Boolean Searching Is Not the Search for a Delicious Mideastern Salad
| Employers using the resume bank of CollegeRecruiter.com or virtually any other premium job board will often choose, sometimes knowingly and sometimes unknowingly, to search that resume bank using boolean search strings. For those who did not successfully complete Computer Science 101, let's talk about boolean searching. |  |
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Once you're logged in, look for the link to search resumes. The next screen is the search screen. Notice that under keyword(s) is Keyword Type. One of the options is Boolean Searching. Boolean searching is very simple once you get the hang of it and when used in constructing a search expression, it can be very useful in specifying what information you want.
Boolean searching consists of three operations: and, or, and and not.
Boolean "AND"
When using the and operator, it requires all terms joined by it to appear somewhere in the document, in any order. Using and narrows a search because it augments the number of matching words required for a document to meet the criteria of the search. The more words you enter connected by and, the fewer documents you get.
For example, let's assume that you are searching for information technology (IT) professionals who have Oracle database expeirence. You could enter "IT and Oracle" (without the quotes) as your search term, then you are asking the search engine to show you all of the resumes that contain the word IT AND the word Oracle.
Boolean "OR"
When using the or operator, it requires at least one of the terms joined by it to appear somewhere in the document, in any order. Using or broadens a search because it makes it easier for documents to meet the criteria of the search. For example, if you search for "healthcare or nurses" (without the quotes), then the search engine will show you all of the resumes that include either the word "healthcare" or the word "nurse." Many nurse resumes will include the word healthcare, so there will be some overlap. Our system automatically removes those duplicates so you will only see one instance of those resumes where there is a match for two or more of the or search terms.
Boolean "AND NOT"
Using the and not operator will exclude documents containing whatever follows it. It limits a search because it disqualifies documents no matter whether they meet the other criteria of the search or not. For example, if you are searching for accountants who are not Certified Public Accountants (CPA), then you could run a search for "accountant and not cpa" (without the quotes) then the search engine will show you all of the resumes that include the word accountant but not the keyword cpa.
Parentheses
Parentheses can also be used when grouping terms; however it must be used to group terms joined by or when there is any other operator in the search. Parentheses require the terms and operations that occur inside them to be searched first. For example, if you want to find non-electrical engineers in Sacramento, you could click on California to narrow the geography and enter the keyword phrase "(engineer and not electrical) and Sacramento" (without the quotes).
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