What is your company size? If you're hiring sales reps (multiple) and customer support (multiple) you've got to be more than 30? Because at less than that just

What is your company size? If you're hiring sales reps (multiple) and customer support (multiple) you've got to be more than 30? Because at less than that just use personal referrals. How elite are you talking? Is it a case where you're doing <X> and you want to hire (this one guy at Facebook who invented X)? Or just "really good devs"? This makes a difference. For key people targeted poaching may work (it will cost you more than normal hiring of 1 person, but probably not even 3x more, and if it's a truly key position you may need the one expert on the subject). If it's a more general position, but you just want someone smart enough, you can try asking your top 30% or so employees to ask all their friends if they're looking, or if the 3 or so people they or those friends would judge to be their best ex-coworkers are looking. You need a referral from someone who's worked with the person at some point, to ascertain their work (not social) performance, but it doesn't need to be a 1st degree referral, because your employees' immediate network, regardless if they're a fit for you, are probably pretty smart. If location is an issue (you're not in a metropolis and your location is not known for tech) contact the local university's career services department.