Ok, so we’ve got the basics of what we are targeting and organized into must-haves and nice-to-have’s.

Quick tip: It is best not to have a huge list of must haves and nice to haves. Think about it, we are searching the internet and will come across web pages that a candidate has created (perhaps it is their blog, perhaps it is their resume)…but though they might have all of the skills you are ideally seeking, they might not have listed them all.

You might be missing out on some great potential candidates if you are extremely picky and narrow in your Boolean search.

Look at how small my list was of must-haves and nice-to-haves. These are just the basics. You won’t know a full candidate’s background…even when you have their resume, unless you actually talk to them! I have spoken with brilliant software developers who have incredible skills and created amazing programs, but I would never have known that just by looking at their resume!

I have seen resumes where a candidate might have worked at a firm for 8 years and list only two bullet points. When you talk to them and they tell you all of the amazing work, I have exclaimed, “Why don’t you have all of this listed on your resume?!”

We have to remember, you likely aren’t searching for a resume writing expert! In this case, I am looking for a software developer. You might be searching for an accountant, mechanical engineer or a nurse. Those are their skills…their jobs…their job isn’t as a resume writing expert. So be a bit lenient with your search.

Ok, I’ll get off of my soapbox…and get on with our search:

The first part will be pretty simple…entering the skill-sets we are targeting

The “must have” skill-set was javascript. Simply pop that into Google and search! You’ll get a ton of pages. Actually, almost 7.5 BILLION pages are returned!

Let’s go ahead and add the others…react and node. Take a look at the screenshot with that search and the number of results returned:

You can see we are still getting a ton of results. There are almost 96 million pages containing ALL of those words, but even so, this is quite a drop from the billions, right? The pages in the result list here HAVE to contain all 3 of those words.

This search string is technically a Boolean AND statement: Even though I didn’t use the word AND, that is what is being asked here: javascript AND node AND REACT

Ok, this is pretty basic search stuff and probably not earth-shattering for you, right?

Let’s move to the next step – Part 3 – Searching for the candidate’s job title

I hope I am helping you with some actionable value here with this free mini-course.

Perhaps you can help me…

I am currently developing a very comprehensive PAID course, where I share all of my 16 years of knowledge as a sourcing recruiter. Right now, I am developing a list of those interested getting free access to the course when it launches. All I ask in return is your valuable feedback to help me refine aspects of the course. Also, if you do enjoy the course and find it helpful, I would welcome any testimonials, which will help the course reach a wider audience.