions.