By applying specialised search techniques, online talent search specialists are able to uncover passive candidates in the shadowy Deep Web - wherever they gather to work and play.

The employment market is generally categorised into three main talent pools, namely the unemployed Job Seekers, the employed job seekers and the passive (non-job seeking) candidate. By understanding the nature of these various talent pools, Recruiters are in a better position to attract the right talent quicker.

Unemployed Job Seekers
The size of this group of job seekers fluctuates with the economic pendulum. These are the job Seekers that are actively seeking employment and are often desperate to accept the first job offer that comes along.

Employed Job Seekers
Employed job seekers might currently be unhappy in their careers or may be considering alternative career development opportunities to relocate or to pursue a career change.

Passive Candidates
The passive, non-job seeking candidate is employed and is generally making a productive contribution to their current employer and may not have immediate plans to take active steps towards finding a new job. With an average tenure of three to five years in any one job, these candidates are free agents and may always be on the radar waiting for the next opportunity.

Tapping into the right Talent pool requires skill. Recruiters should know how to apply specialist techniques and unique skills for finding the right candidates online.

Advertising on Job Boards
Job Boards are the most convenient way to find active Job Seekers who's CV's already exist in the central database. A common mistake made by most recruiters is that they tend to assign far too much value to searching the database only for the right skills and often refuse to advertise their job requirements on the Job Board. While CV databases offer instant access into the active job seeker market, there are those job seekers who might have placed their CV's into these databases but prefer to be hidden and are not searchable. By advertising the opportunity on the Job Board these job seekers may very well submit their job application, whereas if the position was never advertised the ideal job seeker may otherwise never know about the opportunity. In addition the job advertisement will also reach passive browsers as well as family members and friends who may just be connected to the perfect candidate. The value of a Job Board lies in the job advertising reach that it offers and not necessarily solely in the size of its searchable CV database.

The Web is your Oyster
In addition to advertising on Job Boards, Recruiters should extend their search into the Deep Web. The best candidates are no longer hidden inside Recruiter's drawers; they are wired to the Internet and are inter-connected to other like-minded people. The Internet is a complex space comprising of billions of web pages filled with data that is organised in directories and ruled by complicated algorithmic search engines. The challenge is being able to understand the structure of the Web and how search engines and communities are inter-related and respond online.

With the right tools and techniques; online search experts can dig up the most hard-to-find candidates in a matter of hours, at a fraction of the cost. Talent is scattered all over the Web. By combining specialised search techniques with a profound knowledge of online linking structures, these search specialists are able to reach inside the web, root around and pluck out the best candidates quickly by drilling into the inter-linked communities, social networks and gathering places of networked professionals. Online search experts are able to surface every page on the public Web domain to find candidates hidden in areas that would ordinarily be overlooked. Using complex search strings they can speed up the process of searching for people from millions of sources on the Web. In addition to applying smart tools and techniques to finding candidates, an online head-hunter is trained to detect clues and recognise signs that will lead them to the right candidate by cutting through the clutter.

Resourceful Recruiters should know where to find the best quality candidates from deep within the Web.