Boolean Search 101by Chris Cruz

Thursday, September 5, 2013

What is Boolean?

Algebraic logic named after George Boole, English Mathematician

Values are based on variables of True or False

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Why does it matter

More efficient way to search through databases

Cross-platform compatibility

Assists with Job Req understanding

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Where do we use it

Job boards (Monster, Careerbuilder, Dice, etc)

ATS (Bullhorn, Maxhire, Job Science)

Social Networking sites (Linkedin, FB, etc)

Internet sourcing (Google, Bing, etc)

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Search Operators

General Boolean operates on true or false

Boolean in sourcing run on a variety of operators

Most basic: AND, OR, & NOT

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AND

AND joins different features

It works across all platforms

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OR

OR connects joins different ways to describe a concept (“objective c” OR cocoa)

OR can also be used to connect two different concepts (mysql OR tsql)

Typically OR statements enclosed in parenthesis ( A OR Z)

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NOT/-

NOT determines what should not be in results

Searching for LAMP Devs, but not include recruiters “lamp developer” NOT recruiter

Some platforms either recognize NOT or -

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Find a Tennis Ball

Ball

(ball OR orb OR sphere OR circle OR round)

Green

(green OR “light green” OR lime OR forest)

NOT seed

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Real World

Java engineer with framework experience, who has not worked for company ZYX

(java OR j2ee) AND (spring OR hibernate) NOT zyx

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Best practices

Keep every string in one place (1 document, cloud stored)

Write strings in simple word editors ie Notepad (PC) or Text Editor (Mac)

Don’t write strings in Word

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Why Not Word

Word has a feature call Smart Quotes “”

Job boards and other platforms sometimes malfunction when Smart Quotes are in a query

Simple text files can be read every where and work everywhere

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The Perfect Boolean String

No such thing

A string is perfect when the person you found using it is hired

Always re-evaluate strings in a search

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Bad Boolean Strings

java OR android developer

java OR “android developer”

php OR python AND lamp

(php OR python) AND lamp

lamp java net iphone

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Next Steps

Search, Evaluate, Adjust, Repeat

Join the Boolean Strings Linkedin Group

Join the Boolean Strings Ning Group

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Next Workshop

Early October

Topic: Better Linkedin Sourcing

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Thank you! Find/Follow@ChrisCrvz

www.linkedin.com/in/christopherjcruz

Thursday, September 5, 2013

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Thursday, September 5, 2013