Underused LinkedIn Search Trick

One of the perks of working with multiple companies and teams is that I get to learn from different recruitment operations. This has helped me refine my own skills—because you always pick up something new when working with others. It also makes me realize that some methods I consider common practice aren't as widely known as I thought.

So, in this post, I want to share a LinkedIn Recruiter trick I've used for years but rarely see others apply. It’s about combining different search strings and filters ???????????? ?? ???????????? ????????????.

For example:

• Finding people who are currently Team Leads but used to be Software Engineers.
• Searching for candidates who live in Germany but are open to relocating to the Netherlands.

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Most recruiters know that LinkedIn filters let you choose between Current / Past not current / Past or current for job titles and locations. But ?????????????????? ?????????? filters strategically can give you far more accurate results.

Let’s say you’re looking for an Engineering Manager who previously worked as a Software Engineer. Many recruiters struggle with this—either accepting loads of false positives or filtering out too many relevant candidates.

Here’s the simple fix:

In the Job Title filter, type "Engineering Manager" (plus synonyms if needed), select Current, and check Must Have.

Then, add "Software Engineer" as another Job Title, select Past, Not Current, and check Must Have.

This gives you candidates who are currently Engineering Managers and used to be Software Engineers—without irrelevant results.

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The same approach works for location-based searches.

Select Germany as Current Location.

Type Netherlands in the Open to Relocate Only field.

Now, all results will be people currently in Germany but open to relocating to the Netherlands.

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This method is simple, powerful, and efficient. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll get much more accurate results and even uncover interesting insights—like people who used to work at WhatsApp but now work at Signal.

Give it a try, and let me know if you have other underused LinkedIn search tricks!