Brewing Your Recruiter Search Potion 🧪

I tend to work on experienced hire roles with a public accounting focus- so title/keyword are the most important factors for me- not a role that outside skills are really transferable into, so I have to be very specific in finding other public accountants.

Sometimes, a role will allow for a little more leeway in someone’s background and in the past when I’ve recruited sales- a discipline notorious for having a wide range of interchangeable titles that companies use differently- targeting specific companies selling similar products/services is usually the strategy there.

I always start with Open to Work- because why wouldn’t you!

So, for a tax accountant it would look something like: Title: “tax manager”, Location: “50mi radius of 00000 zip”, maybe throw in Keyword: “CPA” if having your CPA is required.

​@Jeff Seidl I just realized I didn’t even include Title as an option here! I take that one for granted since it populates automatically when you create an AI-assisted project. Do you tend to put something like “Public Accountant” in both the title and keyword filters, or just in the title? I’m curious if and how that combination impacts the number of results you receive. 

I love your point about Open to Work. It is such a no-brainer, especially if your initial search creates thousands of results. 

I usually rely on the Title field first and try to be specific to the area of expertise I want- so literally just the word “audit” or “tax” because people will typically describe themselves in their profile as “Tax Manager” or “Senior Tax Accountant”- and I like to cast very wide nets.

I have not tried putting the identical phrase into Keyword, I usually reserve that for a phrase or jargon that people capture in different places and isn’t necessarily reliably found in one place. So, by putting it their it scans the entire profile for the word. “CPA” for instance is something one can add as a skill to your skills/certifications section of one’s profile- not everyone necessarily does though. BUT, what a lot of people do, is make it part of their last name as it is the only way to make it visible at the top of your profile or in the more condensed view of someone’s profile, like when commenting or posting. So someone would be “Jane Doe, CPA” and on the back end, they actually filled out the last name field as “Doe, CPA”.

SO, point being- if I put CPA into Keyword, it can grab it from the profile Name, which isn’t really an independent search field.

I got bored just typing this...sorry for the over long explanation...

I do not use Job titles field as the options can be limited and due to many variations of it in the marketplace.

No need to apologize, this is exactly what the community is for! I love getting into these details because they can become insights I share in future trainings. Your explanation is really hitting on how important it is for Recruiter users to understand all of the creative ways a LinkedIn member can design their profile. The more you understand their ways of completing their profiles, the more strategic you can be in brewing your potions (my time to apologize for all the Halloween theming😅) 

This definitely makes sense for those roles that do not have specific titles. You can enter multiple titles, but using keywords or qualifications will most likely cast a wider net. Have you had more success leveraging the keyword filter instead? 

my favorite combo is skills&keywords + #years of experience + zip code

Then I look at engaged with brand, then open to work, then all

If my pipeline isn’t diverse then I like to add custom filters which include MSIs, diverse groups etc.

Education is the last thing I look at - if a candidate checks all the experience boxes but doesn’t meet the education requirements I would still present and fight for an exception :)

I add the seniority titles into my keywords so it’s typically something I skip too..

This sounds like a really effective recipe for success! I really appreciate your attention to diversity. Do you have any go to groups that you include in that custom filter to incorporate more diversity? That sounds like a great custom filter to save since you can add it to a variety of searches for different roles

​@mmcquade  Thanks so much! I’ve found that building inclusive pipelines really starts with intentional sourcing. For my custom diversity filters, I often include:

• MSIs (Minority Serving Institutions) – especially HBCUs, HSIs, and Tribal Colleges
• Veteran networks – great for leadership and discipline across roles
• Women in Tech groups – like AnitaB.org, Women Who Code, and TechLadies
• LGBTQ+ professional communities – Out in Tech is a favorite
• Disability-focused talent pools – including organizations like Disability:IN

I also keep an eye out for affinity groups on LinkedIn and use Boolean strings to surface candidates who mention these affiliations in their profiles. It’s a great way to layer in equity without compromising on quality.

Spotlight/open to work and skills were all grouped together for me!

This is fantastic and so actionable! I think a lot of folks want to create inclusive pipelines but struggle to think of how to do so. If it’s ok with you, I’d love to create a dedicated post about this topic sometime over the next few weeks and share these ideas - and give you credit for them of course!

all good for me!

Always got better results.

You could potentially use keywords for surfacing women on career breaks due to child birth or care giving too.

yes or just parents in general. :D