How Boolean search works
Boolean search is a basic logic tool that uses the operators AND, OR and NOT to help you maximize your candidate search efforts. By combining the Boolean operators, parentheses and quotation marks with unique keywords, you can refine your search criteria to only candidates with the education, skills and experience you’re looking for. The primary Boolean operators include:
- AND: Combines your primary keyword with another, so you only see resumes that contain both.
- OR: Tells the search to show results with either keyword.
- NOT: Excludes those with specific keywords in their resume.
- Parentheses: Groups key terms together in advanced Boolean searches
- Quotation Marks: Tells the search engine that multiple keywords must be grouped together to form a phrase.
A few quick examples of what Boolean search strings might look like in the food and beverage industry include:
- “line cook” AND saute NOT pantry: This search string would bring up line cooks who may be skilled in sauteing while excluding those who list pantry on their resume.
- server AND (pantry OR salads) AND Orlando:This search will show you servers who may have experience preparing salads or other cold dishes in the Orlando, FL area.
- chef AND seafood AND menu AND Atlanta: This will show you chefs who live or work in Atlanta, GA who list experience in seafood and menu creation on their resume.
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How to search for food and beverage industry candidates by location
Boolean search can be used to find food and beverage industry candidates in specific locations. To find people who have either lived or worked in an area, simply use the location’s name. If you want to find candidates who live in a specific city or metro area, add “lives in” before the term.
Examples of location-based search strings for finding food and beverage industry candidates include:
- “grill cook” AND Austin
- bartender AND (Tampa or “Tampa Bay”)
- “food and beverage manager” AND Denver
How to search for food and beverage industry candidates by skills and experience
Boolean search can help you find food and beverage industry candidates with specific skills. For example, you may want to find candidates with experience in serving, bartendingor management. You may also want to find candidates with experience preparing certain foods or working in certain positions. To create skill-based search strings, you can include the keyword on its own or use a special Boolean command (skill:).
Examples of skill-based search strings for finding food and beverage industry candidates include:
- “restaurant manager” AND skill: leadership AND skill: “guest management”
- (“sous chef” OR “assistant chef”) AND “training” AND “management”
- dishwasher AND “food prep”
How to search for food and beverage industry candidates by education
Boolean search can find food and beverage industry candidates with specific education or certifications. For example, you can find candidates who received certificates such as ServSafe and Food Manager or graduated from culinary school. You can target specific areas of a candidate’s resume using special Boolean search terms (school: or fieldofstudy:).
However, consider only including education-based Boolean search criteria if it’s absolutely necessary for the role.
Examples of education-based search strings for finding food and beverage industry candidates include:
- “line cook” AND fieldofstudy: culinary
- chef AND school: “Culinary Institute of America”
- “prep cook” AND (ServSafe OR Serve Safe)
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How to combine search criteria
You can use Boolean search to create complex strings that provide targeted search results to help you filter resumes and find quality candidates. Combine locations, skills, education and other keywords to find exactly who you’re looking for. When creating complex Boolean search strings, be careful of typos. A single typo can cause your search to display inaccurate results.
Examples of combined search strings for finding food and beverage industry candidates include:
- “line cook” AND “grill” AND “saute” AND fieldofstudy: culinary AND (ServSafe OR “Serve Safe”) AND (Tampa or “Tampa Bay”): This search string will show results for line cooks in Tampa who may have experience in grill and saute, graduated with a culinary degree and hold a ServSafe certification.
- (“sous chef” or “assistant chef”) AND management AND school: “Culinary Institute of America” AND “Dallas”: This combined search string will bring up sous chefs in Dallas who list management experience on their resumes and who graduated from the Culinary Institute of America.
- “restaurant manager” NOT (“food manager” OR “head chef”) AND (“New York City” or NYC): This brings up restaurant managers in NYC but excludes food managers and head chefs.
Get started with Boolean search on Indeed
Boolean search makes it easy to find qualified candidates based on the education, skills and location your company is looking for. By streamlining the hiring and recruiting processes, Boolean search strings can help your hiring managers save time and be more productive. Try using Boolean search today to find the food and beverage candidates who meet your needs.
Start your Boolean search for food and beverage industry candidates with Indeed Smart Sourcing’s 14-day free trial. Our advanced search filters and support for Boolean search means you can quickly zero in on the quality candidates from our pool of 245M resumes. Not only that but Indeed’s matching engine learns from your resume searches and candidate activity on Indeed to deliver quality matches.
