swatrecruiting's Boolean tutorial - briefing
You must understand Boolean logic in order to become an Internet Recruiter. You probably already know some aspects of it from your experiences on job boards. Here is what you need to know...
| Term |
Function |
| AND | Limits your search to only those documents that contain both terms, in any order. Example: resume AND java |
| OR | Searches for all instances of either term in html documents. Example: resume OR java |
| AND NOT | Eliminates documents containing an undesirable word or phrase. Example: resume AND NOT "your resume" |
| NEAR | Finds html documents containing both desired keywords within 10 words of each other. Example: architect NEAR web |
| " " | Groups words together and searches for them as phrases in a document. Example: "web architect" |
| ( ) | Nesting search terms allows for greater flexibility in combining operators. Example: ("senior architect" AND resume) |
| + | In some search engines, the + sign takes the place of the AND operator. |
| - | In some search engines, the - sign takes the place of the NOT operator. |
| * | Asterisks ("*") allow for "wild card" searching, that is, searches that include all forms of a word or all types of a file. Example: to search for documents that contain the word "develop" as well as the extensions, "developer", "developed", "developing" use develop*. |
| ANCHOR: | Finds keywords that are in the text of a hyperlink on an html page. Example: ANCHOR:cisco finds html pages with the work Cisco in a hyperlink. (i.e. a homepage might say: "I work at Cisco Systems" and link to the main Cisco web page. |
| Applet: | Finds pages that contain a specified Java applet. So far, this hasn't been explored for its usefulness to Internet recruiting. |
| Image: | Finds pages with images having a specified file name. Example: IMAGE:CCIE finds html pages with the Cisco CCIE certification logo or image. |