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Using only skills and boolean search to find candidates? You’re missing out. Cutshort has special search options designed for tech recruiters and founders. Here are a few of the most powerful ones. Start from Talent database → Start a new search (cutshort.io/profile/candidate-search/new), or open a saved search. For the full search flow, see How do I search relevant candidates on Cutshort?.

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1. Key requirements

When hiring managers give their brief, they don’t say “TypeScript” or “LLM”. They say things like:
  • Experience in advanced AI development such as agentic frameworks and optimizing cost and latency.
  • Should have been a team lead but not a typical manager.
On Cutshort, when you search candidates, you can enter these as Key requirements. Cutshort finds people who meet them — not just people who have a skill tag. Key requirements with mandatory and preferred criteria Set them when you start the search, or later with Edit key requirements / Edit criteria. Each line is Mandatory or Preferred. Mandatory lines hide people who do not match. On the search results page, use the Top 50 toggle to find the top 50 candidates who meet all your mandatory requirements. Cutshort reviews the results for you — no need to read every card. Top 50 on, after reviewing the most relevant candidates Top 50 uses AI credits. Freedom plans include 5,000 per month on the smallest plan and 10,000 on the others. Full walkthrough: How do I find Top 50 candidates who match all my requirements?. Skills and Boolean search are still useful when you have concrete skills or need exact resume words — for example (kafka OR "event-driven") AND node. Use them to narrow the pool. Use key requirements for the custom brief.

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2. AI-powered industry filters

Unlike large platforms such as LinkedIn, which have generic filters, Cutshort has designed its filters for tech recruiters using AI so that:
  • They work on lesser-known companies, not just the famous ones.
  • They work on concepts like B2B SaaS, Consumer internet (B2C), Software product, and GCC, which traditional approaches don’t support.
AI-powered industry filters for SaaS, products, and more, with tags on a candidate card You can also pick E-commerce, Banking and finance, Healthcare, Edtech and education, Gaming, Computer security, and Travel. To hide IT-services backgrounds in one click:
  • Exclude large IT services — companies like Infosys, Cognizant, TCS
  • Exclude all IT services — large and smaller IT-services / consulting firms

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3. Education, job switching, startup experience and more

Use these AI filters to:
  • Specify the education tier you are interested in. No need to type a list of 25 top colleges.
  • Exclude frequent job switchers.
  • Find people who have started their ventures — or worked at startups.
Education pedigree — pick Tier 1+ colleges (top IITs, IISc, BITS Pilani, MIT, Purdue, Caltech), Tier 1 colleges, or Tier 2 colleges. A name list misses global schools such as Caltech or Berkeley. Job switching — turn on Hide frequent job switchers. Startup experience — Funded startups or Other startups. Entrepreneurial experience — Cofounded a venture or Early stage member. Also useful when the list is still wide:
  • Work quality — Extremely high or High
  • Career growth — Fast career growth
  • Gender — Male, Female, Other, or Undisclosed / NA
These show up as tags on the talent card too (for example Funded startups, High work quality, Tier 1+ college).

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Use these from your AI agent

All of these filters can be used by your AI agent too. You can search and download candidates, post jobs, and check applications without visiting the website. See How do I connect Cutshort with Claude, Cursor or other AI agents? and How do I integrate Cutshort with hiring tools and workflows using the API?.

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If something goes wrong

  • List collapsed to almost no one — remove one filter at a time. Industry exclude + pedigree + must-have skills stack quickly.
  • Industry looks wrong — these tags are from the profile, not the current employer name alone. Try a nearby tag (for example Software product and B2B SaaS).
  • College you care about is missing — pick the tier, do not type the school name.
  • Top 50 is out of credits — Freedom includes 5,000 AI credits per month on the smallest plan and 10,000 on the others. Email hire@cutshort.io if you need more.
Something else? Chat with us on cutshort.io.