Which search should I use?

The Official Board offers three complementary ways to search. Each search is designed for a different objective.

If you are unsure which search tool to use, start with General Search. Use Advanced Search for more precise searches or See Who Left to find former executives.

1. General Search

Use General Search when you want to
• Explore a market
• Find executives quickly
• Discover companies
• Refine results step by step

What General Search does

General Search starts with one search term.

Select the corresponding search type:

• Job Title
• Executive Name
• Company Name

You can then narrow the results using filters such as:

• Industry
• Country
• Company List
• Executive Department
• Executive Reporting Level

General Search searches one text field at a time. It does not combine multiple search fields. Use Advanced Search to search multiple fields simultaneously.

Search workflow

1. Enter one search term.
2. Select Job Title, Executive Name, or Company Name.
3. Apply one or more filters.
4. Review the results.

Synonyms

General Search automatically includes common variants and abbreviations.

• Beth → Elizabeth, Elisabeth, Liz
• WW → Worldwide, Global

Examples

• Search Artificial → Select Job Title → Filter Industry = Banking
• Search CFO → Select Job Title → Filter Country = Germany
• Search Interim → Select Job Title
• Search Microsoft → Select Company Name → Filter Country = Japan, China, Malaysia
• Search Tim Cook → Select Executive Name → Filter Country = United States

2. Advanced Search

All Advanced Search results can be downloaded as an Excel file.

Use Advanced Search when you want to

• Build highly targeted executive lists
• Search multiple fields simultaneously
• Use Boolean operators
• Export results to Excel

What Advanced Search does

Advanced Search lets you combine criteria across fields such as:

• Job Title
• Company Name
• Industry
• Country
• Executive Department
• University
• Degree

Advanced Search is the only search that supports Boolean operators, exact phrases, and multi-field searches.

Supported operators

• OR
• AND
• NOT
• Quotation marks ("") for exact phrases

Search workflow

1. Enter one or more search criteria.
2. Enter each criterion in the appropriate field.
3. Use Boolean operators when needed.
4. Apply additional filters.
5. Download the results as an Excel file if required.

Boolean examples

In the Job Title field:

• revenue OR growth
• sales AND marketing
• revenue NOT (sales OR growth)
• ("Chief Digital") OR ("Chief Artificial") OR ("Chief Data")

Multi-field examples

• University = Harvard Business School + Job Title = CFO + Company List = Global Fortune 500
• University = MIT + Degree = PhD + Industry = Healthcare

Advanced Search is particularly useful for prospecting, executive research, market analysis, recruiting, and university alumni research.

3. See Who Left

All See Who Left results can be downloaded as an Excel file.

Use See Who Left when you want to

• Find former executives
• Identify company alumni
• Research executive departures
• Support executive search
• Map professional relationships

What See Who Left does

See Who Left searches former executives only. It does not return current executives or current organizational charts.

Use General Search or Advanced Search to find current executives.

Search workflow

1. Enter your search criteria.
2. Review the matching former executives.
3. Download the results as an Excel file if required.

Examples

• Find former CFOs in Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology
• Find executives who left Food companies
• Find former HR executives in Technology
• Find former leaders of strategic accounts
• Explore the alumni of Microsoft

See Who Left is especially valuable for recruiters, executive search firms, business development teams, and company alumni networking.

Summary

Many users combine all three search tools:

1. General Search to explore a market.
2. Advanced Search to build a targeted executive or company list.
3. See Who Left to identify former executives and alumni.

Definitions

Search term
The word or phrase entered in General Search.

Search type
The type of information searched in General Search: Job Title, Executive Name, or Company Name.

Search field
A field available in Advanced Search, such as Job Title, Company Name, Industry, Country, University, or Degree.

Filter
A criterion used to narrow the results.