5 Tips for Engaging Recruitment Videos

What makes a company’s career site come to life? Without a doubt, engaging recruitment videos that tell an organization’s unique story. Videos effectively:

• Communicate your culture through storytelling
• Present day-in-the-life scenarios for specific jobs
• Let candidates actually see what it is like to work for you
• Offer peer-to-peer testimony

Make your recruitment videos memorable and engaging with these simple tips.

1. Start with a plan
Do you need a general overview video for your career site homepage? Videos for job family pages related to the positions available in that area? Decide what you want to focus on, including what you feel is most important for each video to communicate.

It’s not enough to just say “we’re a great company, we’re welcoming, we’re family, etc.” Videos need to provide specific reasons to attract applicants through targeted communication and strong visual representation, showing detailed cultural and daily job specifics in a casual relaxed manner. If there are any hiring barriers or misconceptions, use the video to address those issues, as well.

2. Choose wisely
For your video subjects, we recommend you select a cross-section of people based on the positions where you have your biggest hiring needs. Keep in mind all aspects of diversity and choose individuals who have the personality and spark to represent you well. In our process, we pre-profile each employee, either through interview or questionnaire, to find out what their stories are, as well as to create storyboards that help us determine content and flow.

3. Work it out
Having produced countless videos, we know that being prepared for the shoot is extremely important. A detailed schedule keeps everyone on track. In addition:

• We recommend a full film crew consisting of director/cameraman, lighting/sound and stylist.
• A two-camera system allows you to get quality b-roll footage, providing more editing options and helping to break up the look of standard talking head videos.
• Scout locations prior to the shoot – find the most aesthetically pleasing areas to save valuable time during filming.
• Schedule your employee interviews with enough time between, as well as time for styling and prep.

4. Keep it real
Virtually everyone is nervous being in front of the camera. We work to establish a relaxed feeling on set. Have a casual conversation with the interviewee prior to filming. Getting them to relax is critical to a smooth shoot. Highly encourage the interviewee to smile during filming. Make sure they know the specific points you want them to make and then allow them to relay that information in their own words (rather than encouraging them to memorize a script). You want the video to be relatable, so that applicants feel that the employees could be them.

5. Make it short
Once in post-production, keep your videos short and engaging. Generally, 1.5-2 minutes in length allows enough time to express the varying perspectives of several employees, along with footage that shows your environment. If you are profiling one person, you can go even shorter. Anything longer and the applicant is likely to stop watching at some point. If the content isn’t well presented, it doesn’t matter how long the video is.

With these tips, you should be ready to create truly engaging videos. If you have any comments or want to share your experiences developing recruitment videos, let us know.

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