If you’re creating regular video marketing content or hoping to use video to grow your business online, one of the biggest mistakes you could be making is editing content on your own.
Hiring a video editor is one of the best things you can do to grow your business and scale your revenue. In fact, outsourcing is the #1 way to create 10x more videos, improve content quality, and save heaps of time in the process.
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Learn exactly how to find a reliable – and affordable! – video editing professional in this complete guide on how to hire a video editor.
Why Hire a Video Editor?
At this point, you might be thinking “it’s too expensive to outsource” or “the hiring process will be too difficult”, or maybe you’ve convinced yourself that you’re just not ready to hire a video team.
Well, it’s time to stop making excuses!
The steps to hire a video editor can be easy and affordable. But the real reason behind finding a video editor is that outsourcing the work can free up your schedule, which will ultimately allow you to focus on growing your business.
How to Hire a Video Editor: Step-by-Step Guide
What many people don’t realize – these are the people who tend to make that long list of excuses! – is that finding a quality editor doesn’t have to be difficult.
As long as you go about the hiring process the right way, it’s possible to find a video editor who meets your needs in a short amount of time, and better yet, without breaking the bank. Here are the main steps to get you there:
- Decide Between a Local or Overseas/Online Editor
- Create the Job Description
- Ask the Right Questions
- Assess Applications & Refine to Shortlist
- Conduct a Test Job for Top Applicants
- Pick Your Editor!
Below we’ve covered details on how to go about each of these steps as efficiently as possible. We’ve also covered some of our favorite sites for hiring both locally and online.
Decide Between a Local Editor vs Overseas/Online Editor
The first step in the editing process is to decide between hiring an online editor (who is most likely based overseas) or hiring someone locally to edit your videos for business. There are pros and cons to each.
Hiring a Local Editor: Pros & Cons
While a local editor will probably charge a higher hourly rate, the advantage here is that you’ll be able to physically sit in on meetings to discuss your editing needs, hopes, and dreams.
Another big perk that comes along with local hiring is that you won’t have to worry about internet speeds. In this scenario, it’s possible to physically hand over a hard drive or a USB with all of your footage preloaded.
Hiring an Online/Overseas Editor: Pros & Cons
The major advantage of hiring someone online who is based overseas is that you can save a lot of money. Most overseas editors charge a much lower hourly rate – we’re talking between $3 and $7 USD per hour!
The drawback here is that working in different time zones poses more challenges, especially when it comes to meeting timelines and deadlines. If you’re creating videos on YouTube for business and expect a super-fast turnaround, an online editor might not be the best solution for you.
Where to Find Local Editors
Now that you’ve decided between hiring locally or outsourcing the work overseas, it’s time to start your search.
For finding a local editing professional, we suggest checking out local classifieds. In the US, head to Craigslist. Kijiji is an awesome source for Canadians, and Gumtree is ideal in Australia.
Where to Find Online Editors
Anyone interested in hiring an online editor should check out a website called OnlineJobs.ph #LINK. This is an expansive online job board for virtual workers located in the Philippines.
Through this site, you can find affordable graphic designers, customer service reps, and yes, video editors.
Upwork is another solid option for outsourcing online. But in our experience, we’ve had the most luck with OnlineJobs.ph.
Create the Job Description
The quality of your job description plays a big role in the quality of the applicants you’ll get. For best results, there are a few things that every video editing job description should include:
- An overview of what/who you’re looking for
- Types of editing projects they can expect to work on if they get the job
- Expected turnaround times for projects and expectations for deadlines
Ask the Right Questions
Within your job description, it’s really important that you ask questions right off the bat to weed out the applicants who aren’t ideal for the job.
These questions can be fairly basic, but they will give you a much better idea of who is right for the job (and who isn’t). Ask things like:
- What is your Skype address?
- What video editing software do you use?
- What is your hourly rate?
You can number these questions directly on the job description to make it easier for applicants to respond to each one.
Ask Applicants to Provide Links & Perform an Internet Speed Test
In addition to asking questions, it’s also a good idea to ask applicants to provide links to their favorite videos that they’ve personally edited – 3 links should do the trick.
When hiring online, it’s recommended that you ask for the results of an internet speed test. If you’re hiring locally, chances are you’ll be working with hard drives and USBs, so a speed test isn’t really necessary.
Assess Applicants & Refining to Shortlist
By now, you should have applications rolling in, so it’s time to narrow them down and refine your top applicants to a shortlist. After assessing all applications, your shortlist should contain 3 to 5 of your top picks for potential video editors.
There are 2 big things to look for during the application assessment period:
- What video editing software is being used?
- Has the applicant followed the instructions within the application?
Video Editing Software
If an applicant listed a basic editing software for beginners as the software he or she currently uses, such as iMovie, it’s probably not a good fit.
Even though iMovie can be an awesome tool for editing, especially at the beginner level, you want your video editor to be using professional-grade software. Here are a few stand-out software options that are being used by the pros today:
- Adobe Premiere Pro
- Final Cut Pro
- Avid Media Composer
- Sony Vegas
A video editor who’s using one of these platforms to edit will have a lot more skills and knowledge than someone who is using basic software like iMovie.
Following Application Instructions
If an applicant hasn’t followed the instructions laid out in the application, that application should go straight to the trash pile.
Having the ability to follow instructions is a really important trait to look for when hiring a freelance video editor. The application itself is the perfect test run to see whether or not instructions were followed.
Conduct a Test Job for Top Applicants
Now that you’ve compiled a shortlist of the top 3 to 5 applicants, the final step before picking a video editor is to conduct a test job.
The quality of the work that comes out of the test job has a lot to do with the quality of the brief you’ve provided to the applicants. Make sure the brief is very specific and clear on what you’re hoping for.
Provide an Editing Checklist & Project Brief
At Primal Video, we provide our potential candidates with a detailed editing checklist as well as a clear project brief. That way if an applicant is unable to perform the test job, you know that it had nothing to do with the information you provided them.
Refer to Your Existing Video Content
If you don’t have editing checklists or templates ready to go, feel free to link to some of your existing videos. Advise the applicants to watch an hour or so of your video content to get a better idea of what you’re looking for when it comes to how to edit videos.
For those of you who have yet to post any content online, link to some examples of other video channels or videographers. That way, the applicant can attempt to replicate the style and flow of those videos and apply it to your content.
Pick Your Editor
While assessing the quality of each applicant’s completed test job, pay close attention to things like editing speed, quality, and questions asked.
From here, you should have no trouble determining who did the best job and confidently pick your video editor.
If you want to learn how we manage the video editing process with our editors at Primal Video, check out our tutorial on The Ultimate YouTube Video Creation Process for more info.
The Primal Video Job Description Template for Hiring an Editor
Creating a strong job description is extremely important, especially if you’re looking for a strong editor. To help you create a killer job description that will attract the best applicants, download our free Video Editor Job Description Template.
Now You’re Ready to Hire a Video Editor – and Start Growing Your Business!
Now you know exactly what to do if you’re looking for a video editor for hire. There are a lot of perks to outsourcing your editing work, with the #1 benefit more time for you to focus on growing your business.
Interested in how to make videos for your business and do it in less time? Check out our guide on the ULTIMATE Process for Editing Videos Faster. This free download provides you with tons of video editing tips and tricks that can take your videos to an entirely new level.
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Recommended Gear & Resources
Check out an up-to-date list of all the gear, software & tools we use and recommend right now at Primal Video on our resources page here!
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