Advice for Employers and Recruiters
Boolean Resume Searching: Some Quick Tips
Steven RothbergWhen searching for candidate resumes on CollegeRecruiter.com, you will notice that the search screen includes an option to search by keyword. One of the options under keyword searching is Boolean Searching. Boolean Searching can be very useful in specifying what information you want. Boolean Searching consists of 3 functions: and, or, and and not.
Boolean ‘AND’
When using the and function, 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 search criteria. The more words you enter connected by and, the fewer search results you will receive.
Boolean ‘OR’
When using the or function, it requires at least one of the terms joined by it to appear somewhere in the search results, in any order. Using or broadens a search because it makes it easier for results to meet the criteria of the search.
Boolean ‘AND NOT’
Using the and not operator will exclude search results from containing whatever follows it. It limits a search because it disqualifies results no matter whether they meet the other criteria of the search or not.
Parentheses can also be used when grouping terms; however it must be used to group terms joined by or when there is any other function in the search. Parentheses require the terms and operations that occur inside them to be searched first.
