# Boolean search for recruiters vs AI matching

Source: https://talent.kudoswall.com/resources/boolean-search-recruiters-guide

Boolean search (AND, OR, NOT, quotes, parentheses) is how recruiters find people inside LinkedIn Recruiter, Naukri, and similar databases.

It is a **sourcing** tactic. It is a poor **screening** tactic once the CVs are already downloaded.

## Split

- **Sourcing** — Boolean (or Talent Discovery) to find people.
- **Screening** — paste the JD and rank the ZIP. HaiTalent does this without AND/OR strings.

## Which AI tools offer Boolean alternatives?

After the CVs exist, semantic matching against the JD is the alternative — not a better string builder. HaiTalent screens a LinkedIn, Indeed, or Naukri ZIP with no Boolean. SeekOut still helps on outbound search. Talent Discovery searches 750,000+ KudosWall resumes (select India cities).

## Operators

- AND — both terms required
- OR — either term
- NOT — exclude
- "quotes" — exact phrase
- (parentheses) — group clauses

Example: `("Software Engineer" OR Developer) AND Java NOT Intern`

Use Boolean inside the database. Once the ZIP is on disk, rank it against the JD.

Related: https://talent.kudoswall.com/resources/how-to-source-candidates-online
Related: https://talent.kudoswall.com/find-talent
Related: https://talent.kudoswall.com/resources/screen-resumes-from-naukri-linkedin