(Part 2) How to: Research Synonyms for Your Boolean Search

Search engines on LinkedIn and somewhere else are not very intelligent and therefore it is often difficult to find what you are looking for.

In part 1 you get more familiar with Boolean search commands, but another tactic or approach can yield dramatic results. One of the tactics is the find the relevant keywords.


So start searching smart with more relevant keywords!

Most search engines (LinkedIn etc.) are not using any semantic search technology. So if you search the keyword .NET, then you just get results with that word in it. But you are not going to get any other results/synonyms like C#, ASP.NET, ASPX etc. With the right synonyms you can find more relevant profiles for your role.

So if you want to get more relevant search results for your search, then you must work with synonyms and find the right ones! Equation is pretty simple here, more synonyms equals more relevant search results!

Technology - Synonyms 

One of the best example for the synonymy is technology JAVA.

So if you are looking for somebody with the JAVA technology, the candidate could use one of these keywords.

J2EE OR J2SE OR JSP OR EJB OR Tomcat OR NetBeans OR "Net Beans" OR JPA OR Servlets OR Java OR "Java Web Start" OR "IntelliJ IDEA" OR "Eclipse"

(Some people are using different names or typos, that’s the reason why I put NetBeans and "Net Beans")

Small test:
If I take the keyword "Java" and my city "Prague" I will get 4,410 results

But if I will take this string with 3 keywords (J2EE OR J2SE OR JAVA) AND Prague I will get 4,500 results

And if I am going to use the whole string I will get 4,823 results in Prague.

This extra research will take you few extra seconds, but it will get you more results and more relevant results so you are able to find more people than others recruiters.

Also if you are going to use keyword ANT you will find the people using http://www.root.cz/clanky/ant-nebojte-se-mravence/ also everything with this keyword, probably you will also find this ant http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/cute-ant-cartoon-illustration-33231872.jpg :)

So you can start searching for JAVA people with different synonyms like J2ME OR JEE OR JavaME OR JEE6 OR JavaEE JavaEE OR JavaSE …. The only limit is your ability to find the other synonyms.

Positions – Synonymys

Every company use different titles for the roles so if you are looking for Developer in other company they can use the different title for this role. Some companies are using title Developer, some Programmer; some candidates are going to post their profile in Czech so you need to use keywords like Vyvojar OR Programator.

Example string:
(Vyvojar OR Programmer OR "SW Programmer" OR "SW Developer" OR "Software developer" OR "SW Design Engineer" OR "Software Engineer" OR "Senior Developer" OR "Sr Developer" OR "Sr Programmer" OR "Senior Programmer")



Company names – Synonyms

Some companies like Google are going use only Google :) But some companies like PricewaterhouseCoopers are using PwC. But also candidates are using different names likes "Price Waterhouse Cooper" or "Price Waterhouse Coopers" or only " Price Waterhouse".

Example string: (PricewaterhouseCoopers OR "Price Waterhouse Cooper" OR "Price Waterhouse Coopers" OR "Price Waterhouse")

I hope this is going to help you for better search. But don’t forget, insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results. So stop using the same query every time again and again, you need to try new way and new synonym.!

Or, if this is not going to help you. Just do what I do. Hold tight and pretend it’s a plan!