You've Been Boo(lean)ed! 🧟‍♂️

Hi ​@mmcquade  this is one I used and it was useful but I realized I could have made it more succinct ("reservoir engineer" OR "petroleum engineer" OR "subsurface engineer" OR "production engineer") AND ("reservoir simulation" OR "asset optimization") AND ("field development planning" OR  "enhanced oil recovery" ) AND NOT ("sales representative" OR "account executive" OR "business development"). 

This definitely fits the spooky criteria. I’m curious: do you use any AI tools like Chat GPT or Copilot to help you draft Boolean strings like this?

I would not call it spooky though. You are just using natural language search. Granted it can be enhanced like this:

("customer engagement" OR "customer experience" OR "account management" OR "client retention" OR "customer lifecycle" OR "customer advocacy" OR "relationship management" OR "customer satisfaction" OR "NPS" OR "voice of customer" OR "renewals" OR "upsell" OR "cross-sell" OR "customer journey" OR "CSAT")

Hi ​@mmcquade   I was recently working on a senior role the listed boolean strings were super helpful, ("Director of Shared Services" OR "Director, Shared Services" OR "Shared Services Director") AND (APAC OR "Asia Pacific" OR Asia) AND (Finance OR "Finance Operations") AND (AP OR "Accounts Payable" OR "Procure to Pay" OR P2P) NOT (CFO OR "Chief Financial Officer" OR "Finance Manager" OR "Senior Manager" OR "VP" OR "Vice President" OR "Head of")

You can enhance it to Director “shared services” (APAC OR "Asia Pacific" OR Asia) AND (Finance OR "Finance Operations") AND (AP OR "Accounts Payable" OR "Procure to Pay" OR P2P) (reduction OR accuracy OR automation OR OCR OR RPA OR “cycle time” OR BOT) NOT (CFO OR "Chief Financial Officer" OR "Finance Manager" OR "Senior Manager" OR VP OR Vice OR "Head of") ...

One of the few functions I find Copilot very useful for- “Please give me a list of the top 30 CPA firms, no numbers, no bullets, in boolean format”

Saves a ton of unnecessary typing when you want just a big list of competitors for the Company field for instance.

I love seeing ​@JayT jump in to give ​@Michelle Thilaga (and me) advice - that’s what these threads are all about👏 It’s also very helpful for me as a facilitator to see the way you build strings in reality, so I can draw on them as real-life examples in future sessions. 

And totally agree ​@Jeff Seidl. Copilot helped me draft the string that I used as my initial example in the post! I can only imagine how much time these AI tools have saved you. The real spooky story was probably never the Boolean strings themselves, but having to do the manual research or brainstorm on your own to figure out what to include in them!

this is what I used recently in the AI Search: 

I’m hiring a Digital Mindset Program Manager based in Ontario or Quebec. The ideal candidate has led large-scale digital transformation or enablement programs inside enterprise organizations. They combine strong change management and L&D program design experience with exposure to AI, automation, or analytics adoption.

Generate a Boolean search string with relevant titles, synonyms, and keywords (e.g., “Digital Transformation Lead,” “Learning Program Manager,” “AI Enablement Lead,” “Digital Adoption Specialist,” “Change Management Consultant”). Focus on candidates in Canada (Ontario + Quebec) with 8–15 years of experience

If its a niche or a tough role or a new role that you may have never worked on, you can run the same prompt across 2 to 3 GenAI tools to pick up any new areas that maybe overlooked by one tool..

Oh man, oh wow. Things that scare me:

1. Too many variables. It’ll reverse the polarity/collapse the particle flow/cross the streams, none of which are good. From my experience, anything more than six distinct terms in keywords is pushing it.
2. Rigid variables: brackets, quotations and the OR function exist for a reason.
3. Fixed thinking: “I tried it with these things, it got me X results, therefore there can only be X people in the market”
   
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I am also not in favour of having too many keywords but does linkedin have a recommendation on how many is too many?