Thesysthink,
Finding passive GOOD candidates have always been a tough task for any recruiter. Mentioned below are few ways which you might find useful. Although outcome cannot always be completely satisfactory but still to get good candidates guess all the sources needs to be explored
a) Job Postings- Quite a few times I have seen that job postings encourages a lot of candidates to apply directly even though when they didn't have their CV's on portals but a lot of them keep checking the job postings. It's a question how enticing the job posting looks to them.
b) There is a site called Linkedin.com (
Relationships Matter | LinkedIn) not sure if you already know about it. It is based on the principle of doing a lot of things through networking between professionals including hiring prospective candidate/s. Audience out here are people from acorss the world + niche profiles + very senior profiles from across the globe.
c) A few months back a person approached me from a company Careerbuilders.com. He says its a US based Company predominantly in the field of recruiting business. They have a portal of their own. What he also shared with me that they have developed a particular model specially targeting senior & passive candidates who do not put their CV's on portals or make it pucblic. The have tie-ups with different websites like MSN/Yahoo etc & it consist of a job section where ppl can go, find jobs of their fitment & can apply. The reply directly comes to Company/ recruiter. For more details you can check their website.
d) Networking Sites- Sites like twitter/facebook/Orkut needs no introduction.
Can be/ Are being used as another source to get candidates. Response is not great & efforts are high to find right person but still worth to try.
e) Headhunting - Evergreen source called headhunting. Put the skill set what you are looking at in Google & try to search Companies having them & then do the headhunting.