Want some tips on how to search your Vincere database? Great! You've come to the right place
Boolean Search Operator: AND
The AND operator is inclusionary and thus limits your search.
It should be used for targeting required skills, experience, technologies, or titles you would like to limit your results to. Unless you are searching for common words, with every AND you add to your Boolean query, the fewer results you will typically get.
🔥Example: Java AND Oracle AND SQL AND AJAX
Boolean Search Operator: OR
The OR operator offers flexible inclusion and typically broadens your search results.
Many people incorrectly think the Boolean OR operator is an either/or operator, when in fact it is not.
The OR operator is technically interpreted as “at least one is required, more than one or all can be returned.”
🔥Example: Java AND Oracle AND SQL AND AJAX AND (apache OR weblogic OR websphere)
The returned results must mention at least one of the following: apache, weblogic, websphere.
The best ways to use OR statements are:
To think of all of the alternate ways a particular skill or technology can be expressed, e.g., (HRBP or HR Business Partner or Human Resources Business Parter)
To search for a list of desired skills where you would be pleased if a candidate had experience with at least one, e.g., (apache OR linux OR mysql).
Boolean Search Operator: NOT
The NOT operator is exclusionary – it excludes specific search terms and so the query will not return any results with that term (or terms) in them.
Example: If you were searching for an I.T. Project Manager, you may want to employ the NOT operator in order to eliminate false positive results – results that mention your search terms but do not in fact match your target Candidate.
In this case, you could run: “project manager” and not construction – this search will not return any results with “project manager” and the word “construction” contained within them.
🔥Example: .Net AND NOT (Java OR JSP OR J2EE) – that search will not return any results with any mention of Java, JSP, and/or J2EE.
NOT has 2 main uses:
Excluding words you do not want to retrieve to reduce false positive results (most common usage)
Starting with a very restrictive search with many search terms, you can use the NOT operator to systematically and progressively loosen the search into mutually exclusive result sets (not so common usage, but very effective strategy)
Basic example:
“Project Manager” AND SQL AND Spanish
“Project Manager” AND SQL AND NOT Spanish
“Project Manager” AND NOT SQL AND Spanish
“Project Manager” AND NOT (SQL OR Spanish)
Boolean Search Modifier: ASTERISK *
The asterisk can be used as a root word/stem/truncation search. In other words, Vincere will return and highlight any word that begins with the root/stem of the word truncated by the asterisk.
🔥Example: admin* will return: administrator, administration, administer, administered, etc.
The asterisk is a time saver because it saves you from creating long OR statements and having to think of every way a particular word can be expressed.
Boolean Search Modifier: BRACKETS ( )
As a best practice, use brackets (or parentheses) to encapsulate OR statements for Vincere search to execute them properly.
Remember, the OR operator is interpreted as “I would like at least one of these terms.” Think of brackets as your way of telling Vincere you’re looking for one of THESE: (_______________).
🔥Example: (apache OR weblogic OR websphere)
If you don’t enclose all of your OR statements into a bracket, your search in Vincere will return zero results.
Boolean Search Modifier: QUOTATION MARKS ” “
Quotation marks must be used when searching for exact phrases of more than one word, or else Vincere will split the phrase up into single word components.
🔥Example: “Director of Tax” will only return “Director of Tax.” If you searched for Director of Tax without the quotation marks, Vincere will split up the words Director and Tax and highlight them as relevant matches even when not mentioned as an exact phrase.