Note: All searches will return results based on a search of both the Occupational Outlook Handbook and the Career Guide to Industries.

At its simplest, a search can be on a word or a phrase. But with the tips on this page, you can expand the focus of your search to give you more complete results.

• Refine your searches with the AND keyword to require certain text in your search results. For example, if you want to find all instances of selling and vehicles, type the following:

  selling AND vehicles

• Refine your searches with the AND NOT keywords to exclude certain text from your search. For example, if you want to find all instances of selling but not selling vehicles, type the following:

  selling AND NOT selling vehicles

• Add the OR keyword to find all instances of either one word or another, for example:

  automobiles OR vehicles

  This search finds all pages that mention automobiles or vehicles or both.

• Put quotation marks around keywords if you want the search to take them literally. For instance, if you type the following in the search box:

  "program manager"

  the search engine searches will literally look for the complete phrase program manager. But if you type the same words without the quotation marks:

  program manager

  the search engine searches all documents for the words program and manager.

• Look for words with the same prefix. For example, type teach* in the search box to find teach, teaching, teacher, teachers, and so on.
• Search for all forms of a word. For example, in the search box type sell** to find sell, selling, and sold.
• Search with the keyword NEAR, rather than AND, for words close to each other. For example, with both of these combinations, program AND manager and program NEAR manager, the search engine looks for the words program and manager on the same page. But with NEAR, the returned pages are ranked in order of proximity: The closer together the words are, the higher the rank of that page.

These hints will get you started, but for more complex searches and more examples, click here.