LinkedIn search to find someone who was in an industry previously and now in a different one

[Andy Rouse]

Hi all - first time poster, long time reader.

I'm interested in your thoughts/advice on how to do this, and if there's a good way to conduct a specific search within the LinkedIn search function (X-ray search could partially do this, but is still suboptimal - see below).

Here is a hypothetical example:
- I need a mechanical engineering manager that has had Defense & Space industry experience at some point in their career
- I've already done a LinkedIn search to find candidates currently in the industry through the Advanced search and selected Defense & Space
- Now I want to find candidates that are not currently in Defense & Space, but previously have been.

Possible solutions:
- Do a search for folks with previous companies in the industry (suboptimal)
- LinkedIn doesn't seem to pick up a past company's industry in the search string, so if I was to type in "Defense & Space" as a keyword, it wouldn't pick it up in a person's profile (this is where an Xray may pick it up - but actually would miss many candidates unless they have an expanded profile view)

Anyone have a good suggestion on how best to go about this?

Thanks in advance

Andy

[Dave Galley]

Andy,

Not sure if this is what you're looking for, but wouldn't this work?

Use "Defense & Space" keyword, then for industry select all EXCEPT for defense and space?

[Andy Rouse]

@DG - Unfortunately, I don't think a company's industry is picked up as a keyword - otherwise, this would be a good solution.

DG said:

Andy,

Not sure if this is what you're looking for, but wouldn't this work?

Use "Defense & Space" keyword, then for industry select all EXCEPT for defense and space?

[Dave Galley]

Andy,

Sorry, my initial test turned up a lot of fales positive's - through me off.

Doesn't seem to be a truly simple solution, but I suppose one workaround would be to do a company search for Defense & Space, and OR (current company) the entire list for past companies only, while searching the in all industries except Defense and Space. Would specifically exclude anyone with past defense and space. Could also include some related industries. Not guaranteed to get everyone, but would get most.

A bit of a pain to build the string, but IIRC LI has no string length limits, so once you've got it, you're good.


Andy Rouse said:

@DG - Unfortunately, I don't think a company's industry is picked up as a keyword - otherwise, this would be a good solution.

DG said:

Andy,

Not sure if this is what you're looking for, but wouldn't this work?

Use "Defense & Space" keyword, then for industry select all EXCEPT for defense and space?

[Irina Shamaeva]

Using "defense and space" in X-raying LinkedIn would bring all profiles with the stated industry at one of the companies, either past or present.

On Google, try
mechanical engineer manager inurl:pub OR inurl:in "Defense & Space industry * 1990..2010 " site:www.linkedin.com by clicking here:

mechanical engineer manager inurl:pub OR inurl:in "Defense & Sp...

[Andy Rouse]

Hi Irina - thanks for that. My only concern is that many folks have their public profiles set to show just the basics, and not their full background, so I would think that this would exclude some folks from the search.

This would definitely get quite a few, though I'm not sure how many would be missed and how many folks typically have their public profiles set up with limited information.

Thoughts?

Irina Shamaeva said:

Using "defense and space" in X-raying LinkedIn would bring all profiles with the stated industry at one of the companies, either past or present.

On Google, try
mechanical engineer manager inurl:pub OR inurl:in "Defense & Space industry * 1990..2010 " site:www.linkedin.com by clicking here:

mechanical engineer manager inurl:pub OR inurl:in "Defense & Sp...

[Irina Shamaeva]

I actually think that the absolute majority of LinkedIn members go with the default - which is the full public profile. However, some may be lazy and not enter their industry for a past job.

Additionally, your initial though on chasing the companies is good too. If you select the industry and enter a target title or target keywords, you can check out the list of the target companies right there on LinkedIn.

Andy Rouse said:

Hi Irina - thanks for that. My only concern is that many folks have their public profiles set to show just the basics, and not their full background, so I would think that this would exclude some folks from the search.

This would definitely get quite a few, though I'm not sure how many would be missed and how many folks typically have their public profiles set up with limited information.

Thoughts?

Irina Shamaeva said:

Using "defense and space" in X-raying LinkedIn would bring all profiles with the stated industry at one of the companies, either past or present.

On Google, try
mechanical engineer manager inurl:pub OR inurl:in "Defense & Space industry * 1990..2010 " site:www.linkedin.com by clicking here:

mechanical engineer manager inurl:pub OR inurl:in "Defense & Sp...

[Andy Rouse]

Irina - thank you for the advice. Let me ask something as well.

Regarding the portion of the string: "Defense & Space industry * 1990..2010 " - I just want to confirm the boolean logic here. You've included the "Defense & Space Industry * 1990..2010 " - is this because there is a portion in a person's profile that shows:

(Privately Held; Defense & Space industry)
September 2001 — August 2008

So, you're going for the wildcard in the middle of the industry and dates. If I wanted to do this with a specific company, would the below capture someone who worked at Defense Company A in those years:

"Defense company A * 1990..2010 "

Thanks so much - very helpful.

Irina Shamaeva said:

I actually think that the absolute majority of LinkedIn members go with the default - which is the full public profile. However, some may be lazy and not enter their industry for a past job.

Additionally, your initial though on chasing the companies is good too. If you select the industry and enter a target title or target keywords, you can check out the list of the target companies right there on LinkedIn.

Andy Rouse said:

Hi Irina - thanks for that. My only concern is that many folks have their public profiles set to show just the basics, and not their full background, so I would think that this would exclude some folks from the search.

This would definitely get quite a few, though I'm not sure how many would be missed and how many folks typically have their public profiles set up with limited information.

Thoughts?

Irina Shamaeva said:

Using "defense and space" in X-raying LinkedIn would bring all profiles with the stated industry at one of the companies, either past or present.

On Google, try
mechanical engineer manager inurl:pub OR inurl:in "Defense & Space industry * 1990..2010 " site:www.linkedin.com by clicking here:

mechanical engineer manager inurl:pub OR inurl:in "Defense & Sp...

[Irina Shamaeva]

Yes, correct. You may want to try * * instead of *, and * * * as well, just in case.

Andy Rouse said:

Irina - thank you for the advice. Let me ask something as well.

Regarding the portion of the string: "Defense & Space industry * 1990..2010 " - I just want to confirm the boolean logic here. You've included the "Defense & Space Industry * 1990..2010 " - is this because there is a portion in a person's profile that shows:

(Privately Held; Defense & Space industry)
September 2001 — August 2008

So, you're going for the wildcard in the middle of the industry and dates. If I wanted to do this with a specific company, would the below capture someone who worked at Defense Company A in those years:

"Defense company A * 1990..2010 "

Thanks so much - very helpful.

Irina Shamaeva said:

I actually think that the absolute majority of LinkedIn members go with the default - which is the full public profile. However, some may be lazy and not enter their industry for a past job.

Additionally, your initial though on chasing the companies is good too. If you select the industry and enter a target title or target keywords, you can check out the list of the target companies right there on LinkedIn.

Andy Rouse said:

Hi Irina - thanks for that. My only concern is that many folks have their public profiles set to show just the basics, and not their full background, so I would think that this would exclude some folks from the search.

This would definitely get quite a few, though I'm not sure how many would be missed and how many folks typically have their public profiles set up with limited information.

Thoughts?

Irina Shamaeva said:

Using "defense and space" in X-raying LinkedIn would bring all profiles with the stated industry at one of the companies, either past or present.

On Google, try
mechanical engineer manager inurl:pub OR inurl:in "Defense & Space industry * 1990..2010 " site:www.linkedin.com by clicking here:

mechanical engineer manager inurl:pub OR inurl:in "Defense & Sp...