“Your rules don’t serve you.” When my therapist said it, I felt the weight of the idea almost instantly. I was holding myself to a standard that didn’t exist. A story that wasn’t true. Let me explain.

We all operate on a set of customs that we have learned and adopted throughout our lives. Every “rule” is under the influence of three things: the stories we know, the choices we’ve made and the consequences we expect. Our standards are shaped every day through every experience. They influence who we are and how we think.

That can be useful, bad, or really ugly, depending on what you’ve experienced. However, those “rules” don’t always serve us. They can be inhibitors to our growth and stop us from flourishing. Yet still, we operate like they are the rule of law. That, if broken, all hell will break loose.

But here’s the thing. Enforcing lies clearly isn’t going to help your cause.

Fake Recruiting Laws

In recruiting, a lot of people operate under fake recruiting “rules.” I’m sure you’ve heard them before too. “We have to do it that way,” they’ll say. “Someone told me that’s what we do.” My personal favorite? “I remember so-and-so said. They’re not here anymore.”

Uh, what? You’re following rules from someone who doesn’t even work here? That’s not the most shocking part. The real shocker is when I ask: “says who? Who is holding that rule over your head?” They usually don’t have an answer. I’m left shaking my head.

The concept of rules in recruiting is just silly. We work with the most unpredictable variable: humans. It’s just foolish to assume the rules are going to stay the same when we all know they don’t – not the rules of recruiting, the rules of engagement or anything else when it comes to hiring. The only things that stay the same are the systems we adopted from a predecessor and have refused to change based on faux laws.

Recruiting Rules Were Made to Be Broken

I’m not buying into the idea that we have to follow any of the rules (minus the lawyer stuff and mandatory acronyms, of course) made about job postings. You’re suffering at the hand of laws that aren’t real. I want to see you confidently create better content because you know that the old rules aren’t serving your goals.

Let’s make new job posting rules.

Instead of handing out a bunch of templates that will become recruiting folklore or hosting inconveniently timed webinars, I created this how-to workbook, which you can get by filling out the form below or going to bit.ly/freejobrewrite.

I can promise you it’s not like anything you’ve downloaded from some stuffy HR Tech Vendor.

I’ve broken all the rules. There’s snark, funny footnotes, and advice for companies of every sized based on the only thing that matters: getting applications from the right candidates. It’s bold, it’s no bullshit, and it’s DIY.

recruiting job posts recruiting rules rules of recruiting