Use boolean operators and PostgreSQL tsquery syntax to precisely filter job titles and descriptions in the Job Search signal.
The Job Search signal has two modes for matching job titles: a simple substring mode and an advanced boolean mode. This guide covers advanced mode — what it can do, and when to reach for each operator.
This guide applies to the job title field in advanced mode only.The description keywords field supports only OR and quoted phrases ("…"). No AND, NOT, proximity, wildcards, or parentheses — anything else is matched literally.
The description field matches job descriptions on keywords or phrases.
Input
Matches descriptions containing
migration
the word migration
"cloud migration"
the exact phrase cloud migration
AWS OR Azure OR GCP
any of the three terms
"data platform" OR "data lake"
either phrase
Use simple comma-free OR lists. Quote multi-word phrases. Anything else (AND, NOT, parentheses, wildcards) is sent to the API as-is and will almost certainly return nothing.
In advanced mode, multi-word tokens must be quoted ("senior engineer") or joined with the proximity operator (senior <-> engineer). Bare spaces between words will cause the query to reject your input.
If a single phrase works, leave advanced mode off. Don’t over-engineer.
2
Flip advanced mode when simple isn't enough
Enable advanced mode the moment you need OR, NOT, or variations.
3
Use phrases for exact matches
Quote anything that’s more than one word: "Head of Sales".
4
Add prefix wildcards for word families
engineer:* is shorter and more complete than engineer OR engineering OR engineers.
5
Exclude noise with NOT
Add NOT junior or NOT intern to keep your signal focused on the seniority level you care about. The seniority filter is a cleaner alternative when it applies.
6
Preview before saving
Click Preview in the dialog. If the first 5 results look right, the full signal will be clean.
