A search is one open role in one place, and the 10 minutes you spend on its Search Criteria decide who shows up at the top of your list. Skillit builds a first draft of the criteria from your job description. Your edits to keywords, past employers, and skills organize the list appropriately.
Before you start: Have these four things in hand before you click New Search. Most weak searches trace back to a missing one.
Step 1: Create the search
Click New Search and paste the job posting URL. This is the best starting point because Skillit reads the full posting.
If the URL doesn’t load, copy and paste the job description text instead.
No job description? Type a short overview: role, trade, location, pay, and the top 3 skills. More detail gives better matches.
Confirm the primary trade and location are accurate.
Step 2: Update the Search Criteria
Open the Basic Settings tab. Confirm the name and location are correct.
2. Select the Search Criteria tab. Set the commute radius. The default is 100 miles. Start tighter (around 50 miles) when local supply is strong, and wider when it isn’t.
Already have a search that works for a similar role? Use Duplicate from the search’s ••• menu, then adjust the trade, location, and criteria. Duplicating also lets you test a broader version without losing a setup that works.
In the Search Criteria tab, update the specific skills, keywords, and past employers on new searches to showcase the best matches.
Specific skills and experience
Skills sit in the Trade & Skills section and are pulled from your job description. They need two edits on almost every search.
Set career experience by updating the bands to match the level you’re hiring for, such as 5+ years in general construction, then check the size of the pool.
Add missing skills and remove irrelevant ones. The job description won’t list everything your hiring manager cares about.
Lock only the skills a new hire must have on day one. Leave trainable items unlocked. For example, a company that runs its own OSHA 10 and OSHA 30 training shouldn’t lock those certifications.
Keywords
Keywords catch the language workers use on their own profiles: tasks, equipment, materials, and certifications.
Add 3 to 7 keywords per search. Pull them from the job description and conversations with your hiring manager.
Add spelling and wording variations, since workers write their profiles their own way: forklift and fork lift, MV terminations and terminations.
Leave most keywords unlocked. Unlocked keywords highlight on profiles so you can scan faster; locked keywords hide every profile that doesn’t contain the exact term.
Lock a keyword only when the role is impossible without it, and check how much your list shrinks after you do.
Past employers
Past employers are one of the fastest quality filters on Skillit. A worker who spent years at a company known for strong field crews often brings that company’s standards with them.
Ask your hiring manager which companies’ people they’d hire on reputation alone. Competitors and subcontractors in your trade and region are usually the answer.
Add those companies as past employers. Leave them unlocked to lift those workers to the top, or lock them for a short list of proven candidates.
Note: One rule applies to Skills, Keywords, and Past Employers: unlocked items are signals that highlight matches and lift them in Best Match; locked items are must-haves that remove anyone who doesn’t have them. Lock only true non-negotiables.
Per diem:
To attract top talent, the best opportunities offer per diem to workers traveling from a distance.
To enable per diem eligible workers, select the Per Diem filter in the bottom corner of the left hand side bar.
You’ll then have the option to choose workers from the entire state, a set distance, or anywhere.
Other criteria worth a look
Pay range: enter it, but don’t lock it. Pay is negotiable, and locking excludes workers who still may be open to your pay range for the right opportunity.
Assessments: in Search Criteria > Scores > Assessments, move the dial from 0 to 1%. This adds an Assessments filter to the left sidebar so you can quickly find workers who have taken one. Assessments are optional and not all workers have completed one, so use it to sort your list and leave it off as a hard filter. A score of 80% or higher is a strong signal.
Expanded Results: Beyond per diem, there are two ways you can broaden your hiring pipeline. Skills Only Matches place workers in your search that have some of the skillset you are looking for, but may have selected a different primary trade. Willing to Relocate adds workers to your search that have told us they would be willing to move to your search location for the right opportunity.
Step 3: Review candidates and send your first outreach
Send your first messages the same day you create the search. Early outreach gets you response data fast, and activity on a search helps Skillit surface Recommended candidates.
Check Recommended candidates first. Up to 5 appear at the top of the Best Match sort. Each one is a Best Match on your skills and has been active on Skillit in the last 14 days. Hover to see why they were recommended. Recommendations follow your skills, so editing skills can change who appears.
2. Review profiles. Look at skills, years of experience, past employers, certifications, and pay expectations. Save the strong ones.
3. Message your saved workers in bulk. Keep it short and easy to read on a phone: company, role, pay and benefits, project details, your direct phone number, and one clear next step.
4. Reply to interested workers within 24 hours with a specific next step, like a call time.
Common problems and fixes:
Setup checklist
Created the search from the job posting URL or full description
Confirmed primary trade and jobsite location
Named the search by role and location
Set the commute radius for local supply
Added 3 to 7 keywords, with spelling variations
Added past employers your hiring manager trusts
Set experience bands on key skills and career experience
Locked only true day-one must-haves
Entered pay range, unlocked
Moved the Assessments dial to 1%
Checked Recommended candidates
Sent first outreach the same day
Need a hand? Your Customer Success manager can review a search with you and tune the criteria live.