Human Resources and Strategic Planning: Create a HR Video Library

Week three of Ellen Friedland's series ‘Tips for Corporate Video Production' hosted by New York video producer, Ellen Friedland! Once a week, a new set of tips will be published on Reel Designer with a relevant tip to help you save time or increase production value on your next shoot!

Week 3: Creating an HR Video Library of Employee Sound Bites on a Single Day of Shooting

By Ellen Friedland

My previous first and second entries focused on the marketing and testimonial benefits of recording an annual customer or member event in a single day, then producing multiple short and relevant web video clips, primarily utilizing customer or member sound bites.

The basic concept expressed – using the gathering of many folks as an occasion to record a number of quotes to edit into videos – applies to situations beyond customer or member events. In the case of producing videos for human resources purposes, a full day of filming in an office where many current employees work presents a similar opportunity.

For both companies and prospective employees, hiring decisions can be complex, hopeful, and crucial. A company will devote many business hours to the process of interviewing and reviewing candidates. If they choose someone who, after an initial period, proves to be a poor fit for the job, all the money spent on that person’s salary, as well as all the time spent by others who trained the newcomer, is lost, and the process must begin all over. On the part of the prospective employee, a short-lived job experience is detrimental in terms of income needs, time lost finding a better opportunity, and countless other negative consequences that flow.

HR videos are one way to reduce the risk of failed employment matchmaking. An employer can post numerous video web clips on its website and social media sites highlighting individuals from different departments or at different company levels or from different offices, each talking in depth about unique aspects of their experiences. They should discuss the substantive nature of the work they do, the atmosphere of the place of business, and anecdotes descriptive of their day-to-day routines.

[embedit snippet=”ad2″]Surface level comments about liking jobs or colleagues are useless for the goal of providing real information about the firm’s personality. Keep in mind that the goal is for both viewers of the videos and the company to determine whether their strengths will mesh, maximizing the outcome for everyone.

To keep process and budget under control, the best way to accomplish the goal of capturing numerous HR single sound bites is by videotaping many employees — collectively representative of the totality of diversity of jobs, levels, offices, and backgrounds that the company wants to portray – on a single day at one geographic location. To make the most of the limited hours, one spot should be set aside at the company where all the interviews can be conducted.

This minimizes the time-consuming job of breaking down and re-setting the camera(s), lights, audio, cables, and other elements of the sets created.  Time permitting between interviews, or prior or subsequent to them, relevant b-roll should be captured of the individuals interviewed or content representative of the points they address.

If a company wants employees from various offices to participate, it is a good idea to wait to videotape until a corporate event brings everyone together. This creates a big savings in field production, since all the interviews can be conducted in one place at one time rather than requiring multiple office visits at different locations. Indeed, even if there is no plan to hire in the immediate future, large company-wide events present great opportunities to capture these types of sound bites.

The interviews can then become part of a video library.

Sitting on virtual shelves, the material would be ready to be edited as needed — a huge asset when hiring needs arise. Moreover, capturing interviews with many people throughout the day ensures that even if some leave prior to the need to use the videos, others will still be present.

[embedit snippet=”googleplus”]In short, HR departments at sizeable companies benefit by making good hiring decisions, and video can play a key role toward that end. One effective video genre is a series of single-speaker sound bites in which interviewees talk in detail about their jobs and the corporate culture of the company. The videos should present succinct yet content-heavy statements, aimed at portraying an honest image of the firm and the work.

When posted on websites and social media sites, a prospective employee has an opportunity to gain a holistic sense of the company and whether he or she would be a good fit before both sides invest in the new relationship. These videos can be created most cost-effectively when all the current employees who agree to participate are together on a single day at a single place, enabling back-to-back interviewing and b-roll opportunities.

Even if the videos are not needed immediately, having them on the virtual library shelf preserves their usefulness a bit down the line!