Before delving into the different options for searching your database, it’s essential to have a clear understanding of your data structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In PCRecruiter, there are three primary record types: Companies, Names, and Positions. Each record type comprises structured field data, or individual fields containing values, and content data, which referes to items with broader options for searching, such as Resumes or Notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PCRecruiter provides several search methods. Which method you use will depend on the complexity of your search.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Field Data represents the organized information within records. These are the predefined or custom fields you’ll find on records, such as Company Name, City, State, Title, Email Address, and User Name. To search within field data, you select the field name from a dropdown and enter the value to search. Certain field types, such as status, may also have pre-defined values that populate when clicking into the value field. These values can be searched or simply selected from the dropdown populated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Field Data Searching Tips<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n There are several pre-selected search filters that automatically display from the search grid depending on the record type being searched. These fields will automatically utlize the condition of ‘starts with’ when values are placed here. For instance, searching for First Name with rob<\/em> returns rob, robert, or robin. For all additional filter options you will select from the condition dropdown to determine the search behavior for that selected criteria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The various condition options are detailed below, along with a few tips for how to structure your search queries utilizing field data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Boolean operators replace the condition dropdown when searching through content, allowing users to add larger amounts of criteria at once instead of individually like you would with a field value. This is utilized when doing a Content Search<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Boolean Logic is needed when searching:<\/strong> Resumes, Notes, Keywords, Summaries, Profiles, and Attchments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lucene is NOT needed when searching:<\/strong> Predefined or Custom field searching or activity searching. Here you will use the condition dropdown in place of the operators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An \u2018operator\u2019 is a special keyword or symbol that helps you refine and specify your search criteria, allowing you to be more precise when looking for information in your database. In Lucene, there are a variety of operators which can give you very specific and useful control. The table below is a quick reference for you and detailed explainations can be found underneath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Exact matching (Value Equals) is the default behavior for field searching, meaning that only records with that exact term in the selected content section will be returned. For example, searching a Resume for Manage the results will only return records containing the exact match of Manage, not Management or Manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While searching for exact matches can be very useful, with the variation in titles or role descriptions that can be found within a Resume, you will often want results that patrially match your criteria, without having to type out manager, manage, and managment all together. Using these Boolean operators allows us to search for content that doesn\u2019t exactly match the term, and to choose where and how that term is searched. There are many different symbols and terms that will be used when searching content. We\u2019ll explain them in general terms here, and how they function in specific search contexts below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Quotation Marks<\/strong>: Using quotation marks around a search term ensures that the results only display content that has both terms directly next to each other and not one term or the other. This means you will need to add the phrase “Assistant Manager” in parenthesis to ensure that you do not get results with only the term Assistant or Manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n OR, AND, NOT:<\/strong> These standard Boolean operators operators can be placed between words and phrases to create complex or simple searches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Note:<\/strong> These operators must be in ALL CAPS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Multi-Character Wildcard (%) \u2014 <\/strong>The multiple character wildcard will allow the user to search for partial word terms without knowing the exact spelling of the word or words. Just place a percent sign where the words or characters may be variable or missing. You can also place multiple wildcards within the same word or phrase. Below are a few examples and use cases for this operator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Parentheses <\/strong>\u2014 Boolean grouping with parentheses around groups of words or phrases relates the terms to each other. This will allow users to create possible subsets of required search terms as seen here:<\/p>\n\n\n\n (\u201cSales Manager\u201d OR \u201cProduct Manager\u201d) AND Analyst<\/p>\n\n\n\n This search brings back any record that had either the phrase \u201cSales Manager\u201d or \u201cProduct Manager\u201d and also had the word Analyst.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Before delving into the different options for searching your database, it’s essential to have a clear understanding of your data structure. In PCRecruiter, there are three primary record types: Companies, Names, and Positions. Each record type comprises structured field data, or individual fields containing values, and content data, which referes to items with broader options… Continue reading Introduction to Record Searching<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"doc_category":[99],"glossaries":[],"doc_tag":[],"knowledge_base":[26],"class_list":["post-10938","docs","type-docs","status-publish","hentry","doc_category-searching","knowledge_base-pcrm","entry"],"year_month":"2026-04","word_count":1852,"total_views":"544","reactions":{"happy":"0","normal":"0","sad":"0"},"author_info":{"name":"rmontoni","author_nicename":"rmontoni","author_url":"https:\/\/learnsuite.pcrecruiter.net\/site\/author\/rmontoni\/"},"doc_category_info":[{"term_name":"Searching","term_url":"https:\/\/learnsuite.pcrecruiter.net\/site\/docs\/pcrm\/searching\/"}],"doc_tag_info":[],"knowledge_base_info":[{"term_name":"PCRM","term_url":"https:\/\/learnsuite.pcrecruiter.net\/site\/docs\/pcrm\/","term_slug":"pcrm"}],"knowledge_base_slug":["pcrm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnsuite.pcrecruiter.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/10938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnsuite.pcrecruiter.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnsuite.pcrecruiter.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/docs"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnsuite.pcrecruiter.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnsuite.pcrecruiter.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10938"}],"version-history":[{"count":31,"href":"https:\/\/learnsuite.pcrecruiter.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/10938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15856,"href":"https:\/\/learnsuite.pcrecruiter.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/10938\/revisions\/15856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnsuite.pcrecruiter.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"doc_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnsuite.pcrecruiter.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/doc_category?post=10938"},{"taxonomy":"glossaries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnsuite.pcrecruiter.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/glossaries?post=10938"},{"taxonomy":"doc_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnsuite.pcrecruiter.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/doc_tag?post=10938"},{"taxonomy":"knowledge_base","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnsuite.pcrecruiter.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/knowledge_base?post=10938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
How is Boolean Logic used when searching?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Search Operators<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Operator<\/strong><\/th> When to use<\/th> Example<\/th><\/tr><\/thead> No Operator<\/td> Match exact value<\/td> Engineer<\/td><\/tr> Quotes<\/td> Match exact phrase<\/td> “Mechanical Engineer”<\/td><\/tr> AND<\/td> Match all values<\/td> “Mechanical Engineer” AND <\/strong>“Master\u2019s Degree”<\/td><\/tr> OR<\/td> Match either value<\/td> “Mechanical Engineer” OR <\/strong>“Mechanical Engineering”<\/td><\/tr> Comma<\/td> Match any values<\/td> “Mechanical Engineer”, <\/strong>Engineer,<\/strong> Mechanical<\/td><\/tr> NOT<\/td> Exclude specific value<\/td> Manager NOT <\/strong>“Assistant Manager”<\/td><\/tr> Parenthesis<\/td> Group search terms<\/td> (“Mechanical Engineer” OR <\/strong>“Mechanical Engineering”) AND <\/strong>“Master\u2019s Degree”<\/td><\/tr> % (Wilcard)<\/td> Replaces Multiple Unknown Characters<\/td> Manage%<\/strong> = \u201cManager\u201d and \u201cManagement\u201d
\u201c%President\u201d<\/strong> = \u201cSenior Vice President\u201d and \u201cPresident\u201d
\u201cH % Manager\u201d<\/strong> = \u201cHR Manager\u201d and \u201cHuman Resource Manager\u201d<\/td><\/tr>? (Wildcard)<\/td> Replaces Single
Unknown Character<\/td>Manage?<\/strong> = \u201cManager\u201d or “Manages” but not \u201cManagement\u201d<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Operator Descriptions and Examples<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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