Employer Branding and Recruitment Video Production in Vietnam: A Guide for International Companies

Attracting the right people requires more than publishing a job description. Candidates want to understand the organization behind the role: its culture, working environment, values, opportunities and the people they may work alongside.

For international companies operating or expanding in Vietnam, employer-branding videos can make this experience visible. They can introduce a new office or factory, support recruitment campaigns, communicate company culture and help candidates understand what working for the organization is actually like.

However, effective recruitment content should feel credible. Employees are not professional actors, and workplace culture cannot be communicated convincingly through generic statements or staged office scenes alone.

This guide explains how to plan an employer-branding or recruitment video in Vietnam, from defining the audience and selecting contributors to filming, localization and final delivery.

What is an employer-branding video?

An employer-branding video presents a company from the perspective of its current or prospective employees.

Unlike a general corporate film, which may focus on products, services, facilities or business performance, an employer-branding film focuses on the employee experience. It helps answer questions such as:

• What is it like to work here?

• What kind of people join the company?

• How does the organization support professional development?

• What does the working environment look like?

• How do teams collaborate?

• What opportunities are available?

• Why do employees choose to stay?

The video may support a specific recruitment campaign or become part of a longer-term employer-brand strategy.

Common uses include:

• Company careers pages

• LinkedIn recruitment campaigns

• Job advertisements

• Recruitment fairs

• Graduate and internship programs

• Employee onboarding

• Internal communications

• Office or factory openings

• Regional employer-brand campaigns

The strongest films provide candidates with a realistic sense of the organization rather than simply describing it as a good place to work.

Recruitment videos and employer-brand films are not always the same

Although the terms are often used interchangeably, the objective can be different.

A recruitment video normally supports an immediate hiring requirement. It may promote specific roles, introduce a department or encourage candidates to apply for a graduate program.

An employer-brand film presents the broader identity of the organization as a workplace. It may remain relevant for several years and support recruitment across different roles and locations.

A company opening a new manufacturing facility in Vietnam, for example, might need:

• A main employer-brand film introducing the company and workplace

• Short recruitment videos for technical and operational roles

• Employee stories for social media

• A graduate-program video

• Vertical clips for recruitment advertising

• Photography for job listings and the careers website

Defining the purpose at the beginning helps determine the story, contributors, filming locations and required deliverables.

Start with the candidates you want to reach

A recruitment film cannot speak equally well to every candidate.

Before developing the creative approach, identify the audience as precisely as possible. This may include:

• Engineers and technical specialists

• Factory and production employees

• Software developers

• Senior managers

• Sales and customer-service teams

• University graduates

• Interns

• International candidates relocating to Vietnam

• Vietnamese professionals considering an international company

• Existing employees exploring internal opportunities

Different candidates have different priorities.

A graduate may want to understand training, mentorship and career progression. An experienced engineer may be more interested in technology, responsibilities and the scale of the operation. An international candidate may want to know how the company supports relocation and integration into life in Vietnam.

The film should therefore be built around real candidate questions—not only the messages the company wants to promote.

Define a clear employer proposition

Many employer-branding videos rely on familiar words such as innovation, opportunity, collaboration and people. These ideas may be relevant, but they become meaningful only when supported by specific examples.

Before filming, the company should define what genuinely distinguishes its employee experience.

This might include:

• International career opportunities

• Technical training and professional development

• Modern facilities or advanced manufacturing systems

• Flexible or collaborative working practices

• Long-term career progression

• Relocation support

• Community involvement

• Workplace diversity

• Sustainability initiatives

• Access to regional or global teams

• Opportunities to contribute to meaningful projects

The production team can then translate these ideas into interviews, workplace scenes and employee experiences.

If professional development is a central message, for example, the film might include an employee explaining their career progression, footage of a training session and a manager discussing how the company develops local talent.

Specific evidence makes the employer proposition more credible.

Build the story around real employees

Real employees are usually the most persuasive contributors to an employer-branding film.

They can describe:

• Why they joined the organization

• What surprised them after starting

• How their role has developed

• A project they are proud of

• How their team works together

• A challenge they have overcome

• What makes the workplace different

• Why they continue working there

• What advice they would give a new colleague

The objective is not to collect compliments about the company. It is to uncover personal experiences that reveal its culture naturally.

A useful group of contributors might include employees from different:

• Departments

• Levels of seniority

• Career stages

• Locations

• Professional backgrounds

• Nationalities

• Lengths of service

This creates a fuller picture of the organization and helps more candidates recognize themselves in the story.

Representation should still reflect the real workforce. Selecting contributors only to create the appearance of diversity can make the film feel artificial.

Help employees speak naturally on camera

Most employees are not accustomed to being interviewed. Some may become nervous, speak too formally or attempt to memorize answers approved by the company.

Careful preparation can make the experience easier without scripting every response.

Before filming, contributors should understand:

• The purpose of the video

• Where it will be published

• The general subjects they will discuss

• How the interview will be conducted

• How long filming is expected to take

• Whether their answers may be edited into shorter versions

Interview questions should invite concrete stories rather than corporate statements.

Instead of asking:

Why is this company a great place to work?

Ask:

• What made you interested in joining the company?

• Can you describe a project that helped you grow?

• What does collaboration look like in your team?

• What was your first month at the company like?

• What opportunity have you had here that you did not expect?

• What would you tell someone considering joining your department?

The interviewer can then ask follow-up questions based on the employee’s answers.

This approach produces more natural and specific material while still supporting the agreed communication objectives.

Show the real working environment

Interviews provide the narrative, but workplace footage provides evidence.

Depending on the organization, this may include:

• Employees working individually and together

• Meetings and informal discussions

• Factory or laboratory operations

• Training sessions

• Product development

• Team activities

• Office facilities

• Employee amenities

• Interactions between departments

• Leadership engaging with teams

• Daily routines

• The surrounding city or community

The production should avoid filling the film with employees pretending to type, walking repeatedly through corridors or staging exaggerated conversations for the camera.

Some direction is necessary, but the scenes should remain connected to genuine work. Capturing employees performing familiar activities usually produces more natural expressions and body language.

For factories and industrial locations, filming must also account for safety procedures, restricted areas, shift schedules and confidential production processes. More information about this type of environment is available through our factory and industrial video production services.

Balance authenticity with visual quality

Authentic does not have to mean visually ordinary.

A professional production can present a real workplace with strong cinematography through:

• Careful location selection

• Natural employee interactions

• Considered lighting

• Dynamic but unobtrusive camera movement

• Detailed workplace imagery

• Thoughtful interview composition

• Consistent colour grading

• Sound recorded from the actual environment

The objective is to elevate reality without misrepresenting it.

A workplace should not be made to look radically different from what a successful candidate will encounter. Candidates who notice a significant difference between the recruitment campaign and the actual employee experience may quickly lose trust.

Employer-branding films for factories and manufacturing companies

Manufacturers in Vietnam often recruit across several very different audiences, from production employees and technicians to engineers, managers and international specialists.

A single general film may not address all of them effectively.

A stronger content structure could include:

• A main employer-brand film

• A technical-careers video

• A graduate or internship video

• Individual employee profiles

• Short films introducing specific departments

• Workplace-safety and training content

• Vertical recruitment advertisements

• A photography library for ongoing recruitment

Filming inside an active factory requires coordination with human resources, communications, facility management and health-and-safety teams.

The production schedule should consider:

• Employee shifts

• Production-line activity

• Safety clothing and PPE

• Restricted machinery or processes

• Noise levels

• Interview locations

• Employee availability

• Confidential information

• Internal and external filming permissions

A site visit or detailed remote assessment before filming helps identify these requirements and prevents delays during production.

Communicating with Vietnamese and international candidates

International organizations in Vietnam may need to reach both local and overseas candidates.

This creates several communication considerations.

Vietnamese employees may speak in Vietnamese to express themselves more comfortably and naturally. International managers or relocated employees may speak in English or another language. The completed film may then require subtitles or voice-over for different markets.

Possible deliverables include:

• Vietnamese interviews with English subtitles

• English interviews with Vietnamese subtitles

• A bilingual master film

• Separate Vietnamese and English versions

• Additional regional-language versions

• Clean versions without burned-in subtitles

• Subtitle files for careers platforms and social media

• Localized titles and motion graphics

Translation should preserve the speaker’s personality as well as the literal meaning. Overly formal subtitles can make a warm, conversational interview feel like a corporate statement.

The visual design should also allow enough room for languages with different text lengths.

Plan for multiple platforms from the beginning

A single horizontal film is rarely enough for a complete recruitment campaign.

Before filming, define where the content will be used and what each platform needs.

A typical package could include:

• A two-to-three-minute employer-brand film

• A 60-second recruitment version

• Individual employee stories

• Department-specific videos

• 15-to-30-second social clips

• Vertical videos for LinkedIn, Instagram and recruitment advertising

• Interview excerpts

• Workplace photography

• Employee portraits

• Video frames for recruitment materials

• Localized language versions

Planning these deliverables in advance affects interview questions, framing and the amount of workplace footage required.

If vertical edits are needed, the crew should compose suitable shots during filming instead of simply cropping every horizontal image during post-production.

Consent, privacy and internal approvals

Employees should understand how their image and interview will be used.

The production process should establish:

• Who has agreed to appear

• Which channels will use the content

• Whether the campaign will run locally or internationally

• How long the organization expects to use the material

• Whether paid advertising is included

• Who can approve interview statements

• Which workplace areas or information are confidential

• What happens if an employee leaves the company

The organization should manage the relevant employee permissions and release forms according to its internal policies and applicable requirements.

The approval process should also be agreed before production. Employer-branding projects may involve human resources, communications, legal teams, local management and regional headquarters. If every stakeholder reviews the film independently at the end, contradictory feedback can delay delivery.

Consolidated feedback and clearly assigned decision-makers make the process more efficient.

What should be included in the production brief?

A useful employer-branding video brief should include the following information.

Recruitment objective

Explain whether the project supports immediate recruitment, long-term employer branding, a new facility, a graduate program or another priority.

Target candidates

Identify the roles, experience levels, locations and languages involved.

Employer proposition

Describe the genuine reasons candidates should consider the organization.

Key messages

List the most important points the audience should understand—but avoid writing complete promotional answers for employees to repeat.

Potential contributors

Identify employees who can speak from relevant personal experience.

Locations

List the offices, factories, laboratories, training areas and other workplaces that may appear.

Required deliverables

Specify duration, aspect ratios, language versions, photography and social-media requirements.

Distribution and usage

Explain where the content will be published, whether paid advertising is planned and how long it should remain in use.

Brand requirements

Provide visual guidelines, terminology, approved company information and examples of previous employer-brand content.

Approval process

Identify the people responsible for reviewing the story, employee participation, factual accuracy, subtitles and final edit.

Timeline and budget

Share the preferred launch date and indicative budget so the production approach can be developed realistically.

How to choose a production partner

An employer-branding production requires more than a technically capable camera crew.

The production company should be able to work comfortably with real employees, understand corporate approval processes and translate workplace experiences into a coherent story.

When evaluating a production partner in Vietnam, consider:

• Experience producing corporate and employee-led stories

• Ability to interview non-professional contributors

• English and Vietnamese production management

• Experience inside offices, factories or technical environments

• Understanding of international brand requirements

• Multilingual transcription and subtitle support

• Capacity to produce horizontal and vertical deliverables

• Clear employee-consent and review workflows

• Relevant case studies

• A detailed and transparent production plan

The portfolio should demonstrate natural human stories as well as visual quality.

2BIG Production works with international companies and organizations to create corporate films, employee stories, recruitment content and multilingual productions across Vietnam. Our experience includes workplace and corporate storytelling for technology companies, manufacturers and global organizations.

Planning an employer-branding video in Vietnam?

A successful employer-branding film gives candidates a credible view of the organization through real people, specific experiences and an authentic working environment.

The process begins by understanding the candidates the company needs to reach. From there, the story, contributors, locations and deliverables can be designed around the questions those candidates genuinely want answered.

If your organization is planning an employer-branding or recruitment video in Vietnam, contact 2BIG Production to discuss the audience, production approach and required deliverables.