The prompt
Score 10 of 10, Excellent
Use it when You need search strings for LinkedIn, a job board or your applicant system that find the right people without thousands of misses.
- {{role}}
- {{platform}}
- {{must_haves}}
- {{nice_to_haves}}
- {{titles}}
- {{location}}
- {{false_matches}}
Full prompt and why it works
Prompt
Write Boolean search strings to source candidates for the role of {{role}} on {{platform}}, so that I can paste them in and get a list worth reviewing. I am a recruiter, not a programmer, so explain each string in plain words. Must-have skills and experience: """ {{must_haves}} """ Nice-to-haves: {{nice_to_haves}} Job titles people in this work commonly hold, if I know them: {{titles}} Location or remote rules: {{location}} Things that produce wrong matches (for example, a skill name that is also a common word): {{false_matches}} Produce: 1. Three strings, from broad to narrow, each on its own line so I can copy it, followed by two sentences on what it finds and when to use it. 2. The synonyms and alternative titles you used, as a list I can check. 3. Three tips for narrowing a string that returns too many results, and three for widening one that returns too few. Use only the operators {{platform}} supports; if you are not sure which it supports, stick to AND, OR, NOT, quotation marks and parentheses, and tell me to check the platform's help page. Keep each string under 250 characters unless I said the platform allows more, because some search boxes cut long strings off without warning. For example, the shape of a string, with placeholder terms: ("payroll specialist" OR "payroll administrator") AND (ADP OR Workday) NOT intern Search only on skills, titles, experience, qualifications and location. Do not add terms that target or exclude people by gender, age, ethnicity, nationality, religion, disability or similar characteristics, including stand-ins such as graduation years, "recent graduate" for an experienced role, or "native speaker" (use "fluent in" a language only if the job needs it). If my criteria include anything like that, leave it out and explain why. If a must-have is too vague to search for, such as "good communicator", say so and suggest searchable signs of it, or leave it for the interview.
Variables
- {{role}}
- The job title.
- {{platform}}
- Where you will search, for example LinkedIn Recruiter, Indeed or your applicant tracking system.
- {{must_haves}}
- The skills, tools, qualifications and experience the person must have.
- {{nice_to_haves}}
- Skills that would help but are not required.
- {{titles}}
- Job titles people doing this work often have, or "not sure".
- {{location}}
- For example "within 30 miles of Denver" or "remote, US only".
- {{false_matches}}
- Words that bring in the wrong people, or "none known".
Why it works
- Length. Three strings from broad to narrow, each under 250 characters, give you a fallback when one returns too much or too little.
- What to avoid. Proxies for age, nationality and other protected characteristics, such as graduation years or "native speaker", are kept out of the search and explained.
- If unsure. Unknown platform syntax falls back to the operators almost every search box supports, with a pointer to check the help page.