Growing up with military parents, I went into the workplace completely naive, with no recruiting rules playbook. I understood work to be something straightforward. You each had ranks. After so many years, you would earn the next position. Every person gets the same pay. Bad bosses happen, but when leadership finds out about their poor behavior, they will take care of it. 

I can almost hear you laughing. I know. Sweet baby Katrina. 

Reality swept in quickly at my first internship, where I saw the owner's son promoted to managing partner two years out of business school. That didn't bother me as much as listening to the three women who spent 20 years working there weeping in the bathroom during the celebratory luncheon. 

After work, we all went to drinks. When I childishly asked why they promoted the owner's son, they laughed. "That's just how it is," they said with a smirk as they ordered another round of shots. 

"That's just how it is," one whispered again as she took another sip.     

After a decade of work littered with more lies and management nightmares, I caught myself saying it. I was sitting with coworkers after a long day of verbal abuse from our manager. One of the junior people on the team looked up at me with the same naive look I had all those years ago. She asked if our manager was always like this and if I thought reporting him to HR would help. 

Then I said it. "Don't. That's just how it is."  

At the time, I knew I was right. I also knew it was wrong. 

"We've always done it that way," becomes a mantra. Our New recruiting rules ebook

That's where this recruiting rules ebook comes in. We can't continue to rely on old rules that profoundly shaped our broken workplaces. 

Let's write new rules. 

One of the new rules? We're not making rules in a silo anymore. 

That's why I asked some of the smartest HR practitioners and people I know to share the rules they want to see destroyed forever. 

We're doing something else different, too. To thank each smart person, I'm donating to a charity they love and featuring each of those nonprofits in addition to their smart, creative, and powerful ideas. Please consider donating and supporting these incredible organizations. 

But our support won't stop there thanks to companies like Paradox.ai and Xor.ai. 

We'll donate $1 for each download during the first week, so please share it like crazy this week!