A presentation at Sourcing 7 Fall Shareback on November 20, 2014 at Amazon in Seattle. This is a case study to compare the results of LinkedIn native search and Google x-ray search. We use a Web Developer position in Chicago as an example. The keywords in the Boolean string include Ruby, Rails, Sinatra, TDD (test driven development), and BDD (behavior driven development). We want to look for local Chicago candidates. We learn how to improve our Boolean search string and when to use either Google x-ray or LinkedIn search. Speaker: Mei Lu Founder & CEO Geekology.biz | Jobfully.com

1. In LinkedIn We Trust
???
“In data analysis we trust”
- a case study
Mei Lu
Founder & CEO
Geekology.biz
Sourcing 7
Fall 2014 Shareback
@ Amazon

2. Account types
Breakdown

3. It looks like
we
A LOT

4. Is
trust-worthy
?

5. “Trust, but verify”

6. A simple
experiment

7. Step 1:
Find a Job Posting

8. Software Developer - Chicago
Requirements:
• 2-3 years of experience writing software
with Ruby
• 2-3 years of web development
experience with Ruby on Rails or Sinatra
• Direct experience with the development
and maintenance of large-scale, mission-critical
web applications
• Experience with TDD and BDD

9. Software Developer - Chicago
Requirements:
• 2-3 years of experience writing software
with Ruby
• 2-3 years of web development
experience with Ruby on Rails or Sinatra
• Direct experience with the development
and maintenance of large-scale, mission-critical
web applications
• Experience with TDD and BDD

10. Step 2:
- Use your basic (free)
LinkedIn account.
- Search.

11. LinkedIn Advanced Search:
Keywords: ruby rails sinatra tdd bdd
Location: "Greater Chicago Area“

12. Step 3:
- Find a search
engine.
- X-ray search
LinkedIn profiles.

13. site:www.linkedin.com "location * greater
chicago area" ruby rails sinatra tdd bdd

14. The moment of truth -
comparing results

17. 19 = 19
The End ???

18. Numbers
alone
don’t tell
the
whole
story
WHY, BRAD DARLINseGa,rchI FEEL
SOMETHING’S MISSING FROM THIS
PICTURE.

19. Time to do
some
detective
work

20. Name LinkedIn Google X-ray
Alex Kowalczuk x
Brandon Bailey x x
Calder Wishne x x
Dan Melnick x x
Darby Frey x
Eduardo Garibay x x
Ismail Kalimi x
Jake Sikora x
James Fraser x
Jason Perkins x
Jazmin Schroeder x
JD Kaplan x
Joshua Davey x x
Justin Joseph x
Keenan Turner x
Kevin Horst x xx
Marek Pyczkowski x
Nate Delage x x
Nickolay Schwarz x
Randy Burgess x
Ryan Kinderman x
Shawn Klein x x
Shinji Kuwayama x
Stephen Wooten x
Ted Price x xx
Zach Briggs x
Zachary Rivest x x

21. Name LinkedIn Google X-ray
Alex Kowalczuk x
Brandon Bailey x x
Calder Wishne x x
Dan Melnick x x
Darby Frey x
Eduardo Garibay x x
Ismail Kalimi x
Jake Sikora x
James Fraser x
Jason Perkins x
Jazmin Schroeder x
JD Kaplan x
Joshua Davey x x
Justin Joseph x
Keenan Turner x
Kevin Horst x xx
Marek Pyczkowski x
Nate Delage x x
Nickolay Schwarz x
Randy Burgess x
Ryan Kinderman x
Shawn Klein x x
Shinji Kuwayama x
Stephen Wooten x
Ted Price x xx
Zach Briggs x
Zachary Rivest x x
LinkedIn
Exclusive
Google
X-ray
Exclusive
Both
10
8
9
Total 27 19 17

22. Question:
Why are there profiles
only in Google X-ray,
but not in LinkedIn?

23. 1.
Google shows us both
“TDD” and
“Test Driven Development”

24. 2.
Google shows us
some profiles with
one keyword (bdd, Sinatra)
missing

25. Name LinkedIn Google X-ray
Alex Kowalczuk (missing bdd)
Brandon Bailey x x
Calder Wishne x x
Dan Melnick x x
Darby Frey x
Eduardo Garibay x x
Ismail Kalimi x
Jake Sikora (missing bdd) not really
James Fraser x
Jason Perkins x
Jazmin Schroeder x
JD Kaplan x
Joshua Davey x x
Justin Joseph x
Keenan Turner x
Kevin Horst x xx
Marek Pyczkowski x
Nate Delage x x
Nickolay Schwarz x
Randy Burgess (missing bdd)
Ryan Kinderman (missing Sinatra)
Shawn Klein x x
Shinji Kuwayama x
Stephen Wooten x
Ted Price x xx
Zach Briggs x
Zachary Rivest x x
LinkedIn
Exclusive
Google
X-ray
Exclusive
Both
10
8 4
9
Total 19 17 13
Should it count???
Cleaning
Up
Google
X-ray
Results
23

26. Still…
There are 4 results
only in Google X-ray,
but not in LinkedIn

27. What if we make our
Boolean string better?
TDD ->
(TDD OR “test driven development”)
BDD ->
(BDD OR “behavior driven development”)

28. LinkedIn Advanced Search:
Keywords: ruby rails sinatra (tdd OR “test driven
development”) (bdd OR “behavior driven
development”)
Location: "Greater Chicago Area“

30. Name LinkedIn w/ Basic Boolean LinkedIn w/ Better Boolean
Andrew Larson x
Brandon Bailey x x
Calder Wishne x x
Dan Melnick x x
Darby Frey x
Eduardo Garibay x x
Eugene Filimonov x
Ismail Kalimi x x
Jake Sikora x
James Fraser x x
Jason Perkins x x
Jazmin Schroeder x
JD Kaplan x x
Joshua Davey x x
Justin Joseph x x
Justin Park x
Keenan Turner x x
Kevin Horst x x
Marek Pyczkowski x x
Milan Grubnić x
Nate Delage x x
Nickolay Schwarz x x
Shawn Klein x x
Shinji Kuwayama x
Stephen Wooten x
Stuart Pearlman x
Ted Price x x
Xander Glassman x
Zach Briggs x x
Zachary Rivest x x
All gain;
no loss.
Yay!
Better
Boolean 11
Both
19

31. How about Google X-ray
with the better Boolean
string?
site:linkedin.com "location * greater
chicago area" ruby rails sinatra
(tdd OR "test driven development")
(bdd OR "behavior driven development")

32. Name Google w/ Basic Boolean Google w/ Better Boolean
Alex Kowalczuk missing bdd
Andrew Larson x
Brandon Bailey x x
Calder Wishne x x
Dan Melnick x
Darby Frey x x
Eduardo Garibay x x
Eugene Filimonov x
Jake Sikora missing bdd (not really) x
Jazmin Schroeder x x
Joshua Davey x
Justin Park x
Kevin Horst xx xx
Nate Delage x x
Randy Burgess missing bdd
Ryan Kinderman missing bdd
Shawn Klein x x
Shinji Kuwayama x x
Stephen Wooten x x
Ted Price xx xx
Zachary Rivest x x
Total 17 17
Same
numbers of
results.
But cleaner.
Gain w/
Better
Boolean
Loss w/
Better
Boolean
4
4

33. Final SHOWDOWN
Best of
LinkedIn Advanced Search (Free Account)
and
Google X-ray Search of LinkedIn

34. Name LinkedIn (30) Google (17)
Andrew Larson x x
Brandon Bailey x x
Calder Wishne x x
Dan Melnick x
Darby Frey x x
Eduardo Garibay x x
Eugene Filimonov x x
Ismail Kalimi x
Jake Sikora x x
James Fraser x
Jason Perkins x
Jazmin Schroeder x x
JD Kaplan x
Joshua Davey x x
Justin Joseph x
Justin Park x x
Keenan Turner x
Kevin Horst x xx
Marek Pyczkowski x
Milan Grubnić x
Nate Delage x x
Nickolay Schwarz x
Shawn Klein x x
Shinji Kuwayama x x
Stephen Wooten x x
Stuart Pearlman x
Ted Price x xx
Xander Glassman x
Zach Briggs x
Zachary Rivest x x
LinkedIn
Exclusive
Google
X-ray
Exclusive
Both
13
0
17

35. What have we learned?
1.LinkedIn searches literally while Google
searches fluidly
2.Google tries to help us by including
synonyms behind the scene
3.When we compose thorough and
comprehensive Boolean strings, LinkedIn
outperforms Google X-ray (at least in this
study)

36. Case closed?
Not so fast…
The next set of questions
already surfaced

37. How much can we rely on Google
to improve our Boolean search
strings?
Why did Google fail to find some
profiles?
Would a paid LinkedIn account give
us more (and exhaustive) results?

38. Questions?
Special thanks to Amybeth Quinn
Mei Lu
Geekology.biz
@g33kology