Employer branding video: the formats that make people want to join you
A candidate reads your job ad, then goes looking for what your company is really like: your website, your LinkedIn page, your Instagram. They’re not looking for a slogan. They want to see people, places, the day-to-day work. That’s what an employer branding video is for. Here are the formats that work, how I shoot them, and some real examples.
What is an employer branding video?
It’s a video that shows what it’s like to work for you. It isn’t selling a product: it’s making people want to join a team. It speaks to candidates, but also to your current staff, who will (or won’t) recognise themselves in the picture you paint of them.
Which leads to the golden rule: let your people do the talking, not your comms team. A good employer branding video shows real people, doing their real jobs, in their own words.
The formats that work
The corporate film
Two to four minutes, landscape, for your website and presentations. It tells the company’s story through the people who work there: on-camera interviews intercut with footage from the field.
For Equans, working with the agency Oblique, employees talk about their work on camera, intercut with on-site footage and aerial shots. The 3 min 23 film is used both for onboarding new starters and in internal presentations.
Employee portraits
One person, one role, one minute. Portraits work especially well as a series: a new face on LinkedIn every week. They show the range of roles on offer and put a face to jobs candidates don’t know much about.
On the job, in the field
For hands-on or technical roles, nothing beats footage from the field. Someone thinking of applying as a roofer or a carpenter wants to see the site, the craft, the team.
Since 2023, I’ve been following Les Compagnons du Patrimoine, a building company near Tours, on their sites and through the life of the company: a corporate film, project videos and vertical content for social media. The videos the company has posted have racked up 61,000 views on Instagram.
On a Les Compagnons du Patrimoine site: the job, shown the way it’s really done.
Team life
A company offsite, a team meeting, a team-building day: candidates love seeing these moments because they show what the atmosphere is like. For Les Compagnons du Patrimoine, a 54-second vertical video brings together the company meeting and a team day out paintballing.
The Les Compagnons du Patrimoine company meeting: team spirit, captured as it happens.
Vertical video for social media
Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok: this is where candidates, especially younger ones, discover companies. Vertical videos of 30 to 60 seconds, captioned and designed to be watched with the sound off.
For Baker Staff, I shot a series of Reels inside a Paris bakery, in the real working environment of the people who use the service. Far more convincing than an on-screen demo.
Filming for Baker Staff in a Paris bakery.
How a shoot works
Pre-production. Together, we work out who the video is aimed at (which roles, which profiles) and what it needs to show. I put together a set of interview questions for you to sign off.
Choosing who goes on camera. You don’t need your most confident speakers. You need people who enjoy their job and are happy to talk about it. The rest is down to me: I take the time to put them at ease before we start rolling. I explain how I prepare these interviews in this article.
The shoot. A small crew, so work doesn’t grind to a halt. One shoot day is often enough for a corporate film plus several short formats. On a building site or in a workshop, I work around the pace of the job.
The edit. I keep the lines that carry your message and cover them with footage from the field. You get a rough cut, and your feedback goes into the final cut before delivery.
Mistakes to avoid
- A message that’s too polished. Rehearsed answers and forced smiles: candidates see through them instantly. One natural sentence beats a memorised script.
- Only showing the office. If most of your roles are out in the field, that’s where you should be filming.
- Forgetting short formats. A single landscape film isn’t enough any more. Plan the vertical versions from the outset and shoot them on the same day.
- One video, then radio silence. Employer branding is built over time. A handful of regular videos will do more for you than one big film every five years.
How much does it cost?
It depends on the number of shoot days, how many people are interviewed and which deliverables you need. I give ballpark figures in my article on the cost of a corporate video in Paris.
Key takeaways
- Let your people do the talking, not your comms.
- Film where the work really happens.
- Plan a flagship film plus short formats for social media.
- Take the time to put people at ease.
- Post regularly.
Planning an employer branding video? Tell me about your project in a few lines and I’ll get back to you within 48 hours with a proposal and a detailed quote. Get a quote · See my corporate videos