Guide
12 recruitment video ideas, sorted by what candidates ask
Updated
Candidates ask the same few questions before they apply. Here are 12 recruitment video ideas, each answering one of those questions, plus tips to keep them believable.
In short
- These 12 recruitment video ideas each answer one question a candidate asks before applying.
- The first question is whether the company is real, so show employees at work, unpolished.
- The second is whether the role suits them, so let the hiring manager explain it in 60 seconds.
- The third is whether it is fair, so say the salary range and explain the process on camera.
- Film one person on one phone, keep their first answer, and leave captions on.
- Ideas on this page, sorted by candidate question
- 12
- The length most of them need
- 60 sec
- One finished one-minute video, edit plus export
- 120 credits
The questions candidates ask
Candidates work through four questions, roughly in this order. The last two both come down to fairness, so the twelve ideas below are grouped in three.
- If a video you are planning answers none of the four, skip it.
- Pick the question first and the format second. An office tour is fine only if it answers one of these.
The four questions, in order
Is this company real?
Proof videos
Is this role for me?
Vacancy videos
Is the pay and process fair?
Doubt videos
Will I regret saying yes?
Doubt videos
Is the company real? 4 proof videos
Proof means employees on camera, unpolished. A montage of the office only shows that you have an office.
Proof videos
| Idea | What to film |
|---|---|
| 1. An employee shows their desk | They show where they sit and what is on their screen, in their own words |
| 2. The team answers a common question | The person who knows answers it: on-call, code review, the busy season |
| 3. Someone says why they stayed | Ask someone past year three one question, and keep their first answer |
| 4. What the team finished this week | One person names what shipped or closed. 60 seconds, no slides. |
Idea: 1. An employee shows their desk
- What to film
- They show where they sit and what is on their screen, in their own words
Idea: 2. The team answers a common question
- What to film
- The person who knows answers it: on-call, code review, the busy season
Idea: 3. Someone says why they stayed
- What to film
- Ask someone past year three one question, and keep their first answer
Idea: 4. What the team finished this week
- What to film
- One person names what shipped or closed. 60 seconds, no slides.
This is the whole editor
Highlight a phrase and a clip lands on those exact words. No timeline, no keyframes, no layers.
Is this role for me? 4 vacancy videos
Every open role is a chance for a video. Sixty seconds from the hiring manager does more than the job-board text beside it.
Vacancy videos
| Idea | What to film |
|---|---|
| 5. The manager explains the role | The role in one sentence, the team, and what a good first month looks like |
| 6. A normal week in this role | The person doing the job today talks through an ordinary week |
| 7. The first month | What a new starter really does before they are up to speed |
| 8. The worst part of the job | The hardest thing about the role, said on camera. It filters out the wrong applicants. |
Idea: 5. The manager explains the role
- What to film
- The role in one sentence, the team, and what a good first month looks like
Idea: 6. A normal week in this role
- What to film
- The person doing the job today talks through an ordinary week
Idea: 7. The first month
- What to film
- What a new starter really does before they are up to speed
Idea: 8. The worst part of the job
- What to film
- The hardest thing about the role, said on camera. It filters out the wrong applicants.
Is it fair? 4 videos that remove doubt
Candidates drop out here, when the process is unclear and nobody says what the job pays.
Doubt videos
| Idea | What to film |
|---|---|
| 9. The salary range, said out loud | Say the range on camera. Pay range disclosure is already law in a growing list of places. |
| 10. The hiring process, stage by stage | The stages, how long each takes, and who the candidate meets |
| 11. What a remote week looks like | One person on the team walks through their remote week, not the policy wording |
| 12. The last person in the role | What happened to them: promoted, moved or left |
Idea: 9. The salary range, said out loud
- What to film
- Say the range on camera. Pay range disclosure is already law in a growing list of places.
Idea: 10. The hiring process, stage by stage
- What to film
- The stages, how long each takes, and who the candidate meets
Idea: 11. What a remote week looks like
- What to film
- One person on the team walks through their remote week, not the policy wording
Idea: 12. The last person in the role
- What to film
- What happened to them: promoted, moved or left
Filming tips that keep them believable
Feeds are full of polished ads. A plain phone video signals that this is not one.
- Film one person on one phone, in one go, at their own desk.
- Ask a question instead of handing over a script. A script turns an employee into an actor.
- Keep their first answer, and aim for about 60 seconds. The third attempt is smoother and flatter, and you can fix rambling in the edit.
- If someone says no to filming, ask them one question and film only the answer. Most people say yes to a question and no to a speech.
- Keep captions on. Feeds play without sound, so the first sentence has to work on mute.
- If nobody will film at all, an avatar on Basic, $39.99 a month, can present a vacancy explainer at 350 credits a minute of render. Never use one for an employee story.
How to make one a week
Give every open role a manager video, and add one proof or doubt video each week.
- Cutroom takes one phone clip, up to 3 minutes, and returns a finished 9:16 video with captions in about a minute.
- It writes out every word, drafts an opening headline and adds clips on matching words. On Punch and Native it also shortens the dead air.
- If legal flags a line, film that answer again without it, because Cutroom keeps the lines you say.
- Posting a raw phone clip to LinkedIn costs nothing, which is fine for a post that lives a day.
One question to a posted recruitment video
About 120 credits per finished one-minute video, edit plus export.
Pick the question
Proof, role or doubt
Film one answer
One person, one phone, their first answer
Edit
100 credits: transcript, first edit, clip search
Export
20 credits per finished minute, 9:16 MP4
What it costs
You pay credits for the edit and for the export.
Cutroom costs
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Edit | 100 credits |
| Export | 20 credits per finished minute |
| One-minute video | About 120 credits |
| First video | Free within 7 days, 600 credits, no card, Cutroom mark |
| Lite plan | $19.99 a month for 1,250 credits, about 10 videos, no mark |
Item: Edit
- Cost
- 100 credits
Item: Export
- Cost
- 20 credits per finished minute
Item: One-minute video
- Cost
- About 120 credits
Item: First video
- Cost
- Free within 7 days, 600 credits, no card, Cutroom mark
Item: Lite plan
- Cost
- $19.99 a month for 1,250 credits, about 10 videos, no mark
Questions people ask
- Which recruitment video should we make first?
- The hiring manager's 60 seconds, for your hardest role to fill. You can measure it by applications to that role, and the manager usually helps, because the open seat is theirs.
- How many recruitment videos do we need?
- One per open role, plus one proof or doubt video a week. A vacancy video retires when the role closes. The weekly videos keep the feed alive between openings.
- Should recruitment videos mention salary?
- Yes, where you are allowed to, and more and more places require it. A video that says the range gets replies, and it saves both sides interviews that were never going to work.
- Do recruitment videos need a videographer?
- No. A phone video is the point: it looks real in a feed full of ads. Hire a videographer for the yearly culture film, which is a different job.
- Can the recruiter present every video?
- At an agency, yes. Candidates get used to your face, and that is why they answer your messages. In-house, spread it across employees, because candidates trust future colleagues more than a spokesperson.
- What does a video a week cost?
- About 120 credits per finished one-minute video on Cutroom. Lite is $19.99 a month for 1,250 credits, about 10 videos, and you can cancel any time under Settings. A raw post is free.
Pick one question from the list and film the answer this week. Your first video is free.