Thumb rules of Sourcing 👍

Thumb Rules or some conditions or some important notes or some close observations captured during the live sessions:





Thumb rule 1

While using AND, OR, NOT in LinkedIn, Naukri, Monster, Dice, Career Builder or any Job portals it has to be in capital letters as these (AND, OR, NOT) operators are case sensitive.

Thumb rule 2

Whenever we use OR the keywords has to be closed by brackets ( ) 

Thumb rule 3

While using AND, OR, NOT in LinkedIn, Naukri, Monster, Dice, Career Builder or any Job portals it has to be in capital letters as these (AND, OR, NOT) operators are case sensitive.

Thumb rule 4

Whenever we use OR the keywords has to be closed by brackets ( ) 

Thumb rule 5

Whenever we use minus ( - ) to exclude any keyword there shouldn’t be any space after - it has be in continuation to -keyword

For Example: -jobs -job -jd -apply -opportunities -opportunity -careers; is correct as it excludes above words from search results. - jobs - job - jd - apply - opportunities - opportunity - careers; is wrong as it includes these keywords in search results.

Thumb rule 6

Do we need a space before and after - while using it in Google? ; Answer is Yes and NO; we need a space before - but not after -

Thumb rule 7

Do we need a space before and after NOT while using it in LinkedIn, Naukri, Monster or any job portal? ; Answer is Yes

Thumb rule 8

Can we use NOT in Google ? NO

Thumb rule 9

Can we use - in Naukri, Monster, Dice or any job portal ? No

Thumb rule 10

Is the space required before and after OR and AND in job portals? Yes we need space before and after AND and OR.

Thumb rule 11

Can we use | instead of OR in Job-Portals ? No

Thumb rule 12

Can we use space instead of AND in LinkedIn, Naukri, Monster or any Job portals ? It’s NO but sometimes YES

Thumb rule 13

Are the Keywords case sensitive ? NO, KEYWORDS are not case sensitive.

Thumb rule 14

When shall we use " "? Is it only for a use case when we need "Exact Phrase" as-it-is or can we even use it for a "single" word ? Yes we can use even for a "single" word when we need those keywords in must must must to have. OR else Google, LinkedIn will go with the assumptions and start showing us similar results or the results which are synonyms to the given keyword.

For example:

Boolean Logic PDF as on 21-Dec-21

Thumb rule 15

Do we need a space while using " " before or after " Keyword " ? No, if we give a space before or after a " keyword " Google will start showing the results with assumptions and synonyms

For Example:

Thumb rule 16

Can we use a space while using inurl: ? No, we can’t. As there is no web address or web link on the entire world wide web (www.abc.com ) which has a space.

Thumb rule 17

What will happen if we use space while using inurl: example - inurl: linkedin.com/in ? Though this will give us a results on Google however Google understands it as 2 keywords and start assuming and showing us a results which have both the keywords or terms similar to inurl: and linkedin.com/in

Thumb rule 18

16: Are the operators inurl: , site: , related: are case sensitive ? Yes, and these operators must be written in small cases/letters.

Thumb rule 19

Are the keywords case sensitive ? Even though they are written in " " or with command intext: ? For example : site:"LINKEDIN.COM/IN" or inurl:"LINKEDIN.COM/IN" ? NO, Keywords are never a case sensitive in whatever the use-case it may be. However when we use " " after and operator site: it would not go through as 

Thumb rule 20

What is the difference between inurl: VS site: while both of them seem to be doing the similar job? Basically operator inurl: is searching for the text or image or emojis after inurl: in the entire URL of search results. However, operator site: is searching for the web site link mentioned after site: which even thinks " " or any special characters are a part of web site link and searching for those special characters in URL’s or in web links. And hence, in some cases where we have these special characters it is working and in some case where we don't have these special characters is not working

for example:

Thumb rule 21

Why inurl:"linkedin.com/in" is working at the same time site:"linkedin.com/in" is not working when we give them in " " ? Here we need to understand what site: and inurl: are ment for. i.e.: inurl: is ment to search for any text/keyword/image/emoji as a text-search in the entire URL. However, site: is only meant for searching the whole website link in the search results. Hence special characters like " " can't be understood while using the site: as no weblink has "key word " in web URL’s.

Thumb rule 22

If we add special characters in site: will it work? the answer is YES and NO both YES if we have any weblinks with the special characters and NO is if we don't have and web link with special characters

For example:

Thumb rule 23

If we add special characters in inurl: will it work ? The answer is YES and NO both.

for example:

Thumb rule 24

Is the * still valid ? (Question as on 30-Dec-2021) : Answer is YES and NO both.

Thumb rule 25

What is * What does it do? * is basically a fill in the blanks and used to replace any keywords before or after or inbetween.

Example: "SAP * Developer" this will fetch us a results which may include Thumb rule 26

Does the * works with combination of keyword* immediately ? for example test* Soft* ? The answer is yes and no both based on various use cases. Hence it is always suggested to try various searches while using * however it perfectly works fine when there is a space before and after * and been used to replace any keyword.

Thumb rule 27

What is number range search or .. (dot dot) search between any two numbers? For example "3..6 inches" or "3..6 foot" or "3..6 feet" or 2015..2019 ? 

Thumb rule 28

What does Operator AROUND(5) do? It basically searches for keywords given before AND after operator AROUND(5) within the number of number mentioned in ( )

For example:

(Girl | Girls | women | womens) AROUND(5) (Institute | School | college | "In tech" | "in technology" | Engineer)

In this example it searches for results which has any one word from set 1 i.e.: (Girl | Girls | women | womens) and any one word from set 2 i.e.:(Institute | School | college | "In tech" | "in technology" | Engineer) within number of words mentioned in (5) i.e.: Here we mentioned 5 in (5) hence it searches for keywords from both the set of keywords before and after AROUND(5) appearing together within 5 words in phrases or sentences.

For the above example string the results would be something like this.

One more example here:

("Women" | "Womens" | "girl" | "Girls") AROUND(5) (institute | school | college | university | "In tech" | "in technology" | engineering) pune AROUND(2) india site:linkedin.com/in intitle:("Software Engineer" | "Software Developer" | "Software Programmer") "3..8 * (experience | exp)"

Thumb rule 29

What's the maximum number we can add in () while using operator AROUND()

Ans: We can add up to as many as possible however it's ideal to add up to 10 and in a realistic situation we don't know if we really need to add more than 10.

Thumb rule 30

Can we use multiple times AROUND() in one search string? Yes we can use it like in the above example. We used AROUND(5) and AROUND(2) twice in the same search.

Thumb rule 31

What is filetype:?  it basically give us a results with the type of file we mention after filetype:

Thumb rule 32

What is an alternative to filetype: ? alternative to filetype is ext:

Thumb rule 33

How many filetype: or ext: supported by Google? There are a number of filetype or ext: supported or indexed by Google. filetype: indexed by Google

For example:

Thumb rule 34

What will happen when we give operators in upper case or when we give space while using inurl:

For example:

Ans: As a Thumb rule whenever we use inurl: it should be written in lower cases and there shouldn’t be any space while using inurl: 

However, the above search is giving us a results as it’s ignoring the command when we write inurl: as Inurl or while we are using space between (Google | twitter) and considering Inurl: as a additional keyword and giving us a results with a combination of keyword search (Twitter | Google) AND Inurl

But not actually considering Inurl as a command. As soon as we use space between (Google | Twitter) it completely ignores the command inurl: and start considering keyword search with (Google | Twitter) in some results we may also see Inurl is being considered as an additional keyword but not an operator.

Thumb rule 35

What is GitHub?

Ans: GitHub is basically cloud based (Public and Private (Hybrid)) code sharing platform which is being used by millions of developers and companies across the globe to share, fork (copy) code (repositories) and lately by recruiters to source candidates 😂😂😂. And there are many other features which GitHub supports comparable to other code platforms such as Hosting, Code Sharing, Discussions, Projects or repository comments, edited by a number of contributors.

Thumb rule 36

What are the types of keywords in GitHub Search?

There are two types of keywords in GitHub? Operator-driven keywords and non-operator driven keywords.

for example

Both of the above examples are operator driven keyword as we are using operator language: or location:

Java AWS  or JAVA OR AWS are non-operator driven keywords as we do not have operators attached to these keywords.

Thumb rule 37

Why do we need to understand the two types of Keywords in GitHub?

Ans: The reason being the SPACE between these two different types of keyword (operator and non-operator driven) on GitHub is understood completely differently.

Thumb rule 38

How is the SPACE understood by GitHub between operator driven keywords between (language:) the same operator (language:)?

i.e.; language:java language:javascript

This will give us a list of results of users who are working either in Java or Javascript as per GitHub backend picked language on individual profiles.

Thumb rule 39

How is the SPACE understood by GitHub between operator driven keywords between (language: and location:) ; the different operator (language: and location)? 

Thumb rule 40

How is the space understood between two keywords on GitHub which has been used without any operators?

i.e.; AWS Javascript

Here GitHub will understand SPACE as AND.

Thumb rule 41

How is the OR understood between two keywords on GitHub which has been used without attaching any operators?

i.e.; AWS OR Cloud

Here Github understands OR as OR. However, in GitHub we don't have to use ( ) while using OR as GitHub won't understand ( ).

Thumb rule 42

Can we search for people working in multiple languages on GitHub? for example; I want to search for a person who is working on Java AND JavaScript AND AWS?

Answer is NO when we are searching for people using language:java language:javascript (both are operator driven keywords as we are using language:). This would ideally give us the results of people who are working in Java OR JavaScript but not both. The reason being, first up all the space between the operator driven keywords is understood as OR by GitHub when it is used between the same two operators (like in this case we used language:java language:javascript)  and in the backend by default the user can mention only one language that they are working on. Hence, the SPACE between the same operators is understood by GitHub as OR

Thumb rule 43

Does the placement of keywords (operator and non operator driven) make a difference? No it doesn't make any difference.

for example

Thumb rule 44

What will happen when we use AND instead of SPACE in GitHub search?

for example

In this case GitHub will understand all the operator-driven keywords and ONLY one non-operator driven keyword which is before AND along with non-operator driven keywords which are used after AND in combination of OR.

Hence the above search will give us a list of results from Chennai or Hyderabad or Bangalore as we used location:hyderabad location:chennai location:bangalore and with Java or Python or JavaScript as we used language:java language:javascript language:python along with ONLY one keyword which is before AND i.e.; Raj in above use case and this PAY term can be anywhere in the page, it can even be a part of Name, Email or any word. However, keyword after AND used by OR i.e.; AWS OR CLOUD will be read as per boolean rule and will be included in the results

Here in this case PAY OR PUSH were ignored.

Let's take another example;

location:chennai language:java location:hyderabad language:javascript location:bangalore language:python SDE OR MTS AND AWS OR CLOUD

In this case ONLY MTS is being read and SDE has been ignored and rest other keywords have been understood as per the logic.