Search Basics

• Keyword Search Fields
• Keyword Usage
• Phrase Search

Search Techniques

• Use Alternate Variations of Words
• Avoid Capitals
• Avoid Punctuation
• Abbreviations
• Focus Your Search
• Skills and Titles
• Research Resumes from Qualified Candidates
• Foreign Language
• Area Codes and Zip Codes
• Select the Best Categories
• Search by State

Search Basics

The TalentHook interface allows you to perform searches containing advanced Boolean logic by categorizing the search criteria:

Keyword Search Fields

All of these -- TalentHook only returns resumes that contain all of the keywords specified in this field. This is essentially the Boolean AND operator logic used in traditional Boolean searches.

Any of these -- TalentHook only returns resumes that contain one or more of the keywords specified in this field. This is the Boolean OR operator logic used in traditional Boolean searches.

None of these -- TalentHook only returns resumes that do not contain any of the keywords specified in this field. This is the Boolean NOT operator logic used in traditional Boolean searches.

Zip Codes -- Some pay board resources support zip code searching. For those that do, you may enter up to three separate zip codes and specify a radius to search within for candidates.

Status -- This field is very important, as it will inform you of the number of selected resources that are compatible with your search criteria. If you are unsure why some resources are not being searched, simply click on the “Details” button to the right of this field and a list will be displayed with each excluded resource and what logic it does not support:

Keyword Usage

Simply enter a space between each keyword. You do not need to use Boolean operators (and, or, not) because TalentHook automatically manages these for you within each entry line in the search criteria.

Examples:

If you want to find a candidate that possess both CCNA and MCSE certifications, simply enter:

If you want to search for candidates that possess CCNA or MCSE skills, you would enter:

To search for a candidate that has MCSE certification, and either CCNA, .NET or SCP certification you would enter:

To search for a candidate that has MCSE certification and that is not .NET-related, you would enter:

Phrase Search

• TalentHook allows you to search for phrases. To do this simply place the phrase within quotation marks; example: "visual basic". TalentHook will only return candidates that exactly match this word pattern.

• It is best to break uncommon phrases into individual words (not quoted).

  For example:

  field operations project manager or technology finance consultant

Trap:

Avoid using complex phrases. Search engine's do not have the ability to interpret a phrase. The engine will simply search for the words within the phrase in the exact order they appear in the field. For example: "quality engineer" will not find resumes that say: "quality assurance engineer" or "quality control engineer" unless they also contain "quality engineer" elsewhere in the resume. A better approach would be to enter: quality assurance as separate words, not quoted.

Search Techniques

Use Alternate Variations of Words

A powerful technique is to resubmit queries using variations of words. In order to use variations, simply execute a single search for one of the variations. Upon completion, select Refresh and when the query dialog appears, enter another variation within the keyword search field and submit the new query. Here are some examples of word variations:

Example 1: You have decided to do a title-based search for a Unix System Administrator.

"unix sys admin"

"unix sys administrator"

"unix system admin"

"unix system administrator"

Example 2: You want to do a skill-based search for candidates with experience in Application Development:

application development

application developing

application developer

application develop

Avoid Capital Letters

Use lower case letters unless entering an acronym such as ASP, SDK, RN, and CPA. Some search engines interpret capitals as case sensitive. In other words, when you enter a word in all upper case, these search engines think you only want words in all upper case and they will not return data that is in lower case or mixed upper and lower case. A good rule of thumb when searching on the Internet is to use lower case letters, when entering keywords. This is generally safe and more productive than using upper case.

Trap:

An example of the limiting use of capital letters: The web site you are searching has a case sensitive search engine. When you enter UNIX, only resumes with UNIX (in all capitals) will be found. On the other hand entering unix will find resumes containing UNIX, Unix or unix. or... JAVA might only find JAVA. However, java would find JAVA, Java, or java

Avoid Punctuation

Unless you are entering a phrase, or hyphenating a word, you should avoid using punctuation such as commas, exclamation points and question marks. When you enter punctuation with your keywords, TalentHook will have to find resumes with the exact punctuation that you enter. This may drastically reduce your results

Trap:

Some search engines interpret certain punctuation as search operators, which can skew your results.

Abbreviations

Avoid using abbreviations unless they are accepted in the industry.

Focus Your Search

By entering several specific keywords versus one or two general keywords, you can narrow your results and begin working with the most qualified candidates immediately. If you do not find the candidates you want in the first pass, you can run another search and use less specific keywords to retrieve more resumes.
Another way to focus your search is to use the Maximum candidates per site drop-down menu on the Search Criteria tab of the "New Query Wizard." Start out with a lower setting such as 10 or 25 hits per site and research well qualified candidates before resorting to higher candidate per site settings.

Skills and Titles

To expand your search, do not limit your keywords to job titles. Run refresh searches using skills for keywords. Too often recruiters search using only job titles. You will typically have better search results if you search for skill sets.

Trap:

Here are some examples of job titles that when entered as a phrase, may limit your search results: "junior project manager" "customer support representative" "shift manager" "business development director" "supplier liaison" "civil litigation paralegal" "estate planning secretary" "IT support specialist" "senior software sales executive" "application programmer

Research resumes from qualified candidates

By reading resumes from qualified candidates, you can gain more insight into the types of skills and experiences that qualified candidates possess.

1. Start by running a focused search and obtaining highly qualified candidates.
2. Examine their resumes to find common keywords that will help you formulate a more effective search.
3. Try your new keywords in a new or refresh search.

Foreign Language

Enter a language such as Spanish and find candidates with foreign language skills.

Area Codes and Zip Codes

To search for candidates from within specific zip codes, enter up to three zip codes into the Zip Code fields and select the mile-radius. Some sites however do NOT support a zip-code search. When you entire zip code criteria, you can click on the Details button to see which of the selected resources do not support zip code searches.

An alternate option, for sites that do not support the zip code search, you can enter an area code or Zip code as one of your keywords.

Select the Best Search Categories

Target your search by selecting the best Search Category for the candidate you are looking for.

• Active candidates (actively looking for work now):
  • Pay Boards
  • Free Boards
• Passive and Active candidates:
  • Open Web
  • Tech Flip
  • Org. Flip
  • Custom Flip
• Headhunting (candidates currently working for competing company):
  • Tech Flip
  • Org. Flip
• Interns or Experienced Alumni:
  • College Boards

Search by State

TalentHook has a powerful State checking mechanism. To find candidates residing within the region of the job position, you should always use the State drop-down menu on the Search Criteria tab of the "New Query Wizard," instead of entering States as keywords.