The first search gets you close. Refining gets you the shortlist. There are two ways to refine, and they work together.
Way 1: type into the refine bar
After the first run, the search bar at the bottom becomes the refine bar. Whatever you type is merged into the search you already have: filters update, results re-rank.
Examples that work:
"add Kubernetes"
"remove the location, anywhere is fine"
"make it more senior"
"only candidates who worked with banking clients"
"exclude PHP"
"within 30 km of Munich"
A longer brief: "I need people who served banking clients and worked at Bank of America in the last 10 years"
Each message narrows or widens the same search. You see the filter panel change on the left as the AI applies your message. Below: after "add Kubernetes and make the experience 5 to 15 years", the experience slider and the skill list changed and the results re-ranked.
Only New Search (top of the filter panel) starts from scratch. Press ⌘+Enter / Ctrl+Enter to send.
Way 2: edit the filter panel
Change anything on the left directly, then click Apply Changes at the bottom of the panel.
Work experience: drag the slider ends
Skills: tick required on the 1–3 must-haves and untick the rest; set an experience level per skill; tick exclude to keep a skill out; remove a skill with the x
AND / OR between skills, and Add Group for nested logic
Location: add cities or regions, set the radius, switch miles/km
Ideal Candidate Brief: plain-text description of the ideal person
Bullhorn filters: status, owner, any Bullhorn field
Each of these has its own article in the Filters section.
Recommended order
Run a broad search: one sentence, 3–5 requirements.
Look at the top 10. Are they the right kind of person? If not, fix the brief or the title first.
Too many results: make 1–2 skills required, narrow experience, add context to the brief.
Too few: untick required skills, widen experience, widen the radius.
Add Bullhorn filters last (status, owner, do-not-contact). They cut the list without changing the ranking.