LinkedIn puts its current user base at about 33 million, and as such, it’s easy to believe that the odds of finding professionals with even remotely common names are beyond slim. The site’s trying to keep this from happening, though, with some interesting new search upgrades.
The first offering is something that more casual users should like. On the LinkedIn Blog, Adam Nash explains, “[O]ur old search interface had a limitation: you had to use the actual Advanced Search form to target specific fields for your queries. The new LinkedIn Search allows users to easily target specific fields directly from the search results page.”
It takes just a few clicks or pushes of the “tab” key to search for an imaginary Bob Smith who’s a product manager at Microsoft and attended Cornell, then. Or who used to work at Google and for some reason is known to have the word “windsurfing” in his profile.
The second search upgrade may suit a smaller audience. Nash writes, “The new LinkedIn search platform allows any query that can be executed from the user interface to also be executed straight from the query box using the new advanced search operators.”
We’ve pictured a list of them that LinkedIn provided, and not everyone will want to memorize the things (more are on the way). Still, since the economy has probably forced unemployed individuals to spend more time looking for jobs, they could catch on. HR people and perhaps some search pros will become comfortable with the advanced search operators, too.
