Improving search results and candidate quality in Pin

If you're not getting the right candidates or your search results aren't meeting your expectations, there are several strategies you can use to improve your search quality and get better matches.

Understanding how Pin works

Pin is an AI-powered candidate sourcing platform that focuses on ranking and relevance rather than just filtering. Instead of judging results by the total number of candidates shown, focus on the acceptance rate of the first 20-30 candidates presented to you.

Key strategies for better results

1. Provide detailed job information

The most important factor for accurate results is giving Pin comprehensive context about your role:

• Include a complete job description when creating your search

• Add ideal candidate profiles or LinkedIn URLs of people who would be perfect fits

• Include adjacent job titles that might be relevant

• Provide details about the hiring company and industry context

2. Use the "Ask Pin" feature

You can also use Ask Pin to update or refine your entire job description for an ongoing search - simply paste in the updated JD and Pin will adjust the search criteria accordingly. You can refine your search by typing natural language requests into the "Ask Pin" chat at the top of your search. For example:

• "Add 3+ years of experience"

• "Exclude people with experience in XYZ industry"

• "Location: New York City"

• "Must have law degree"

3. Let Pin learn from your actions

Pin's AI improves based on your feedback:

• Accept or decline every candidate you review

• Provide specific reasons when declining candidates

• After about 10 rejections, Pin will show you a popup with patterns it has identified

• Use the "Run improved search" option after providing feedback

4. Adjust filter requirements and exclusions carefully

If you're getting too few results:

Understanding filter behavior:

• Filters marked as "preferred" prioritize matches but don't strictly limit results - they show "more or less of" those criteria rather than excluding non-matches entirely

• Multiple values within the same filter (like Location or Company) use OR logic - candidates can match any one of them

• Only filters marked as "required" create hard limits that exclude non-matching candidates

Understanding the experience filter: The years of experience filter counts experience within a specific domain or job title, not total career experience. For example, if filtering for "Risk Analyst" with 4-12 years of experience, Pin looks for candidates with 4-12 years in that specific role, even if they have 20+ years of total work experience. If you need to filter by overall career length instead, use the graduation year filter as a workaround.

• Change some "required" filters to "preferred"

• Move overly specific skills from required filters to the AI Evaluation section - marking individual skills as 'required' can overly restrict your search since Pin can generally infer key skills without that constraint

• Consider broadening location or experience requirements

If you're getting too many irrelevant results:

• Make key job titles "required" instead of preferred

• Add industry or company type requirements

• Use more specific skills as required filters

• Use "Inverse (Not)" filters to explicitly exclude unwanted job titles, skills, or keywords (e.g., set "Naturopathic Doctor" to Inverse in Job Titles to exclude them entirely)

• Add each exclusion term separately and set to Inverse (Not) for precise exclusions

Common issues and solutions

Wrong locations appearing

If candidates from incorrect locations are showing up despite setting location as required, try:

• Removing the location filter and adding it back

• Mark the Location filter as "Required" to create a hard limit - candidates outside your selected location and radius will not appear (note: multiple locations within the filter still use OR logic)

• Using "Ask Pin" to specify the location more precisely

• Declining candidates with wrong locations and providing "wrong location" as the reason

Getting candidates from wrong industries or job titles

To target specific industries or exclude similar but incorrect job titles:

• Add the target industry or company types as required criteria

• Include specific industry terminology in your job description

• Use Inverse (Not) filters to explicitly exclude unwanted industries or companies - add the industry/company values you want to avoid and set them to Inverse (Not)

• For similar but unwanted job titles (e.g., Product Designer appearing in Brand Designer searches), use "Inverse (Not)" filters to exclude them

• Use "Inverse (Not)" filters on specific job titles or skills you want to exclude - add each term separately and set to Inverse (Not) for precise exclusions

• Add multiple variations of your target job title to capture a broader range of relevant candidates

• Use "Ask Pin" to exclude unwanted industries

Seeing previously contacted candidates

If you're seeing candidates you've already messaged:

• Make sure your search criteria are specific enough

• Add more detailed job descriptions to improve targeting

• Use the AI Evaluation feature to re-rank candidates based on specific criteria

When to contact support

If you've tried these strategies and are still having issues, reach out to support with:

• The specific job/search name you're having trouble with

• Examples of what's wrong with the candidates (wrong industry, location, experience level, etc.)

• What you've already tried to fix the issue

Remember that AI sourcing requires some learning and experimentation. Focus on the quality of candidates at the top of your list rather than the total number of results, and use Pin's feedback mechanisms to continuously improve your search results.