Great places to work don’t become great places by chance. Serious effort has gone in to make such places great to work. Culture has been emphasized as the most important quality in such organizations and it usually starts at the top. Similarly, hiring great people does not happen by chance.

No cool employee walks in for an interview and gets hired automatically. Employees starting from the CEO emphasize on hiring the right people and HR takes a cue and puts in the process to find places where great people hang out. This increases the chance of hiring the right ones for your company. We’ve found that the following are 3 such places where you can hire great people that give the best for your company.

1. LinkedIn – From non-existent a decade ago to the most popular professional social network in the world, Linked In has become the defacto hang out place for professionals. It is used in more than 100 countries and makes your resource pool a truly global one. From the most accurate profile information to the most recent photos, Linked In has the latest and greatest information. Finding talent in Linked In is unobtrusive and makes hiring a natural and convenient process.

2. Employee Network – A grossly underrated source of candidates is your current employee network. If you are doing the best for your employees and your employees are well engaged with the organization, then your current employees are truly the best hire agents. They would not only refer their friends and relatives but would also be proud and will show off the positives of working here like you never can.

3. Colleges – Hiring from colleges still remains one of the easiest and best choices for many organizations. And it is free. And you can hire in bunches. You not only get a wide variety of talent pool to choose from, but you could also get away with timing the actual joining date as you wish. The best thing about hiring from colleges is the clean slate for you to create and nurture great employees. You could become a great inspiration for some of these young college grads and make a lasting impression.

Whatever your source of hire, selecting and presenting an offer to the candidate is only one part of the hiring process. The onboarding and the first week of joining are crucial to making the employee feel welcome.