Video editors have never been more in demand than right now. If you’re on the hunt for video editing jobs, you’ll find an almost overwhelming amount of resources and ways in which you can find those jobs for video editors. From social media to job sites and more traditional offline sources, there’s a lot going on and sifting through it all can be a time-consuming process.
On one hand, you may have job sites that only offer “full-time” video editing positions on an annual salary. This offers stability, cementing your position in the industry if working for a particular company, though you may be a little less flexible and tied down to one location. Meanwhile, some other sites offer freelance gigs that are more flexible and short-term on a project-by-project basis. This can be a little unstable when it comes to income, but certainly offers a lot more flexibility and freedom to choose when and where you work.
Top sites finding your next gig
Ultimately, everyone has different needs, and you’ll have to decide what’s best for you. What we do know is that regardless of what you’re searching for, when you’re on the hunt for those film editor jobs, you have to stand out. The competition out there is stiff. To make your life a little easier, we’re giving you 10 of the most well-known, reliable websites that can find you the best video editing jobs in no time.
Working Not Working
Working Not Working has a simple mission – they want to eliminate the obstacles between creative people and opportunity. As video editors, that’s music to our ears. This is a place for those looking to hire creatives to come and find the person they’re looking for. As a creative looking to get hired, it’s a beautifully visual layout that allows you as a video editor to really grab potential employer’s attention and show off what you do best.
Creating a profile is easy, giving you the option to lay out your skills, the industry you work in and a little bit of your personality. You can link to your social media, website and most importantly, show off your best work in a portfolio. You can find hundreds of jobs listed on the site, filtering them by location, job type, titles, skills required, perks and experience – all very intuitive.
On a small side note, their “We Love Recruiters” music video is great.
Ladders
Ladders “ensure direct contact between highly experienced, qualified professionals and hiring teams, speeding up the process and supporting both every step of the way”. They’ve positioned themselves at the higher, more lucrative end of the jobs market as the number one search jobs website for salaries paying $100K and over. You can search jobs through filters such as location and title, as well as by company (including Google, Amazon, Microsoft), whether it’s an in-person job, a work-from-home situation or hybrid.
Exhausted by the endless, time consuming process of applying for video editing jobs? You can even streamline things through their “Apply4Me” scheme. Answer a set of 18 questions once and then Ladders applies for each job you choose, automatically submitting your resume, contact details application form and an optional cover letter. Handy.
If you’re searching for jobs for film editors (any job, in fact) you already know about LinkedIn. The site is a little like Facebook in the sense that it’s a social media platform with a blue and white color scheme. The similarities end there, though. LinkedIn is a social media site centered specifically around work and jobs
This is where you can show off your latest and greatest work with the world. It’s also a fantastic way to network with industry peers – connect with and follow almost anyone at any level of any company, engage with them in the comments and even send direct, personal messages. You can also let people know you’re available for work and find jobs that are suited to you, whether that’s through your social connections on the site or using the LinkedIn search jobs tools to find the opportunities. This could be how you make the jump from assistant editor to being in charge of editing your first feature.
Once you’ve created a profile and laid out what you do, LinkedIn will suggest jobs suited to you as well as letting you search for opportunities via all the usual filters of location, salary, skills and more. It’s a very powerful tool that’s provided me with plenty of work over the years. Don’t sleep on it.
Indeed
This is one of the most renowned job sites around – a go-to when you’re starting off any search for video editing jobs. The layout is clean and simple, the search jobs bar prompting you to type in “what” (job title, company or a keyword) followed by “where” (city, province or region).
You’ll be presented with plenty of listings telling you what it is, who’s hiring, where it is, what the salary is, whether it’s full-time or freelance. From there, you can choose to apply. There’s also the option to upload your resume so that A) the process of applying for listed jobs is quicker and B) potential employers can find you.
Some other filters that are much appreciated include being able to browse the top-paying jobs by industry (which then allows you to see what the average salary for a video editor in your area is), as well as browning the top paying companies.
Fiverr
This is not one of your traditional job sites, but it’s packed full of potential opportunities when it comes to jobs for video editors. Fiverr is set up to host freelancers to demonstrate what they can do, connecting them with employers who are in need of their services.
All you have to do is create your profile, telling potential employers what you do and backing that up with a portfolio of your best work. The concept is great in theory but in practice, when you’re just getting started, you will have to work for very, very low rates.
Because Fiverr is universal there’s a lot of competition out there. When you have no reviews and no past jobs, you can’t compete with the video editors who are frequently showing up in the top results. They have tons of experience and reviews so people are far more likely to go with them. In order to gain experience and reviews that establish yourself properly, you’ll have to do your first jobs for just a couple of dollars…that’s not ideal. However, if you keep at it and establish yourself on the site over many months, it can build into a viable income stream for freelancers.
Behance
Boasting over 24 million members, Behance is a social media platform owned by Adobe whose main focus is to showcase and discover creative work. It’s a little like LinkedIn (a free social media platform built around showcasing your work) but even more tailored to and honed in on the creative industries – perfect for any video editors out there looking to get hired or inspired.
The jobs tab allows you to view hundreds of job listings of which you can filter down to freelance or full-time opportunities, as well as typing in a keyword or job titles and picking out specific fields of work such as editing (there are around 30 “editing” jobs listed at the time of writing, for example).
SimplyHired
A jobs search engine allowing you to find opportunities across the US, you’ll find the standard search bar on the home page offering you the ability to search for film editor jobs with keywords, job titles, companies and locations. Detailed search results show popular jobs, who’s hiring, whether it’s remote or in-person, the salary, full-time or part-time, how long ago the job was posted, what qualifications are needed and what benefits you can enjoy (dental insurance, paid leave etc). It’s pretty comprehensive and easy to browse.
Plus, when I searched “video editor” without a location in mind, it gave me 1090 job listings! There’s a lot of opportunity here, not to mention a free resume builder that can prove very helpful for those starting from scratch. There’s a number of templates to get you going and plenty of prompts, useful tips and info along the way.
Upwork
At first glance, Upwork is a carbon copy of Fiverr, right? While they’re both centered around the freelance market, there’s a key difference. On Fiverr, things seem geared more toward hiring freelancers for one-time projects while Upwork is focused on building long-term relationships between freelancers and clients. This can be great news for freelancers looking to secure stable streams of income.
Job listings can be as simple as someone just needing you to add some lower third text, all the way to editors working full-time on large projects, specified for Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro X or other software. The details are thorough, giving you pay per hour, project duration, hours per week, required experience level and remote/in-person preferences. What I like most about Upwork is that they tell you a lot about the client from how much they’ve spent on the site, how many jobs they’ve posted, how often they hire and their average hourly rate.
At the time of searching, there were a whopping 4,791 Video Editor jobs posted on Upwork with some of them posted as recently as 4 and 11 minutes ago. If you’re a freelancer, you should be on here.
ProductionHUB
Founded in 1999, ProductionHUB is one of the largest global networks of film, video, TV, live event and post-production crew. They’re all about making the hiring of filmmaking crew easy, and that includes video editors. What I like particularly about ProductionHUB is exactly this – it’s tailored specifically to our industry. Rather than sifting through lots of other industries that aren’t relevant, you know that everything here is about filmmaking.
With a couple of different price tiers, you can create a profile that gets you listed on the ProductionHUB network, allowing those searching for crew and vendors to find and contact you, as well as enabling you to apply for jobs and advertise your services on the site.
BONUS: Online communities
We’d be remiss not to mention online communities like The Blue Collar Post Collective (aka BCPC, particularly their Facebook Group) or the sub-Reddit /r/Editors, as places where you can find jobs. Some communities allow companies to post jobs. If you’re a frequent contributor and member of a group, you can either 1) mention you’re looking for work or 2) ask for other places where work can be found, and then other members can point you in the right direction. It’s not uncommon to build networks in these communities where you meet and get to know people you can reach out to directly. It goes without saying to know the rules of each community as some forbid “spamming.” The most important part about these groups is being someone who’s seen as a contributing member, and not someone who’s just there to get a job and not give back.
How do you stand out?
We’re in the business of visual storytelling here. While a CV is important, you have the advantage of being able to demonstrate what you can do as an editor. Act on the idea of “show me, don’t tell me”.
Recruiters simply don’t have that much time to read a long, drawn-out multi-page CV. All you need to provide them with is some basic details:
- Who are you (name, d.o.b)
- How to contact you
- Education
A short, snappy introduction that describes you and your video editing experience is also good, but don’t get bogged down with too much text. The main, most important thing you want to do in your resume is direct them to your showreel. Show. Don’t tell.
A lot of the sites mentioned above effectively do all of this in one place. You can provide your details, location and skill set alongside your portfolio. There are plenty of other video editors out there doing the same so you need to stand out. A bright, colorful profile picture with you smiling never hurt anyone, but most important would be a memorable, show-stopping reel.
You’re a video editor so you need to show them what you can do with a short reel showcasing the very best of your work. It’s on this video that they will decide whether you’re hired or not so get out there make the best editing showreel possible – something that’s unique and personal to you. Take a look at what other editors are doing, perhaps even cut their reels, then go and create something different to that. Remember to keep it short and snappy – anything over two minutes is too long. Using Musicbed to source a catchy, memorable song that fits your pacing and footage is always going to help your reel here
Wrapping up
When you’re on the hunt looking at jobs for video editors, there are an overwhelming amount of job sites, social media platforms and resources to sift through. These are our top 10 picks and between them, we’d like to think you’ll identify more than enough opportunities for yourself.
The best sites are the ones that save you time and hassle. They streamline effectively, give you everything you need to know and allow you to apply within a click or two. Even better, they may have additional resources such as resume templates and builders. Additionally, social media networks such as LinkedIn and Behance are a fantastic way to spread the word about who you are and what you do. Using all of these different job sites together is the key.
