In Summary Ask employees about a normal day, the people they work with, what they have learned, the hard part of the job and why they stay. Those five topics give you the beats of a 60 to 90 second recruiting video. Ask for stories, not opinions, and ask each person to repeat the question in their answer so the line works without your voice. Below are 22 questions grouped by what each one gets on camera, the questions to leave out, and a plan for cutting the answers into a 75-second film.
The short answer
A candidate watching a recruiting video wants to know what the job is really like. So ask employees what they actually do, who they do it with, how they have grown, what is hard, and why they are still there. Every question below is there to get one of those lines on camera.
This page is for the shoot: what to ask and how to ask it. If you already have the footage, our guide to editing recruiting videos covers the day-in-the-life edit and the short cuts for job posts.
The 22 questions, grouped by what they get on camera
Copy the list into your shoot notes. You will not use all 22 with every person. Pick two or three from each group and keep the rest for follow-ups.
1. Settling in
Gets on camera: a relaxed voice, the correct spelling of the name for the lower third, and a sound check.
- Please say and spell your name, and your job title as you would like it written on screen.
- How long have you worked here, and what did you do before?
- What did you do this morning before you sat down here?
Use it for: the name title. These answers rarely make the cut, and that is fine.
2. The job itself
Gets on camera: a concrete picture of the work, the thing a job description cannot show.
- Walk me through a normal day, from when you arrive to when you leave.
- What do you work on that someone else depends on?
- What does a good day look like here? And a bad one?
- What tools or equipment do you use most?
Use it for: the middle of the film. Question 7 doubles as a b-roll shot list: film whatever they name.
3. The people
Gets on camera: the team and the manager, in specific moments rather than adjectives.
- Who do you work with most, and what are they like to work with?
- Tell me about a time someone here helped you out.
- How does your manager let you know how you are doing?
Use it for: the beat after the job. A short story from question 9 beats any line about "great culture".
4. Learning and growth
Gets on camera: proof that people get better at the job, and sometimes move up.
- What can you do now that you could not do when you started?
- How did you learn the job in your first month?
- Has anyone you know here moved into a new role? How did that happen?
Use it for: the turn from "what it is" to "where it goes".
5. The honest part
Gets on camera: the line that makes the rest believable.
- What surprised you after you started?
- What is the hardest part of the job?
- Who would not enjoy working here?
Use it for: one short line, placed late in the film. A video that admits one hard thing reads as honest. Steer question 16 toward the work ("someone who hates early starts"), not toward who the person is. See the next section.
6. Why they are here
Gets on camera: the closing line.
- Why did you apply?
- Why have you stayed?
- What would you tell a friend who was thinking about applying?
Use it for: the end, just before the apply card.
7. Pickups
Gets on camera: clean, short lines for the open and the close.
- In one sentence, what do you do here?
- Finish this sentence: "This job is for someone who likes…"
- Is there anything I should have asked you?
Use it for: the first seconds of the film, and anything the other answers missed. Question 22 is worth asking every time.
How to ask so the answers cut well
These are working habits, not rules.
- Ask for the question in the answer. "My hardest day here was…" works on its own. "Oh, probably the Mondays" needs your question, and your voice will not be in the film.
- Ask for a time, not a view. "Tell me about a time…" gets a story with a beginning and an end. "What do you think of…" gets an opinion.
- One question at a time. Two questions in one breath get half an answer to each.
- Stay quiet after the answer. Give people a second after they finish; they sometimes add the line you wanted.
- Ask again, shorter. If an answer runs long, ask "Could you say that in one or two sentences?" You now have a version that fits.
- Do not feed lines. If you hand someone a slogan, it sounds like one. Ask the question again in other words instead.
- Send topics, not a script. Telling people in advance that you will ask about their day, their team and why they stay helps them relax. Sending the exact wording can get you rehearsed answers.
Questions to leave out, and lines to cut
A recruiting video is a sales piece for a job, so check it the way you would check a job ad. This is not legal advice; ask your HR or legal team.
- Anything that describes who "fits" by a protected trait. The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says it is illegal for an employer to publish a job advertisement that shows a preference for, or discourages someone from applying, because of race, color, religion, sex (including transgender status, sexual orientation and pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. Its example is a help-wanted ad seeking "females" or "recent college graduates", which it says may discourage men and people over 40 from applying and may violate the law. So skip questions like "Describe the typical person here", and cut answers such as "we're all young here" even when they are meant kindly.
- Pay, benefits and promotion timelines. A number said on camera can read as a promise. If someone gives one, check it with HR before it goes in the cut.
- Customer names and screens. Note anything confidential in the shot while you film, so it can be blurred or cut.
Get each person's written consent to appear, on whatever release form your HR or legal team uses, and tell them where the video will be posted.
Turning the answers into a 60 to 90 second cut
Here is one plan for a 75-second careers film with two or three employees. Each beat maps to a question group.
| Time | Beat | Source questions | What to look for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0:00–0:08 | Open | 20, or the best line from 4 | One clear sentence about the job |
| 0:08–0:30 | The job | 4–7 | The most concrete description of the work, over b-roll from question 7 |
| 0:30–0:45 | The people | 8–10 | One short story |
| 0:45–0:57 | Growth | 11–13 | A before-and-after |
| 0:57–1:05 | The honest part | 14–16 | One hard thing, said plainly |
| 1:05–1:15 | Why they stay | 17–19 | The closing line, then the role and where to apply on screen |
How to build it:
- Transcribe the interviews and read them before you watch. It is faster to find a line in text.
- Make a paper edit. Copy one candidate line per beat into a document, with the speaker and timecode. Our paper edit guide shows the method.
- Time it on paper. Use the timecodes to check each line fits its beat. Cut a line before you trim words out of the middle of it.
- Lay in the b-roll of the work over the job and people beats, so the faces are on screen for the honest part and the close.
- Check every factual line with HR, especially roles, dates and anything about promotion or pay.
- Caption it. W3C's WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.2.2, Captions (Prerecorded), is Level A. It says captions include dialogue, identify who is speaking and include non-speech information conveyed through sound. LinkedIn's video ad guidance also suggests adding subtitles.
- Make the short cuts. One question per vertical clip works well: "the hardest part", "why I stayed". Our guide to making vertical clips from long videos covers the reframe.
Where the cuts go
| Destination | What the platform says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| LinkedIn video ad | Length three seconds to 30 minutes. LinkedIn recommends 15 to 30 seconds so a video can qualify for all placements across the LinkedIn Feed and the Audience Network. In-stream video ads can be up to 90 seconds. It advises showing the most impactful content in the first 10 seconds. | |
| YouTube Shorts | On standard channels, a square or vertical video up to three minutes long, uploaded on or after October 15, 2024, is categorized as a Short. | YouTube Help |
| Your careers page | Your own player. Captions per WCAG 1.2.2 above. | W3C |
Where Eddie fits
Eddie transcribes each interview. You can then search the transcripts for a phrase, topic or speaker, such as "hardest part", and get the matching segments with their source, timestamps and surrounding context. It returns what matches the search, so try each topic in more than one wording.
Pick one answer per beat and Eddie creates a new edit from those soundbites, with an optional target duration such as 75 seconds, and reports the finished length against the source length. It adds a caption track from the transcript's word timings, with filler words left out by default.
See rough cuts and captions and titles. If you finish in your own editor, see the Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve and Final Cut Pro workflows.
FAQ
How many employees should I interview?
Two or three is a good number for a 60 to 90 second film. Each person then gets enough time to be more than a face. Interview one more than you plan to use, in case an interview does not work out.
How long should each interview be?
Long enough to get through the groups above, with time for follow-ups and pickups. Rushing the interview to save time on the day is a false economy if you have to reshoot.
Should employees read from a script?
We would not. Scripted lines from people who are not actors can sound read. Ask the questions, then use pickups (questions 20 and 21) to get short, clean versions of what they already said.
How long should a recruiting video be?
There is no single right length. A 60 to 90 second film suits a careers page. For a LinkedIn video ad, LinkedIn recommends 15 to 30 seconds and allows in-stream ads up to 90 seconds. Make the long cut first, then the short cuts from it.
Do recruiting videos need captions?
Captions let people who are deaf or hard of hearing understand the audio, and WCAG 2.2 lists captions for prerecorded audio in synchronized media as a Level A success criterion. Whether that standard applies to your site is a question for your legal or accessibility team.
What if an employee says something negative?
Keep it if it is fair and about the work. One honest line about a hard part makes the rest believable. Cut it if it names a person, a customer or something confidential.
Sources
- U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Prohibited Employment Policies/Practices (job advertisements that show a preference or discourage applicants)
- W3C Web Accessibility Initiative, Understanding Success Criterion 1.2.2: Captions (Prerecorded) (Level A; what captions include)
- LinkedIn Marketing Solutions Help, Video ads advertising specifications (length, recommended length, in-stream limit, first 10 seconds, subtitles)
- YouTube Help, Understand three-minute YouTube Shorts (square or vertical videos up to three minutes)
Have the interviews already? Start a project for free and search them for the answers above.