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Basics of Boolean Search

George Boole – Born on 2 November 1815 in England was known for his Boolean algebra. Now, let us see how Boolean Logic helps in our searches.

Boolean Operators

Search engines are great source for finding resumes. Using proper Boolean operators and searches, one can find the data faster. These Boolean Operators weed out irrelevant data by focusing your search results to find what you need. Please note, every search engine has it's own uniqueness and it would return different search results.  

Boolean Key

AND - The AND operator provides results with the terms you input. For example, searching "Java" and "Architect" will return pages with both terms - Architect and Java 


 OR - The OR operator gives results with either of the terms you requested. For example, "Business Development Manager" OR "Account Manager" 

NOT - The NOT operator will not deliver show words in your search results. For example, Hunter NOT Farmer will deliever closer results for Hunter not farmer. 

( ) Parentheses - The ( ) operator allows you to group terms and build longer search strings. For example, Business Development Manager (Banking AND Finance) will deliever search results who are Business Development Manager in the Banking and Financial domain / who works for Banking / Finance organization. 

* - The * operator is a wild card. Adding a wild card will find words contain the wild card. For example admin* will help so you do not have to run separate searches for words similar like: Admin, Administration, Administrator 

I have created this handy guide which would help you to build better Boolean Search strings based on the common keywords and job titles. Copy and paste each one as a stand-alone, or use them in conjunction with other skills/requirements.


Boolean Strings by Keyword
(app or apps or application)
(“BA” or “business analyst” or “business analysis”)
(“BI” or “business intelligence”)
(“business analyst” or “business analysis”  or ba or ccba or cbap or “business systems analyst”)
(LAMP or (linux and apache and mysql and (perl or php or python)
(mobile or android or iphone or ios or blackberry)
(network or system or os or nos or “operating systems”)
(network or networking or system or systems or “operating systems” or “information systems”)
(“oo” or “object oriented” or object-oriented or “OOP”)
(“project manager” or “project management” or PMP)
(“ui” or user-interface or “user interface”)
(“ux” or user-experience or “user experience”)
(Storage or SAN or NAS ) 
Boolean Strings by Job Title
.Net Developer
.Net and (VS or “Visual Studio”) and (VB or “Visual Basic” or VB.net) and (ASP or ASP.net) and (C# or C#.net ) and “SQL Server”
Android Developer
Android and SDK and Java 
Automation Tester
(“qa” or “quality assurance” or “quality analyst” or “automation tester”) and (
“cast” or “cste” or “cmst” or certified or certification)
Business Intelligence Analyst
(“Business Intelligence” or “BI”) and SQL and (SSIS or SSRS or SSAS or “integration services” or “reporting services” or “Analysis Services”) and (“Business Analysis” or “Business Analyst” or “System Analysis” or “System Analyst” or “Business System Analyst”)
Database Administrator
(“database administration” or “database administrator” or “DB Admin” or DBA) and “database design” and (SQL or “SQL Server”) and (SSIS or SSMS or SSRS or SSAS or “Analysis Services” or “Reporting Services”)
Help Desk Support
(helpdesk or support or technician or “help desk” or “service desk”) and (OSX or JDE or iSeries or virtual or virtualization or vmware) and (“AD” or “Active Directory”) and DHCP and DNS and (network or networking) and (switches or switching or routers or routing) and (firewalls or security)
Information Security Manager

“Information Security” and (“Project Manager” or “Project Management” or Leadership or Manager or PMP) and (forensic* or Security+ or CISSP or “security Standards” or “Certified Information Systems Security Professional” ) 
Linux Systems Administrator
(Unix or Linux) and (RedHat or “Red Hat” or Centos or Debian) and (SMTP or DHCP or DNS or LDAP or NFS or SMTP or HTTP or SNMP) and (“Systems Administrator” or “System Administrator” or “Systems Administration” or “System Administration”)
Mobile Applications Architect
(ios or iphone or ipad or android) and (SDK or SDKs) and (Java or objective-c or “objective c” or C++) and (optimization or “web services” or UX or user-experience or “user experience” or “Mobile Applications” or “Mobile Developer”)
OBIEE Architect
(OBIEE or “Oracle Business Intelligence”) and (“DW” or “data warehouse” or “datat warehousing”) and (IBOTS or DAC or RPD or SME or OOTM or BIAPS or OBI or ETL or informatica)
PHP Developer
PHP and SQL and (PostgreSQL or “Pervasive SQL” or Intranet or Linux or Apache or Javascript or HTML or CSS)
Project Manager
(“project manager” or “project management” or PMP)
Python Developer
(programmer or developer or engineer) and python and (mysql or “my sql” or “my-sql”or postgresql) and (django or flask )
Senior PHP Developer
(programmer or developer or engineer) and “php” and “sql” and lamp and linux and apache and “javascript” and (jquery or memcache or “apc cache” or nosql or “no sql” or “no-sql” or analytical or analysis)
SharePoint Developer
(“SharePoint Designer” or “SharePoint Developer”) and (html or css or xsl or xslt or javascript or jquery or ajax) and .net and (asp.net or C# or vb.net) and (Silverlight or “SQL Server” or SSRS or SSAS or “reporting services” or “analysis services”)
SQL Data Analyst
(“dba” or “data analyst” or “database administrator”) and “sql server” and (“transact-sql” or “t-sql” or “tsql”) and (“stored procedures” or “ssis” or “ssas” or “ssrs” or analy or “data conversion” or query or queries or “data mining” or excel or pivot or vlookup or “v-lookup” or chart or graph or “ms office” or audit)
Sr. Data Warehouse Architect & Developer
(architect or develop* or program* or engineer) and “sql server” and “data warehousing” and perl and (microstrategy or profiler or “data hygiene” or “etl” or computations or aggregations or analy* or quer* or index or design or deploy or test)
Sr. Linux Administrator
(“dba” or “database administrator” or “linux administrator”) and linux and apache and (redhat or fedora or centos) and vmware and (tomcat or mysql)
Sr. Programmer – C++, Linux
(programmer or engineer or developer) and (linux or unix) and (redhat or centos or fedora) and (“c” or “c++”) and sql and (perl or “php” or shell) and (postgre or analy or test or design or deploy or execute)
User Experience Designer
(“User Experience” or User-Experience or UX or “Human-Computer Interaction” or “Human Computer Interaction” or HCI) and CSS and HTML and JavaScript and (jQuery or user-centered or “graphic design” or “visual design”)
Web Designer
html and javascript and css and (photoshop or illustrator or adobe) and (flash or actionscript or macromedia) and (“Java Server Pages” or JSP or Java or “Active Server Pages” or ASP or “Google Web Toolkit” or XML or Oracle or IIS) and SQL
Web Developer
(html or html5) and (css3 or css) and javascript and (“Web Developer” or “Web Design” or xml or jquery or ajax)
You may also use this tool to invent your Boolean Search String : Boolean Search Generator 

There are several tools available which would be useful for your sourcing:

RecruitEM : RecruitEM is a fantastic tool that makes it simple to build X-Ray Queries that target Google+, LinkedIn, GitHub. 

AIRS Free Resume Search : AIRS have created a new tool (Google Chrome Extension) which would be easier to search resumes from Google, LinkedIn and Indeed.

Happy Sourcing !!!