Before writing a search string, agree what the person will actually do. A job description that mixes essential requirements, optional tools and broad adjectives makes it hard to explain why a search includes or excludes a term.

Start with the work

Write a short description of the responsibility and the outcome the hiring manager needs. Then list evidence a person could discuss in an interview: a service they maintained, a reporting process they owned, or a team activity they coordinated.

An illustrative engineering brief might ask for experience maintaining a Python service with a relational database. It need not require every tool the team has used at some point. For an accounting role, specify the reporting responsibility and systems used rather than relying on "excellent attention to detail" alone.

Separate essential and optional requirements

Ask what would prevent a person from doing the work if it were missing. Put that in the essential list. Put skills that could be learned or would simply be helpful in a separate optional list.

For example:

  • Essential: maintain a Python service and explain database changes.
  • Optional: experience with the team's particular cloud provider.
  • To confirm with the manager: whether the person must join an on-call rota.

This is a fictional brief, not a universal requirement for an engineering job.

Make working arrangements explicit

Record the actual location, expected presence at the workplace, relevant time-zone overlap and the engagement offered. Ask the employer to resolve missing details. Do not turn a vague word such as "remote" into an assumed country or schedule.

Include the employer's budget and its currency and period when available. Keep uncertain details as questions to resolve. The guide to rate and salary expectations explains how to avoid comparing unlike figures.

Translate the brief into a search

Group alternative titles with OR. Use AND only for requirements you intend to impose on the search. An optional skill does not become optional just because it sits inside parentheses with OR: an AND before that group still requires a match in the group.

Read the Boolean search guide for the platform's documented operators and illustrative examples. Search results are text to inspect, not a decision about a candidate.

Review a generated draft

Deelbert's LinkedIn query generator accepts a job description and prepares broad, narrow and X-ray drafts. Check whether it captured your essential requirements, kept optional skills out of the broad query and used the right location. Edit anything that does not match the brief before running the search yourself.

The generator is free with a Deelbert account. It does not publish a job advert. See the recruiting plan details or open the generator.