Boolean search builder for recruiters
Add the job titles, skills, and location you're sourcing for. Get a clean boolean string for LinkedIn, Indeed, or a Google X-ray of public LinkedIn profiles. Copy it and go source.
("customer support specialist" OR "customer service representative") AND zendesk AND "Remote"Paste into LinkedIn's search bar. Write AND, OR, and NOT in capitals. LinkedIn reads lowercase operators as keywords.
Run this in Google. site:linkedin.com/in/ restricts results to public LinkedIn profiles, and the minus sign is Google's NOT.
Paste into Indeed's resume search. title: matches against the candidate's job title instead of the whole resume.
How to use it
- Pick your platform. LinkedIn and Indeed take the string straight in the search bar. Google X-ray searches public LinkedIn profiles through Google's index.
- Add job titles and must-have skills. Nice-to-haves widen the net without weakening it. Exclude terms cut the noise.
- Copy the string and paste it in. Change one variable at a time so you can tell what moved the results.
The generator handles the syntax. For strategy, when to X-ray, why platforms rewrite your operators, and what to do with 250 look-alike results, read the full guide to boolean search in recruitment.
Boolean operators for recruiters
Seven operators cover almost every sourcing search you'll ever write.
| Operator | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| AND | Both terms must appear. LinkedIn also treats a plain space between terms as AND. | zendesk AND salesforce |
| OR | Either term can appear. Wrap OR groups in parentheses so the logic stays intact. | ("team lead" OR supervisor) |
| NOT | Drops profiles containing the term. On Google, use a minus sign instead. | NOT recruiter |
| "quotes" | Exact phrase match. Without quotes, the words match separately. | "customer support specialist" |
| ( ) | Groups terms so operators apply in the order you intend. | ("SDR" OR "BDR") AND salesforce |
| site: | Google only. Restricts results to one domain. This is the X-ray pattern. | site:linkedin.com/in/ |
| title: | Indeed resume search. Matches the term against job titles only. | title:"store manager" |
site: only works in Google. It's the X-ray pattern:
site:linkedin.com/in/ restricts results to public LinkedIn
profiles, and Google runs your operators literally instead of
interpreting them.
LinkedIn quirks worth knowing
Capitalize your operators. LinkedIn reads lowercase and, or, and not as ordinary keywords, and your string quietly stops filtering.
Spaces act as an implicit AND. zendesk salesforce and
zendesk AND salesforce run the same logic, but writing
the operator keeps long strings readable.
LinkedIn Recruiter can apply semantic interpretation on top of your string, so an exclusion sometimes leaks back into results. When that happens, X-ray the same string through Google. The literal index does what you wrote.
Three example strings
Customer support specialist on LinkedIn
Two title variants catch how people actually label the position. Zendesk is the must-have. NOT manager drops the support managers and team leads you'd source separately.
("customer support specialist" OR "customer service representative") AND zendesk AND "Remote" NOT managerRetail team lead via Google X-ray
Retail titles vary by chain, so the OR group runs wide. The minus sign is Google's NOT. It clears out the recruiters who post about these positions all day.
site:linkedin.com/in/ ("retail team lead" OR "shift supervisor" OR "store supervisor") "Dallas" -recruiterSales development rep on Indeed
title: keeps matches to actual SDR titles instead of every resume that mentions sales. The CRM group is a nice-to-have pattern. Either tool signals real pipeline work.
title:("sales development representative" OR "SDR" OR "business development representative") AND (salesforce OR hubspot) AND "Chicago"Frequently asked questions
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What is boolean search in recruitment?
Boolean search is a way of writing search queries with logic operators (AND, OR, NOT), quotes, and parentheses to find candidates whose profiles contain specific combinations of terms. It works on LinkedIn, Indeed, most job boards, and through Google. The output is a list of profiles that match the operators you wrote.
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Does boolean search work on LinkedIn?
Yes. LinkedIn supports quotes, parentheses, and the operators AND, OR, and NOT, as long as you write them in capitals. LinkedIn Recruiter sometimes applies semantic interpretation on top of your string, so if results look off, run the same string through Google with site:linkedin.com/in/ instead.
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What is X-ray search?
X-ray search uses Google's site: operator to search inside one website. site:linkedin.com/in/ plus a boolean string searches the public LinkedIn profiles in Google's index. Recruiters use it to run a string literally when a platform's own search rewrites or reinterprets it.
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Does Indeed support boolean search?
Yes. Indeed's resume search takes the same grammar as LinkedIn: AND, OR, NOT, quotes, and parentheses. It adds field operators like title:, which matches a term against the candidate's job title instead of the whole resume.
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How do I exclude words from a boolean search?
Use NOT on LinkedIn and Indeed, for example NOT recruiter. On Google, put a minus sign directly before the term instead, like -recruiter. Excluding recruiter, coach, and consultant is the classic cleanup, because those profiles mention every position they hire or advise for.
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Is boolean search still worth using?
Yes, for building volume. A sharp string is still the fastest free way to get a long list of candidates who match on paper. It can't tell you who's real once they apply, because AI-polished resumes and profiles all look alike. Pair it with a structured screening step downstream.
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Sourcing finds candidates. Screening tells you who's real.
A good string gets you 200 profiles that all look qualified on paper. Truffle is candidate screening software that combines resume screening, one-way video interviews, and talent assessments, so you see who's worth a conversation before you book one. AI surfaces the evidence. You make the call.
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