What is that you want to achieve? it seems to me a X-Y problem, and not specifically related to workplace.

@Erik It's a numbers game. I am not trying to get a 100% recruitment. But if I approach 5 people and only succeed in hiring 1 winner out the 5, then that would be a success.

@Socrates What makes you think 1 out of 5 will be willing to work for you, then? You're trying to locate super valuable, highly sought after people. They're not going to say "yes" just because you found them.

@Erik I did not say I wanted highly sought after people. I said smart, hardworking people. There is a difference. I specifically said in my question I am not looking for Harvard valedictorians or unicorns. Maybe read my question? As for why someone would work for me, that is irrelevant to the question.

Can you elaborate on "the kind of people who are looking through ads are generally the type of people I would rather not hire"? What characteristics of these people are undesirable to you?

Pick me! I'm very smart and an expert in the Dunning-Kruger effect!

@Socrates "I did not say I wanted highly sought after people. I said smart, hardworking people. There is a difference." Smart, hardworking people are absolutely sought after, what world are you from?

This has strong "I'm looking for a hot girlfriend who doesn't know she's hot" vibes

"What low effort, low cost thing can I do to get the best and brightest to work for me?" Basically this question. After reading @Socrates comments on the answers to this question I'm convinced it's a troll attempt.

How could you identify them if you had a list of their backgrounds?!

@guest If I know the general background of someone, often I can infer their general intelligence level by putting together a bunch of details.

@Socrates, I honestly don't think that listing 300k people will be of any help. High salary, combined with a very pleasant work environment and a skilled recruiter will do the job just fine. Remember, you wanna catch smart people, so you should not expect to outsmart them, just offer the stuff they want.

@Socrates: So what exactly do you mean by "general background"? Is a Facebook or Linkedin site enough for you?

@guest There are specialized companies called aggregators that will give personal backgrounds on people if you give them a list of individuals in who you are interested. It includes stuff like purchasing history, things they subscribe to (like magazines and newspapers and internet services), hobbies, work history. Stuff like that.

@Socrates: so if you would have a list of the people in your area, you could give it to these companies and find out who is smart, correct?

@No, I could find a bunch of details about the people and then try to figure out from those details who the smarties were. Needless to say it would be a lot of work weeding through 300,000 recordsets.

@Socrates I fit the bill, why should someone of my genius level IQ, with an eidetic memory, choose to work for you?

@Socrates I think you're drastically overestimating your ability to determine someone's intelligence from some facts about them. What makes you think you can do something that multinationals with tens of millions of dollars to throw at this problem haven't been able to yet?

@pyro I don't really see what this has to do with my question. If you don't have any answers, fine, then move on. I am not trying to start some general conversation about recruiting here.

Does anybody have any secret tips for locating smart people? - You could write and distribute a book titled "How to win friends and influence people by not being a self-entitled, arrogant jerk"

@joeqwerty there is no way I will ever surrender my arrogance, impatience, or laziness. Those are my greatest 3 virtues

@pyro I'm wondering why he shows no interest in me. I'm a genius