Writing Effective Searches
Tips and examples for writing search queries that return the best candidate matches.
The quality of your search results depends heavily on how you phrase your query. Here's how to write queries that surface the right talent.
Be specific about the role
Include the job title, seniority level, and key technologies or domains. Vague queries return broad results; specific queries return targeted matches.
| Less effective | More effective |
|---|---|
| Software engineer | Senior backend engineer with Python and AWS experience |
| Marketing person | Performance marketing manager with paid social and Google Ads expertise |
| Sales rep | Enterprise SaaS account executive with 3+ years closing deals over $100k ARR |
| Designer | Senior product designer with B2B SaaS experience and Figma proficiency |
Specify location
Always include a location unless you're hiring fully remote. Be specific: use city names, not just countries, for the best results. For remote roles, say "open to remote" or "fully remote".
Include experience context
Mention years of experience, company types, or industry context to narrow results:
- "5+ years of experience"
- "worked at a Series B or later startup"
- "fintech or payments industry background"
- "experience managing a team of 10+"
Example queries
- "Senior React engineer in Berlin or Munich, open to hybrid work, 5+ years experience, TypeScript required"
- "VP of Sales with enterprise SaaS experience, based in New York or remote, previously sold to Fortune 500 companies"
- "DevOps engineer in London with Kubernetes and Terraform experience, worked at a scale-up or large tech company"
- "Customer success manager in Austin, TX, B2B SaaS background, experience with Salesforce and Gainsight"
You can also click "Suggest searches" when inside a pipeline — RecruiteeAI will generate search queries tailored to your pipeline's criteria automatically.
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