What to search for and the words to use

WHAT TO SEARCH FOR – THE RIGHT WORDS TO USE:

The job boards we have listed all use things called Boolean search strings which use simple rules to modify searches. These are always in capitals, usually “AND” or “OR”.

F If you want to look for job adverts that contain either the word “History” OR the word “Graduate” you would use this search string: History OR graduate. This would give you a very broad search as lots of jobs would likely contain the word “Graduate”.

F This may be what you want if you are looking for graduate roles but not necessarily anything to do with History. If this search came out big and you wanted to narrow it down, you could use this search string: History AND graduate. This would only give you job adverts with the word “History” as well as the word “Graduate” in which will be much fewer options. F Or if you are looking for part-time jobs:

(“Customer service” OR admin OR administration) AND (“part time” OR casual)

Most job sites have an “advanced search” option which will allow you to select whether you want your search words to be only in the job title or anywhere in the body of the advert. Most websites will let you filter the search by “Job Type” as well which can include part-time. Trial and error will get you your perfect search string which narrows down your search enough but ensures you do not miss any opportunities.

F However, there could be jobs that do not mention the word “History” or “Graduate” but may still be relevant. Then you need to have a think about some key words that would likely be included. For example: “Customer service”

OR “human resources” OR administration OR

administration Note: if you are using a phrase with more than one word in it then you use speech marks.

F If this search is coming up with too many roles you may want to adjust it to: (“HR” OR “human

resources” OR administration OR admin) AND

graduate. This will narrow down your search to job adverts that contain any of the words in the brackets as well as the word “Graduate”.