Employee Video Storytelling: 5 Tips That Work

Storytelling in employee videos comes down to one thing: a real employee talking about their job in a way that lets a candidate picture themselves in the role. Not a script from the communications team, not a polished corporate film, but a colleague explaining what the workday actually looks like, what is demanding about it and why they stay.

That is what separates an employee video that generates applicants from one that gets scrolled past. Candidates trust employees more than they trust the employer, and a short, authentic story in the job posting or on the career page gives them something no list of requirements can: a feel for what it is like to work there.

Below are five storytelling principles that make employee videos and recruitment videos more engaging, whether they are filmed on a phone during the lunch break or in a studio.

1. Create a narrative arc

Every story has a beginning, a middle and an end: a calm opening, a part where the tension builds, and a conclusion. Classic narrative arcs make it easy for viewers to follow along, engage them in what is happening and keep them watching from start to finish.

In an employee video this can be as simple as the employee opening by introducing themselves. Who are you, what do you work with and what are you going to talk about? In the middle part you go deeper into what you mentioned in the introduction. What does a normal Tuesday look like? What surprised you when you started? What is the best part of the job? The ending can be a short summary and a clear call to action aimed at the candidate: “If this sounds like a position that suits you, feel free to send us an application using the button below”.

This structure is also why a teleprompter works so well for employees who have never stood in front of a camera. Three short questions in the right order produce a story with an arc, without anyone having to write a script.

2. Think about the candidate who will watch

The goal of every video is to make it engaging and inspiring for the audience, but engagement is subjective. What resonates with a newly qualified nurse will not necessarily resonate with an experienced project manager. So aim the video at the candidate you are actually trying to recruit.

An easy way to define your audience is to map out their demographics, values and concerns. Where are they in their career? Are they coming straight from school or from a competitor? What do they value: flexibility, professional development, colleagues, meaningful work? And what are they wondering about before they apply? Shift patterns, training, whether it is possible to get in without experience?

Once you know who the viewer is, you also know which employee should tell the story and what they should talk about. Working on employer branding aimed at students? Then the video should come from someone who started as a graduate themselves. Recruiting for a department with high turnover? Let the person who has been there longest explain why.

3. Understand the four P’s of storytelling

Before you start, make sure you have a firm understanding of the four P’s: Plot, Purpose, People and Place.

Plot: What is the story in the video? How do you use the introduction, middle part and ending to keep the candidate engaged? A good employee video has a small turning point, such as “I wasn’t sure I would fit in, but then …”.

Purpose: What do you want the candidate to do afterwards? Send an application? Read more about the team? Contact the manager? One clear purpose per video beats three vague ones.

People: The story needs to be about someone. Who is the best person to tell it? An employee describing their own experience is far more trustworthy than a manager describing how they “imagine it to be”. This is precisely why employee stories are so effective: real employees telling their own story create immediate credibility.

Place: Location and background influence the story. Should a plumber be filmed in an office, or out on the building site where the work actually happens? Can the nurse stand in the corridor of their ward instead of an anonymous meeting room? The right place says more about the job than many sentences.

4. Appeal to emotions

One of the reasons stories are so effective is the way they convey emotion. In recruitment there are three emotions in particular that make candidates act: pride in the work, belonging with colleagues, and confidence that they will master the job.

When you develop the video idea, decide which of these you want to evoke. An employee talking about the first time they got positive feedback from a user creates pride. One describing how the team stepped up during a tough period creates belonging. Everything else in the video, from background to pace, should support that emotion.

5. Keep it short and vertical

Candidates watch recruitment videos on their phone, often in the middle of a job posting they opened from LinkedIn or a job board. They have not set aside five minutes. If you can say something in 30 seconds, don’t spend two minutes on it.

Vertical video in 9:16 format is the format candidates are already used to from Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat. It fills the entire phone screen and holds attention better than landscape video in a small player. A 30–60 second employee video, filmed vertically, does the job better than an expensive five-minute corporate film.

The shorter, the better!

Conclusion

Every employee has a story to tell. Use these five principles when planning your next recruitment video, and you will get videos candidates actually watch to the end.

With Gobi Stories you can easily collect short, vertical employee stories straight from the browser, without a film crew or expensive software. Use Autopilot to automate the entire process from invitation to finished video.