How to search for an industry that's not an option on Linkedin

There are 146 industries you can search within on Linkedin. That’s a LOT! But it’s not a comprehensive list. If the industry you need to target isn’t an option that’s a showstopper. Don’t give up just yet. In this article we’ll explain a workaround you can use to overcome industry search limitations on Linkedin.

Here’s a search limitation example

Suppose you want to look for people who work at Roofing Companies. Unfortunately, roofing isn’t an industry search option…you’re up the creek without a paddle (kidding – there’s a workaround).

If you do an industry search in a Free/Premium Linkedin account you’ll see something like the screenshot below. If you type Roofing into the Industries search field nothing will happen. It’s simply not an industry option.

It becomes even more obvious if you’re scrolling through all the available industries on a Linkedin Sales Navigator account:

Overcoming Linkedin industry search limitations in a Free/Premium account

The company name. In many industries it’s common to include the actual industry in the company name. Roofing, heating and cooling, lawn care, landscaping, etc. They won’t represent 100% of the market share, but it will be a laser focused list.

Use Quoted Search Boolean in the company name field to require the industry be included in the company name (like “roofing” in the example below).

That will give you a list of people who have in the past/present worked at a company that has “roofing” in the company name.

Company name limitations in a Free/Premium account

Free/Premium accounts do not allow you to search by current company. That means you’ll have people in your search results who worked for that type of company in the past – which probably doesn’t matter to you.

Sales Navigator overcomes the past/current company issue

If you’re not familiar with Linkedin Sales Navigator it’s a paid account – a bit more more than premium each month but much more valuable. The big advantage when using this process within Sales Navigator is you can select Current in the company name section.

That means your list will only be comprised of people who currently work at a business that has “Roofing” in the company name.