Ok, since Slouch reminded everybody that he'd be pulling the winner's name out of a hat, I'm officially pulling myself out of the running. Yes, I was fortunate enough to win a trip to Jamaica (thank you Jason - thank you Broadlook!) for the video contest way back when that had much less community participation (lucky me). I know that lighting rarely strikes twice in the same place, but if by chance my name was pulled from the Slouch-cap, I don't think Zuzu's heart could bear the pain.

Since I'm officially out of the running, I'm also deviating from the contest requirements and paring my "reasons" from five back to two.

Here goes:

Smart recruiters are…old school.

Just because I have a crop of grey hair doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m “old school.” But I have adopted some practices in my daily recruiting activities often referred to as “old school” by this generation of Web 2.0 recruiters.

For example, I use the phone. Actually, I use the phone like a mad man. I get the names of the target prospects, as well as those who might know the target prospects, and I pursue them…relentlessly. Then I get referrals. And once I’ve gathered a gaggle of referrals, I get more referrals. And I email them, right? Wrong. I call them.

Does that sound old school? Unfortunately, yes. But I am confident that I will always have an advantage over my competitor if I keep the “old school” attitude and practices close at hand.

Smart recruiters are…new school.

In December 2004, I had an itch to be challenged – to learn – and to connect with other recruiters. My itch was scratched at Recruiting.com. I started following the likes of Jason Davis, Anthony Meaney, John Sumser, Steve Levy, Heather Hamilton, and the recruiting genius formerly known as The Canadian Headhunter (there’s actually a lot more names I could mention, but smart recruiters can’t waste too much time, ya know). Anyway, I knew what they were doing was right. They were using technology to connect with other recruiters all over the world. In a sense, they were making the world (at least the recruiting world) a smaller place – a community.

In only four blazing-fast years, a few things have changed. The recruiting community has taken on a life of its own, and smart recruiters understand the value of being plugged in to the community. Recruiters smart enough to wear the “new-school” clothes are also fortunate because they daily expose themselves to the central issues surrounding recruiting (cloud computing - candidate experience - social media - names sourcing - personal brand), while connecting with the best minds in the business. Honestly, is there a tighter group of professionals representing a particular interest anywhere in the world?

Bottom-line: smart recruiters avail themselves of practices both old and new, understanding the leverage they achieve by balancing the best of both worlds.

So, are you a smart recruiter?

Hint-Hint: age should have nothing to do with your answer.