How to hire an animal care technician

How to hire an animal care technician, step by step

Here's a step-by-step animal care technician hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write an animal care technician job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new animal care technician
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does an animal care technician do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your animal care technician job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find an animal care technician for hire on a part-time basis or as a contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   Hiring the perfect animal care technician also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

   This list presents animal care technician salaries for various positions.

   Type of Animal Care Technician	Description	Hourly rate
   Animal Care Technician	Animal care and service workers provide care for animals. They feed, groom, bathe, and exercise pets and other nonfarm animals... Show more	$10-19
   Pet Groomer	A pet groomer typically works with pets and other animals in pet grooming boutiques and pet stores. As a pet groomer, you will perform a few tasks that may include cleaning and taking care of pets such as dogs, maintaining the cleanliness of the work area for the next client, and working with the cash registers... Show more	$10-23
   Pet Sitter	A pet sitter is responsible for taking care of household pets while their owners are away. Pet sitters perform services for pet maintenance, including taking them to the veterinarian, monitoring their food, walk them in the park, and administer medications, if any... Show more	$4-29

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Patients
   • Animal Husbandry
   • Pigs
   • Patient Care
   • Animal Handling
   • GLP
   • Animal Housing
   • PET
   • Cleanliness
   • Safety Procedures
   • Research Animals
   • Vital Signs
   • Animal Species
   • CPR

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Assist in managing shelter for animals and arranging for adoption or euthanasia of confiscate animals.
   • Train in safety procedures for blood borne pathogens, GLP and GMP certification, and ISO standards.
   • Familiarize with the strains of various animal species to include rats, mice, gerbils, guinea pigs.
   • Interview prospective adopting families while counseling on animal welfare and responsibilities of pet owners.
   • Maintain knowledge of CPR procedures and evacuation procedures.
   • Assist with minor emergency procedures, perform CPR.

   More animal care technician duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your animal care technician job description helps attract top candidates to the position. An animal care technician salary can be affected by several factors, such as geography, experience, seniority, certifications, and the prestige of the hiring company.

   For example, the average salary for an animal care technician in Louisiana may be lower than in Oregon, and an entry-level animal care technician usually earns less than a senior-level animal care technician. Additionally, an animal care technician with certifications may command a higher salary, and working for a well-known company or start-up may also impact an employee's pay.

   Average animal care technician salary

   $14.24hourly

   $29,617 yearly

   ---

   Entry-level animal care technician salary

   $21,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 22, 2026

   Average animal care technician salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$37,743	$18
   2	Minnesota	$34,530	$17
   3	New York	$33,813	$16
   4	Massachusetts	$33,797	$16
   5	Nevada	$32,182	$15
   6	Colorado	$31,790	$15
   7	South Dakota	$31,447	$15
   8	Iowa	$31,266	$15
   9	Utah	$31,243	$15
   10	Illinois	$30,846	$15
   11	Wisconsin	$29,635	$14
   12	Arizona	$29,289	$14
   13	Indiana	$28,793	$14
   14	Kansas	$28,557	$14
   15	Maryland	$27,772	$13
   16	North Carolina	$25,513	$12
   17	Florida	$24,972	$12
   18	New Mexico	$23,468	$11
   19	Texas	$23,257	$11
   20	South Carolina	$21,472	$10

   Average animal care technician salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Emory University	$45,519	$21.88	6
   2	Univ Of Colorado-Colorado Spgs	$43,507	$20.92
   3	Saint Xavier University	$40,700	$19.57
   4	Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center	$40,672	$19.55	8
   5	Cargill	$40,379	$19.41	5
   6	The McConnell Group	$40,099	$19.28	4
   7	Massachusetts Eye and Ear	$39,917	$19.19	9
   8	Pfizer	$38,799	$18.65	7
   9	Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center	$38,608	$18.56	3
   10	Precigen	$38,531	$18.52
   11	King County	$38,375	$18.45	1
   12	University of Wisconsin System	$38,149	$18.34	10
   13	Calvary Hospital	$37,743	$18.15	1
   14	Merck	$37,357	$17.96	2
   15	Maine Health/maine Mental Health Partners	$37,164	$17.87	2
   16	Mayo Clinic	$36,883	$17.73	76
   17	University of Massachusetts Medical School	$36,867	$17.72
   18	Cottage Health	$36,674	$17.63	23
   19	St. Charles Health System	$36,528	$17.56
   20	McLean Hospital	$35,722	$17.17

4. Writing an animal care technician job description

   A job description for an animal care technician role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's an animal care technician job description:

   Animal care technician job description example

   Part Time (24 hours per week), Pay $18.00 to $22 per hour

   Various days/hours including evenings, weekends & holidays)

   As an Animal Care Technician at the world renowned Helen Woodward Animal Center, you will provide loving care to all adoptable animals including feeding, grooming, cleaning and exercise. Utilizing your knowledge of dog/cat breed characteristics, you will enjoy educating potential owners on animal handling/behavior and introduce adoptable animals detailing specific animal history and information. You can make a difference by counseling potential clients who are looking to adopt an abandoned or rescued animal into a forever home.

   The Animal Care Technician will ensure quality customer service and maintain the highest level of animal welfare. Along with cleaning animal housing, bedding, food/water dishes and managing daily records for assigned animals, you will have the opportunity to perform basic medical procedures (administer medication, obtain fecal samples) in a state of the art facility. While driving company vehicles with other staff on board, you will have the amazing opportunity to travel out of the city, state or out of the country on single day or multiple day trips to transport rescued pets back to the Center. You will gain valuable skills such as performing temperament testing during onsite and offsite transports on all potential animals coming in while assisting medical personnel. Also participate in Center activities and events as required. (Surf Dog competition, Puppy Love 5K run, Home for the Holidays, etc.)

   The Animal Care Technician must be at least 21 years of age with some animal handling experience, (dog and cat familiarity highly desirable). Able to properly handle, exercise and control large, and/or difficult dogs and cats and able to safely lift 50 lbs. Must be able to work closely with animal dander/hair. Must demonstrate regular and consistent attendance and punctuality.

   As this position requires driving duties, employee must possess a valid Driver's License and must have a clean driving record. Will complete a Driver Information Form and provide recent DMV Driving Record Report. Hourly pay is $16.00.

   Helen Woodward Animal Center is a smoke-free environment. Smoking is not permitted in any HWAC building or vehicle.

   
   
   Job Posted by ApplicantPro
   

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5. Post your job

   To find animal care technicians for your business, try out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important talent pools for any company is its current employees.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and your current work to ask if they know any animal care technicians they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level animal care technicians with the right educational background.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have more than 3.5 billion users, and they're a great place for company branding and reaching potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your animal care technician job on Zippia to find and recruit animal care technician candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting animal care technicians requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match your ideal candidate profile. If you think a candidate is good enough for the next step, you can move on to the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new animal care technician

   Once you've selected the best animal care technician candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing the agreement with a contract.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new animal care technician. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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How much does it cost to hire an animal care technician?