What are the smart ways to find great candidates?

I think spreading word-of-mouth information about the position availability, or eventual availability, to each employee so they can constantly look for superior candidates in their networks of friends and associates. In this age of online social and professional networking, the chances are, you and your  employees are instantly connected to hundreds, and even thousands, of potential candidates. So this will make your process easy and more effective.

According to me Internet is the smart way to find talent. The internet, in addition to your own organization Web site, is in its infancy in terms of its usefulness to employers. The employers should learn how to use the Internet to find and attract great candidates. Post your positions on professional association Web sites and ads on newspaper-related Web sites. Make sure your recruitment ads "sell" the vision and the advantages of your organization. Effective ads portray your company as an exciting and rewarding place to work. Effective job postings make people want to apply to your firm. 

Well I am not an expert for HR consulting but I think employers should have a pro active approach to find talents that are most suited viz a viz an overall approach towards a particular requirement.

That is instead of candidates approaching, there can be methods for zeroing the right candidates, like from sites like this, & giving them calls (through direct or indirect channels) if they have expressed their interest to do so in a way or other with any such site or other mean.

In HRM, organizations might just be focusing on the selection part while ignoring the recruitment part. Spreading the net wide may enable getting in more number of candidates. In recruitment this could be done by keeping flexible eligibility qualifications, using wide-reach media for advertising positions, and be willing to spend time and money to zero in on the right shortlist of candidates.