Search
How to search for R&D and technical candidates
HardSkills enables you to search and find technical experts globally. Here is how to do it successfully.
.jpg)
HardSkills enables you to search and find technical experts globally. Here is how to do it successfully.
To search for candidates in the HardSkills database, all you need is one or several keyword(s). We recommend that you start off any search process by carefully reviewing the brief you received from a manager or client. Ask yourself if there are specific areas of expertise, technical competencies, industry experience or anything else particularly useful for being a good candidate for the role. Let’s take an example – someone looking for an R&D-specialist near Warsaw. Below is a brief description of the role and its responsibilities, copied from a real LinkedIn job posting:
As we can see, this is a very technical role where a patent-holder would be a great fit. Let’s try to de-construct the job ad and come up with some keywords to use in our search process for the perfect candidate. Starting off in the responsibilities section, we can find the following keywords:
This instantly gives us four separate, high-quality search terms to put into the HardSkills patent search! Additionally, we can see from the requirements section that the following keywords can be used as well:
These latter keywords and terms can further be used for filtering as well, as many of them are a broader description of a field. Later, we’ll see what we find when we start searching for any of the first four keywords/terms we identified above.
To search, simply enter the keyword(s) you want to search for into the search navigation and click ‘Search’.
Here, we begin with the first set of keyword combinations we identified from our brief.
As we can see when searching for ‘Metal atomization process’ a number of potential candidates immediately appear. There are almost an infinite number of innovators who have participated in filing for a patent related to the metal atomization process. However, we now need to dive into the granularity of the recruitment search process and consider: (1) Are all above terms needed for the recruit to be successful in their role, (2) Which location does the candidate need to reside in?, (3) Should the patent be from a specific patent classification to be more relevant to the role?
For question number one, we can use Boolean operators to make our search more accurate.
Putting the ‘AND’ into action, it would look like this:
As the above picture makes evident, by just adding one Boolean operator, different candidates are shown as compared to when we searched using just one key term. We can also combine several Boolean operators if we have more terms associated with skills we consider critical for the role. Adding the two remaining key terms would generate the following search results:
With this, all key skills, competencies and experiences have been covered, making it a breeze to find just the right expert as compared to other recruitment solutions.
If you still find it troublesome to find just the right candidate with the right competence and experience in your region, you might need to consider using either the search fields or filtering.
The following Boolean operators can be applied to a search in HardSkills:
We can utilise them to make better use of the keywords identified from our search brief. This comes handy for those of us who aren’t as familiar with patents, as we can use them to narrow our search to ‘key terms’ instead of patent classifications. Here is how the different options work:
And: Adding the ‘And’ between search terms tells the search we want the keyword(s) on both sides of the operator to be part of the patents displayed upon search. This can be used when you want to be specific.
Example: Metal atomization process AND vacuum and melting systems (when we want a candidate to have proficiency in both.)
Or: Adding the ‘Or’ to a search lets you search for several keywords simultaneously. Patents containing either of the search terms you put in will be displayed. Using ‘Or’ usually displays a larger amount of results and should be used only when you’re not sure what term is most important in your search and you simply want to see all results.
Example: Metal atomization process OR vacuum and melting systems (when we want a candidate to have proficiency in either one of the areas. The search will showcase all terms.)
Not: The ‘Not’ can be used to rule out any results where an adjacent keyword is commonly used together with your intended search term but is completely unrelated to what you are looking for.
Example: Vacuum systems NOT cleaner (when we don’t want patents related to a vacuum cleaner to appear.)
Here is how to use them:
Step 1: Place your marker in the search field and tick the box ‘Add logical operator on typing’ in the dropdown box. Mark the Boolean operator you would like to add by clicking on it. A marked Boolean operator will become purple. You can use different ones in the same search but can only add one separate type at a time.
Step 2: The marked Boolean operator will be put into the search field when you type space ( ). Type a space to add your chosen Boolean operator.
Step 3: Done!
If you are somewhat familiar with patents or have a general idea of what you’re looking for, you can narrow your search even further in the search bar before doing any filtering. The following additional search fields can be selected:
Patent title: If experience in a specific application area of your technologies is a must-have for the role, tick the patent title-box.
Inventor: If you look for a specific candidate you have found on Linkedin Recruit (or any other platform) you can tick the box to find their patent/s to read up on.
Abstract: An abstract collects the most essential information about a patent, such as application areas, technical characters of the application and what technical areas the patent belongs to. This can be used if you feel a certain technology is essential enough for your role that you at least want to find it in an abstract.
Applicant: In this case ‘applicant’ means the entity filing for the patent, often a company or institution. Use this if you feel a candidate must be from a specific company. This could be because that company is a fierce competitor or an industry-leader in your field.
Here is how you use search fields:
You can use the precise keywords provided by the technical R&D department, a client’s brief or anything else really. Simpler search terms can also be effective, especially if you combine several ones and use the available Boolean operators.
HardSkills' smart search engine uses machine learning to interpret and rank patents, taking into account relevant synonyms.
There is a wealth of talent to be found through searching on our platform. With 61,500 areas of expertise and 29 million candidates, recruiters can find the perfect match for their needs no matter where they are looking. However, this does not mean that all skills can be found in all geographical areas.
There are no restrictions on the number of keywords that can be used in a search string in HardSkills. Keywords are delimited by the Boolean parameters ‘AND’, ‘OR’, and ‘NOT’, but a simple space will also work fine.
HardSkills is an excellent way to identify potential candidates for research and development positions who may not be easily found on LinkedIn or other social media sites. HardSkills provides detailed profiles of potential candidates, making it easier for recruiters to find the right person for the job.
According to our research, HardSkills finds about 35% more validated R&D candidates than, say, Linkedin, by offering Google links to private websites and profiles on other research-related directories. Contact details are, of course, no guarantee especially since some experts simply do not want to be contacted.
HardSkills enables easy free text searching. The interface is easy and intuitive, making the platform straightforward to use regardless of the user’s previous computer experience.
Whether you have access to a detailed technical job description, or simple keywords, HardSkills’ innovative algorithms will interpret and rank search hits based on their relevance to your search. If you don’t know what keywords to choose, you can see our guide here.
Do remember that HardSkills allows Boolean searches that are also used in well-known recruitment tools such as Linkedin Sales Navigator.
At the moment, HardSkills international database contains approximately 29 million potential candidates spread across 193 countries.
As HardSkills’ skills validation function is based on the time of the published patent document, generally the older the validation, the fewer the candidates who are still working. To fix this, HardSkills automatically filters out candidates validated earlier than 2000. But you can move the time horizon forward or backward if you like.
HardSkills offers the world's largest human-validated recruitment database for R&D experts, with thousands of search hits for even the most detailed of technological skills.
For people who do not have published patents, however, there is not yet a way to categorise skills at the level of detail that HardSkills does. But we are constantly working to improve and refine our product and are looking at this opportunity for the future.
HardSkills is a global STEM candidate database with over 29 million experts.
Hardskills, www.hardskills.io | HardSkills AB (559150–7644)
| 2021-11-29 - 2031-11-28 | Responsible Publisher: Rasmus Palazzi | Rosengatan 3, 413 10 Gothenburg, Sweden
