How To Be The Company Everyone Wants to Work For

This column originally appeared on Inc. Here are the 5 ways to turn your company into a magnet for great candidates.

There’s a reason why so many people want to work for the Apples and Facebooks of the world, and it’s not just the salary or perks: these companies have fantastic employer brands.

The employer brand, the public face of a company’s internal culture, is becoming a major factor in whether or not great talent will choose to get on board for two reasons.

First, the new workforce generation is looking for more than a big paycheck when deciding which job to take. They want to align with a laudable mission, be part of an innovative culture and be surrounded by colleagues who help them grow. Second, employer brand is more visible today. From Glassdoor reviews to LinkedIn updates, candidates now have a variety of social media resources to investigate companies and window shop for the perfect job.

Your employer brand is the curated display case that will either draw candidates in or send them searching for a potentially better experience elsewhere. Yet, in a world where employer brand carries serious weight, many companies are not leveraging their culture and brand to attract great candidates.

Here are five ways to up-level your employer brand to attract the best candidates:

1. Career page: make it personal, interactive and mobile.

Use the career page to showcase your company’s brand through content such as event photos, updates on innovative side projects and video interviews with employees. Also, optimize your career page for mobile. In the U.S., 65 percent of people use their mobile devices to search for jobs–don’t let an archaic career page stop a great candidate from applying.

2. Social media: keep it lively.

Candidates often look for your company on social media because it is the easiest way to evaluate your employer brand and keep tabs on job opportunities. An inactive social media channel reads as an inactive culture, even if that’s not the case. Increase brand awareness with frequent high-value posts to your social media accounts. Remember, prospective candidates are tuning in 24/7.

3. Your employees: turn them into brand advocates.

Your employees can be your best or worst marketers. Educate employees on your brand standards and how they can post meaningful, engaging content on their social handles that supports your brand’s voice and personality. Encourage employees to share their day-to-day experiences in real time–thereby proving that your culture claims are authentic.

4. Your job ads: use plain language.

Jobs ads are typically the first introduction into what a position at your company is like. An awkwardly constructed ad with too many requirements and robotic language can confuse and frustrate a candidate. Write a job post that is easy to read, is informative and gives candidates a glimpse into your company culture. Put yourself in the candidates’ shoes and ask yourself, “Would I want to work for this company?”

5. Mission statement: include a candidate call to action.

Many times, a mission statement only addresses the company and its customer–which is a missed opportunity to engage with prospective candidates. Include a candidate call-to-action in your mission statement by adding details about what makes your company a great place to work and grow. For example, “we are solving the food crisis with new technologies” could be “we bring passionate innovators together to solve the food crisis with new technologies.”

By taking these five steps to polish and better promote your employer brand, you make it easier for candidates to gain a true picture of who you are, what you stand for and how you’re striving to grow. This insight is crucial to helping candidates determine if they are a cultural fit from the beginning, leading to the best talent knocking on your door.