A Boolean query helps you express which terms should appear together in a LinkedIn search. For a consultant, the harder decision usually comes first: which responsibilities are relevant to the service you provide? Search syntax cannot make an unclear buying-role hypothesis precise.
Use the following original examples as starting points for manual research in LinkedIn People search. They are not saved searches, promises of results or evidence that a person currently needs consulting help. Check the controls available in your account and the profiles returned by each search.
Translate the offer into role terms
Write the function you want to understand before listing job titles. A service about onboarding may involve customer success, implementation or operations. Different companies may use different titles for similar work, and a broad word such as “operations” can cover unrelated responsibilities.
Build a short synonym list using the language your candidate companies actually use. For French and English markets, consider separate searches so you can inspect the effect of the title terms. Do not assume the language of a title tells you the person’s preferred conversation language.
The decision-maker role guide can help define the responsibility you are looking for. Bring that definition into the search review rather than treating every matching headline as an acceptable contact.
Write a short query you can explain
LinkedIn’s official Boolean-search guidance supports uppercase AND, OR and NOT, quoted phrases and parentheses in the main search bar. OR broadens alternatives; AND combines requirements; NOT excludes a term. Wildcards such as * and the +/- shortcuts are not supported substitutes. These are platform syntax facts; the consulting queries below are our own examples.
| Research task | Original starting query | What to inspect |
|---|---|---|
| Understand onboarding ownership | ("customer success" OR implementation) AND onboarding |
Is the person connected to customer onboarding or another use of the word? |
| Find field-operations responsibilities | "operations manager" OR "field service manager" |
Does the profile describe the kind of service delivery relevant to your offer? |
| Research French commercial roles | "directeur commercial" OR "responsable commercial" |
Does current responsibility fit the account, rather than only a previous role? |
| Explore partner enablement | ("partner marketing" OR "channel marketing") AND enablement |
Is the work relevant to the specific company’s partner model? |
Use the available location and company filters where they help express the intended scope. A keyword match is not the same as a current-company filter or a verified responsibility. Keep the query simple enough that you can explain why a particular profile appeared.
Inspect the results before expanding
Review several results manually. Note relevant profiles, irrelevant matches and useful terms you had not considered. Change one part of the search at a time so you can understand what improved the result set.
Be careful with exclusions. Removing the word assistant, for example, can also remove a profile where that word appears in an earlier role or another context. Read the profiles you are losing as well as the ones you keep. An exclusion should solve an observed problem, not express an assumption about seniority.
If results are too broad, narrow the account segment or responsibility. If too few appear, test one synonym rather than immediately adding many unrelated titles. You are calibrating a research task, not trying to obtain the largest displayed result count.
Keep a search log with the sample
Record the query, selected filters, checked date, service hypothesis and the reason you kept or rejected example profiles. A useful note might read: “Implementation produced more delivery roles; retain customer-success profiles only where the current responsibilities include onboarding.” This is a hypothetical research note, not a measured result.
Once the search produces a useful group, you can collect selected profiles through the Leadsforlinked Chrome extension, review the audience in the app and export a CSV. This workflow starts in regular People search and does not require a Sales Navigator subscription. The exported profile fields do not include a promise of verified email addresses.
Use the CSV sample check before expanding the research. Keep the search log next to the file so a colleague can tell which question the list was designed to answer and what still requires a conversation.