When it comes to building your culture, the way you recruit has remarkable power over the team you build and the experience you deliver to your customers. Who you hire matters, which is why I often hear from managers and recruiters about the challenges of hiring great talent today. If your recruiting game is based on “help wanted” signs and simple classified ads, then you are leaving a lot on the table when it comes to attracting top talent to your restaurant.

Portraying your brand as a desired place to work is a critical tool for recruiting. Your future employees are reading about you online, watching videos on social media, talking to other people about you, and learning about what it’s really like to work at your restaurant long before they walk in the door for an interview. They are looking for a positive place to work, and your culture is the key to showing them that your brand is that place.

Here are the top four ways you can leverage your culture to attract top talent.

1. Use video

If you’ve been paying attention, you have been hearing marketers talk about the power of video for driving engagement. Video is also a powerful tool for recruiting and should be a key part of your hiring plan. You can create short videos that show your team in action. You can shoot videos that tell the story of a day in the life of one of your team members. Why not record a video highlighting your open positions and post them online? You can shoot short stories about your positions and the benefits of working with you on Instagram, Facebook, or Snapchat.

Focus on sharing, not selling. This isn’t about creating taglines and inauthentic messages. Share what’s it like to work with you. Candidates will appreciate the behind-the-scenes version of working in your restaurant. Don’t let the technology stop you. These days, it’s remarkably easy to create high-quality content—and some of the folks on your team probably have the skills to help out.

2. Pump up your job descriptions

Let’s be honest: Most job descriptions are pretty boring and overly compliant to the point of being indistinguishable from each other. When you use the standard job description as your main job posting, you are sending a message that your brand is boring and bland. Why not write your job postings the same way you’d write sales copy for your customers?

Focus the job posting on the benefits for the employee. Answer these questions: Why is it better to work here? What will it be like to work here? And, how will this be a good decision for the candidate? Ask your existing employees for their answers to those same questions to help you write the most compelling version.

3. Create images

If a picture is worth 1,000 words, then a picture of your employees loving their job is gold for your recruiting efforts. You should be sharing images of happy employees on your social media channels and featuring them in your job postings. Use a program to overlay text on top of images that help share the story. In addition to pictures of your team working together, you can also create employee profiles. Take a picture of an employee and then use the status area of a social post or blog to share a little more about their story and experience at your restaurant.

We also know that customers love spending their money with companies that value their team. Every time customers see your positive culture and happy employees, they will feel great about becoming a loyal regular.

4. Boost your reviews

Your employees have a strong voice when it comes to spreading the word about your culture—and your dream candidates want to hear directly from them. Just like your customers have the power to elevate your brand with online reviews, your employees can help boost your recruiting by writing positive reviews on websites like Glassdoor.

By the time an applicant makes the decision to submit their application, they’ve read all about you, so make sure to have a healthy flow of content on the review sites. Create simple reminders to ask your employees to add their review shortly after they start working with you, and then again six months later, in case they don’t get around to it the first time.

Hiring top talent starts with communicating clearly about the culture of your restaurant in a way that pulls them in. You’ve got to create a compelling story of success that attracts the best people to your restaurant. So how will you use your culture to boost your recruiting efforts in 2018?

Employee Management, Mike Ganino: Crafting Culture, Story