Ultimate Guide For Creating Employee Recruitment Videos

Here’s how to create a stellar recruitment video on a very little budget

In today’s technology driven world, how businesses operate and stay ahead of the game is continually evolving. As more and more people consume content via video, now employee recruitment videos have become more and more commonplace. Some major companies can spends thousands (if not tens of thousands) of dollars hiring video production companies to create an employee recruitment video to attract top talent. 
 

According to Career Builder, job postings that have a recruitment video get 34% more applicants than those that don’t. However, not every hiring manager has that kind of budget to work with. But, with the right know how, anyone can create a stellar recruitment video on very little budget.

A recruitment video is one that is created specifically with the intention of showing potential candidates considering applying for jobs in your company. It gives them an inside peek so people watching can get a sense for what the company culture is like, meet other employees, get a sense for the senior management and what your company actually does. 

Step 1. Planning what you want to say

You need to consider what you are going to include in your video and from there determine how you will go about capturing it in film. What are the most interesting things that would attract someone to your company? The problem your business is trying to solve? The product you make? How much time off people get? Allowing people to work from home? Write all these key points down. Also consider the tone of your video. Do you want a more serious professional video or do you want something more fun? Or a mix of both.

Step 2.  Planning how to convey this

Now you know what you want to say, you need to plan how you will get it across in your video. Recruitment videos are usually created like a mini-documentary with a mix of employee and management interviews intercut with interesting footage to go alongside what they are talking about. 

Do you want to show people what the interior of the office looks like? Do you have the company logo positioned somewhere that you can include that in the video? Do you make a product in a factory that could be interesting to show being made? Do you do any fun employee activities like yoga classes at lunch or company outings? Do you crack open the craft beer on Fridays? Do you have photos / videos of these types of experiences you can include or is there a particularly great day to film to capture all these things?

Step 3. Who you will interview? 

There are a number of ways to convey information via video - text on screen, voice over, but the most common way people get key points across in recruitment videos is to interview several employees and the CEO or other executives within the company. Maybe even a happy customer. You may even want to include yourself in the video so you can call out some key points such as employee benefits etc. 

While some people love the camera, some people hate it, so try and choose people who are more enigmatic. Also, legally you must get anyone you interview on camera to sign a “Model Release Form” (there are lots of free templates on Google), which legally allows you to film and broadcast their image. 

Step 4 - Choosing your shoot day 

Then when you have figured out what you want to shoot and who you want to interview you need to determine the best day to organize an ‘official filming day’ when everyone knows they will be filmed so they come in their best dress and tidy up their desks etc. and all the key people you want to interview are all available that day.
 

Next up you need to decide how you are going to film it. There are two major components to filmmaking - filming and editing. While the editing process has become so user friendly these days anyone with basic computer skills can do it, if I had any budget I would invest it in getting an experienced camera person to shoot footage. If you post your requirements as gigs on Craigslist, ProductionHub or Mandy you should be able to get a professional camera person to come in for a few hundred dollars.

If you are working on little or no budget then don’t worry, there are plenty of great recruitment videos that have been made using a camera phone. If you are going to take it upon yourself to do the filming, here are my quick tips on how to rock it like a pro: 

1. Get some sort of tripod to hold the camera phone steady if you are going to do interviews.

2. Arrange the interviews in a place with the most interesting background. The pros will never film someone sitting directly against a window or white wall - it looks awful on camera. Film people at their desks or maybe arrange a chair in the foreground with the logo in the background? Always leave a good bit of space between the interviewee and the background. 

3. Lighting is everything in film making. You don’t want it to be too strong or too dark. Before you start filming, do some test shots so you can see what everything looks like on camera. Play around with dimming and brightening overhead lights, strategically placing lamps, opening and closing curtains etc. until you have the most attractive lighting. 

4. Getting clear audio is crucial for your interviews. You don’t want to be able to hear people talking in the background while your interviewee is talking or hearing cars honking or airplanes etc. Choose the quietest place in the office to conduct the interviews. Or if you want to film someone at their desk and show people in the background - ask everyone to be quiet during filming. Did you know that in movies or reality TV if they shoot scenes in busy restaurant scenes, all the background cast are just pretending to talk so the director can record clear audio of the main cast and then they add background chatter during the edit? You will want to do the same with everyone’s phones on silent. Finally, a quick cheap audio hack is to place an additional smartphone as close to the interview subject as possible (without being obvious on camera) to record an additional audio of the interview that will be clearer than yours if your phone is several feet away. 

5. Interviewing tips: When interviewing people, you want to ask several people the same question so you have the best answers to choose from when you are editing. You also need to ask people to put the question into the answer. For example - You ask: So what is your favorite thing about working here? The Interviewee answers: My favorite thing about working here is...

6. Take as many interesting “B-Roll” shots as you can. Think about when you see a documentary, the type of footage they include. You will want some close up shots e.g. maybe a close up of the product you make, people’s fingers typing on the computer, the bobblehead someone has of the local baseball team you all love on their desk etc. Then you will want medium shots of things like the receptionist greeting people, the company logo hanging on the wall etc. and then wide shots showing the span of the interior of the office, the exterior of the office, people enjoying some downtime. 

So now you have your content shot you need to edit it into a compelling video. Usually the shorter the better. Most recruitment videos are under two minutes and there are ready to go templates that can help guide you through the process so you have a really cool, professional looking video in minutes. 

Alternatively, if you want to do the edit yourself, divide the video into sections. You should have answers from everyone on the same question grouped together e.g. what is your favorite thing about working in your company - and then include the best soundbites together. 

You usually need to add certain graphics in your video to clarify key points, such as: 

● “Company X recruitment video 2020” at the start 
● Title Cards: these are graphics that come up on the lower left or right of a screen to explain who is speaking e.g. Jane Doe, Head of Marketing 
● Company stats: Do you have any interesting company stats you need to include? Company growth? Investment rounds? Awards? Famous board members? 
● Call to action at the end: Don’t forget to include things like the HR manager’s contact details, company website and social media details at the end of the video. 

Soft music running throughout in the background really adds some spice to your video. 

And that’s it! Hopefully this gives you enough insight to create an awesome recruitment video and we would love for you to include ones you created in the comments below.

Anna Ji is the Director of Product and Growth at Clipchamp.