Improve LinkedIn search results with refined search

You can search for people, companies, content, schools and groups with the key words in the same search bar.

Remember to use All filters provided by LinkedIn. Here you can refine your search, for instance, by searching for a title in one particular field or specify the current or former employer of a person.

The most typical key words for job search

#recruit #recruitment #jobsearch #jobs    
    + Finland
    + Helsinki
    +Tampere, Turku, Oulu…

Write the key words above into the search bar on LinkedIn, tap Content and you see various postings of vacant jobs.

Boolean search

On LinkedIn, you can also conduct more complex searches and get the most accurate results for you search by using logical operators such as AND, OR, NOT.

Please note: These operators work only in job description, not in the job title or location.

Use the words AND, OR, NOT (in capital letters).

Search with AND

• Write AND (in capital letters) to see results which contain all of the words you have typed. You see the documents which have all of these words.
• This feature makes it possible to narrow your search into a more concise subject.
• You can search for people whose competence covers two different things, e.g., JAVA AND C++. LinkedIn will look for both these skills in profiles and can combine them if necessary.

Search with OR

• OR requires one of the words to be included in the document.
• It is possible to expand the search into a wider entity when you can use synonyms are parallel terms.
• For example: "sales OR marketing OR advertising".

Search with NOT 

• NOT excludes the given word from the search.
• Makes it possible to narrow your search into a more concise subject.
• You need to be careful when using NOT in your search as it may rule out some useful results.
• For example, if you want to find some mechanical engineers but wish to rule out senior/manager level persons, type: "mechanical engineer" NOT manager.

Quotations search

Remember that you can use quotation marks when searching for an exact phrase such as "product manager" or "cross-functional collaboration".

Brackets

You can use brackets when specifying your search with several terms. For example, when you search for software engineers who can use either Java or C++ or both, type: (“software engineer” OR developer) (Java OR C++).

N.B.! LinkedIn search supports only neutral, vertical quotation marks ("), not ”*”, or AND ”+” or  NOT ”-”.

This article is part of a LinkedIn training series written by TEK’s career coaches. Read more on what is LinkedIn, the basics of a LinkedIn profile, LinkedIn as a search engine, how to become active on LinkedIn and the use of different features.