How to use LinkedIn Recruiter to search for candidates

When running a search in LinkedIn Recruiter, you can filter your search results by using Spotlights. This feature helps you prioritize candidates who are more likely to engage with you and your organization, based on activity, interest, and relationship insights from LinkedIn.

You can also find new prospects and use insights to better target your results with features like Open to Work. Spotlights are powered by real-time signals only available on the world’s largest professional network.

Refine your search and narrow in on your ideal candidates using 40+ advanced search filters in Recruiter. You can speed up your searches and work more efficiently using multiple refinement filters and then saving them as custom filters to apply to other searches.

Narrow your results even further using a combination of filters and keywords to find prospects who meet your criteria.

When using the Keywords filter in LinkedIn Recruiter, you can also enter and edit Boolean search strings. This allows you to retrieve data from an entire profile page and get results more closely related to your ideal candidate profiles. If you have criteria that have not been covered by existing filters, you can enter it in the Keywords filter.

Discover more tips on how to use Boolean modifiers to filter search results.

Start with a search on LinkedIn Recruiter and then leverage Recommended Matches to explore further. Recommended Matches uncovers new candidates that are less likely to show up in a search, powered by your real-time hiring signals, such as Save, Hide, or Message candidates. 

It’s also based on your implicit hiring intent, such as finding diverse talent or people with similar skills. On top of your hiring goals, Recommended Matches leverages LinkedIn members’ real-time job-seeking activities and the key information from your job post, like job titles, locations, and skills.

Learn more about how to use Recommended Matches to increase hiring efficiency.