Voice Over Talent and E-Learning for Companies HR

 

Within the e-learning world of voice over jobs there is a niche in employee training videos and HR communication.  The jobs within this niche include new employee onboarding, benefits information, company policies and procedures, training, and safety information.

HR departments need communication to keep teams informed and up to date as well as getting new employees trained. The e-learning niche was around before the pandemic however, it has grown and will continue to grow as remote working will continue.

Voice Over Talent and HR Communications

Most employees are not comfortable or have the right tone needed for e-learning videos.  That is where voice over talent comes in.  These videos and onboarding information set the tone for the company.  As a voice over talent, you are trained in how to create a tone that matches the company.  From financial institutions, IT, banks, software development, each brand needs a sound that will resonate with staff and match the vibe.  As the voice over professional, it is about establishing a tone and representing them in your performance. Also many in-person sales training meetings have been replaced with e-learning sessions.

Once hired by a company, there are many job opportunities initially as into the future as the voice of the brand.  Many voice over actors find that it is a great stream of income.

Onboarding

When a new employee is hired, there is a lot of information that needs to be given.  Voice over for onboarding is gaining popularity as an alternative to face-to-face training.  The voice over talent needs to be a calming, informational voice that sets expectations while getting the companies message across.  During the onboarding process, the employee is getting a sense of the company, which is why the voice over is so critical.

Benefits and Insurance Information

Benefits and insurance information can be confusing with so many options for a new hire.  Narrating benefits and training on how to handle the paperwork and options is another important area for HR.  The voice over talent needs to make it as easy to understand as possible and speak conversationally.  The other key component is keeping the delivery engaging, as the initial reaction of a new hire is to glaze over when the conversation starts getting long.

Safety

Safety training videos are important in many industries, like hospitals, plants, refineries, warehouses, construction, labs, food handling, and more.  Safety videos are a huge part of the e-learning experience for employees.

The voice over talent needs to deliver the information and keep the employee interested, so a monotone delivery is not going to work.  The audience needs to understand and comprehend in order to keep themselves and others safe when working.  This is a huge reason why companies are hiring voice over actors to narrate the safety videos.

Training  E-Learning Videos

Many e-learning videos that are being made.  Not only for new hires but for all employees, management, and even hiring and firing.  There are many opportunities for the voice over talent to create new projects as time goes on. 

Whether you already are working in the e-learning videos or not this corporate opportunity niche is only going to gain momentum and continue to be a great avenue for voice over actors. One thing of note: I personally believe that the best e-learning voices have a bit of a "generic" neutral sound to them. They are clear, concise and articulate. For women, I believe slightly deeper, mature strong voices work well. And for men, a clear tenor non raspy voice with excellent diction works best. Yes, you may have noticed that I just pretty much eliminated myself from e-learning voices. My voice is usually too deep, raspy and distinctive for e-learning. My voice often becomes too distracting from the original material to be properly listened to. And of course, it's the material subject matter at hand that is what's important.

Everything You Need to Know for Narration Voice Over Acting

 

Are you interested in doing narration voice over work?  Narration jobs make up a huge percentage of the work available.  Narration is still a competitive area, so you need to train as well as have a strong demo.  Here is a guide to working in narration and booking more voice over jobs.

Types of Narration

Narration is a broad range of job opportunities.  It could mean documentary, TV narration, audiobooks, and corporate.

Documentaries and television use narration to underscore the action and help tell the story.  Audiobook narration is a full storytelling of both nonfiction and fiction.  Audiobooks sometimes have one narrator or multiple narrators.  Corporate narration can vary from internal and external communications, annual report videos, training videos, conference openers, explainer videos, and e-learning.

Each narration type has a different style of narration that is used.  Think about what suits your voice and personal voice over style.  While you can train and work some voice over actors, find some types that are easiest to master and become sought-after actors.

What are Clients Looking For?

It is not always easy to know what sound a client is looking for out of a narration voice actor.  There are some general descriptors that you will see in the audition notes or job posting are, “real person”, “conversational”, “authoritative”, “inspirational”, and “genuine”.  While these tags can be vague, they give you a starting point. 

One of the things to think about is what clients respond to with your voice, what style is a good fit for you and them.  If you study the options, train, and use your unique gift, it will land the jobs.

Your Successes

When you are deciding upon your strategy for narration, think about what your wheelhouse is.  Think about the styles that you book.  You will want to make sure that you have updated demos that showcase that so you can continue to book those jobs.  However, you may decide that there is another segmented area that you want to book.  This is the time to work on those skills needed and expand.

Narration Demos

Demos need to show your range and the best work in order to get a callback and book a job.  Some think that your demo should be in a mixed-format while others feel that tracks should be separate.  The best option is to have both ready to go so that you can send what it is that they want.  Not everyone has time to listen to multiple tracks and narration demos tend to be a little longer than other demos.

Another tip for a narration demo is if you know the type of read the client is looking for send them that cut.  This will give them exactly what they are looking for and the stronger possibility of them hiring you.

Don’t forget about production in your demos whether you are exceptionally good or starting out, a strong demo has excellent sound.  If the demo does not sound professional, no matter how strong your voice is it will not get you booked.  Work with a professional producer and continue to work on your editing skills.  These days as more voice over actors are working from home studios there is a level of production and editing that is required by you.

Some narration for TV done for popular shows like on The Discovery Channel, Food Channel, Animal Planet, History Channel and many more require special "in-show" narration to enhance the action in the footage being shown. The demo for these shows need to sound exactly like what you hear on those programs. I just made my very first demo of this kind this year. Here's a link:

https://soundcloud.com/ricklancestudio/ricklancetvnarration-2