Before I started working at PracticeLink, I spent several months in job-search mode. I read hundreds of job descriptions and looked at dozens of companies' career pages. After a while I developed a major job-posting turnoff: stock photos.

It actually became humorous to me how frequently I saw the exact same photos on different companies' job postings and websites. These stock photos often had the effect of making me call into question everything that a job description said. Sure, the job posting may have mentioned a great corporate culture and team environment, but, if that was true, then why was their only picture one of businessmen shaking hands in front of a skyscraper?

I got the feeling that these stock photo models were not my future coworkers, and with no mental image of the real organization or team, it was hard to picture myself working with them. On the other hand, when I saw pictures of actual employees of the company or pictures of their actual offices, my interest was piqued.

In all likelihood, physicians feel the same way. They've seen all the photos of stock models in white coats and stethoscopes, and they'd vastly prefer a glimpse of your actual team.

So here's your Power Tip: Ditch the stock photos, and use your smartphone to snap a few pictures for your job posting. These pictures are easily distinguishable from stock photos, so they bring a sense of realness to your job posting. They give physicians a better idea of the type of place where they'd be working. 

If you're at a loss for subjects, try photographing your physicians and other providers, your facilities and buildings, your office staff and your organization's events (like appreciation lunches or team-building activities). 

Here are a few quick guidelines for taking better pictures on your phone.

1. Use natural light, not flash

Turn off your flash! If at all possible, take photos with natural lighting — try shooting outdoors or near a window.

2. Turn on your gridlines

Your phone's camera most likely has a gridline feature that can be turned on and off. These gridlines divide your screen into horizontal and vertical thirds to help you frame your photo. 

It's tempting to try to get your subject in the center of your photo, but the rule of thirds posits that images are more appealing when subjects align with the gridlines or the gridlines' intersections. 

(On an iPhone, turning on gridlines is as simple as going to Settings > Photo & Camera and turning "Grid" on.)

3. Simplify the setting

Before you take a photo, clean up the background a little bit. If you're shooting in an office, remove any stray papers from the desk. If you're shooting in a hallway, take down any signs that have been temporarily taped to walls. Remove the clutter that you've gone blind to — it will be distracting to viewers. You can always put it back once you've taken your photo.

4. Crop, don't zoom

Using the zoom feature while taking a photo will almost always yield a blurry or pixelated result. If the framing of a picture is not what you want, get closer to your subject or crop the picture afterward.

5. Put it through post-production

There are tons of free and cheap photo-editing apps for both iPhones and Androids. I'm partial to Afterlight, which costs just 99 cents and lets you adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, exposure, temperature and more. You can also crop, straighten and even apply filters to images.

Lastly, don't worry too much if your photos don't look like those of a professional photographer. You should follow best practices to make your photos as strong as possible, but in the end, the realness of your photos is exactly what candidates want. Real photos of your organization will help candidates picture themselves as part of your team.