Ok, let’s keep building up our search string and incorporate boolean concepts as we go!
Next we are going to try to identify more local candidates in the Maryland, Washington DC, northern Virginia area.
Think about how we might do this by what we typically find on a candidate resume:
- Phone number: By searching for the area code
- Address By searching for the state that they live in
I could also include a zip code, but heck, that could be a huge list and tedious to research each time, so I normally just use either the area code and/or the state.
Here is how that part of the search string would look, in this case:
(410 OR 443 OR 301 OR 240 OR 202 OR 703 OR 571 OR md OR maryland OR “washington dc” OR “washington d.c.” OR virginia OR va)
Notice again how I am using the OR operator, because I am looking for any web page that has any of those items on their web page. I want all of the options.
Also, make note of how I have to account how states can be abbreviated or spelled out.
Will I get some pages that have any of those items on a page that aren’t relevant?
Yep!
What if one of those area codes “202” is listed on a page like this: (650) 202-1234? Clearly this isn’t relevant. Any of these these terms could come up on a page that I isn’t relevant.
What about the “md” abbreviation for “maryland”? Well, an MD is also a medical doctor, right? MD stands for doctor of medicine! A few doctors might be in my search results sometimes.
Maybe a candidate went to “University of Maryland”, but has since moved to California? Oh well…welcome to the world of candidate sourcing on the internet using Boolean.
There is nothing I can do about this!
It’s not perfect! We are sourcing candidates. We don’t want to get so narrow and focused.
If you are expecting a perfect set of search results, with resumes spoon fed to you on a platter…let me burst your bubble right now. This is sourcing. This is recruiting. We are using creative and freely available methods to source candidates to fill our jobs. It’s not easy. It takes time. However, you WILL find candidates this way and make placements this way!
Ok, there I go again with a mini rant…
Onward… let’s move on to Part 6 – Excluding pages from search results
I hope I am helping you with some actionable value here with this free mini-course.
Perhaps you can help me…
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