How to hire an application support specialist

How to hire an application support specialist, step by step

Here's a step-by-step application support specialist hiring guide:

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

What does an application support specialist do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   The application support specialist hiring process starts by determining what type of worker you actually need. Certain roles might require a full-time employee, whereas part-time workers or contractors can do others.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

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

   Yes

   No

   You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them an application support specialist to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire an application support specialist that fits the bill.

   This list shows salaries for various types of application support specialists.

   Type of Application Support Specialist	Description	Hourly rate
   Application Support Specialist	Computer support specialists provide help and advice to people and organizations using computer software or equipment. Some, called computer network support specialists, support information technology (IT) employees within their organization... Show more	$25-61
   Support Lead	A support lead is typically in charge of overseeing the performance of a technical support team, ensuring efficiency and customer satisfaction. Their responsibilities revolve around assessing the performance of the workforce, resolving complex issues, identifying customer needs and sales opportunities, and training new team members... Show more	$30-56
   Support Analyst	The role of support analysts is to resolve problems with hardware, computer programs, and peripherals. They may focus on a particular aspect of the information technology (IT) department or give technical support to end-users... Show more	$24-54

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Application Support
   • Customer Service
   • Troubleshoot
   • Technical Support
   • Java
   • Application Issues
   • HR
   • Strong Problem-Solving
   • CRM
   • Payroll
   • Management System
   • User Acceptance
   • Customer Support
   • Production Environment

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Help manage the design, development, and deployment of HL7 interfaces.
   • Lead, and manage CRM (Peoplesoft and Siebel) implementation technical teams on multiple engagements.
   • Assist users of varying PC and application skills levels and manage through a wide variety of customer scenarios.
   • Develop and automate network and mainframe system diagnostics as necessary using a variety of 3rd party software tools and utilities.
   • Develop and maintain existing Perl scripts to automate business process.
   • Manage multiple imaging-relate projects across both radiology and cardiology service lines, both inpatient and outpatient, to completion.

   More application support specialist duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the application support specialist job description is a good way to get more applicants. An application support specialist salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

   For example, the average salary for an application support specialist in Mississippi may be lower than in New Jersey, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level application support specialist. Additionally, an application support specialist with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average application support specialist salary

   $81,820yearly

   $39.34 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level application support specialist salary

   $52,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 22, 2025

   Average application support specialist salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$105,617	$51
   2	New York	$103,334	$50
   3	New Jersey	$103,147	$50
   4	Delaware	$100,561	$48
   5	Massachusetts	$93,356	$45
   6	Pennsylvania	$91,889	$44
   7	Rhode Island	$91,574	$44
   8	Nevada	$89,679	$43
   9	District of Columbia	$88,375	$42
   10	Virginia	$88,125	$42
   11	Texas	$86,193	$41
   12	Connecticut	$86,179	$41
   13	Florida	$81,570	$39
   14	Washington	$80,744	$39
   15	Illinois	$78,185	$38
   16	Ohio	$77,462	$37
   17	Maryland	$77,393	$37
   18	North Carolina	$77,055	$37
   19	Oregon	$75,527	$36
   20	Georgia	$75,365	$36

   Average application support specialist salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Meta	$149,575	$71.91	49
   2	Cantaloupe	$142,304	$68.42
   3	Citi	$135,881	$65.33	54
   4	Tradeweb	$132,013	$63.47	3
   5	Axis	$127,395	$61.25	1
   6	DRW	$125,175	$60.18	1
   7	Zoho	$118,289	$56.87
   8	JPMorgan Chase & Co.	$117,447	$56.46	136
   9	State Street	$111,832	$53.77	11
   10	HSBC Bank	$111,647	$53.68
   11	Sunovion Pharmaceuticals	$110,552	$53.15
   12	NetImpact Strategies	$109,904	$52.84	13
   13	Federal Reserve Bank	$109,025	$52.42	8
   14	Oceaneering	$108,345	$52.09	3
   15	Barclays	$106,746	$51.32
   16	J.P. Morgan	$106,381	$51.14
   17	VW Credit Inc.	$105,915	$50.92
   18	CIT Group	$105,893	$50.91
   19	Saalex Solutions	$105,861	$50.89	3
   20	American Family Insurance	$105,384	$50.67	1

4. Writing an application support specialist job description

   An application support specialist job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. Below, you can find an example of an application support specialist job description:

   Application support specialist job description example

   The Associate Application Support within a Production Management team is responsible for technical support of production applications and infrastructure. This team provides support for Fraud Risk Applications which help in early Fraud detection, Filing Claims and Disputes for Chase customers.
   
   The Application Support Analyst handles all support requests, incidents, issues, tickets and business continuity activities, to ensure flawless and quality delivery of services to end users. This is a critical role requiring a highly dedicated individual who can take ownership and provide procedural and technical support to various teams and internal/external stakeholders. In addition to driving resolution of day-to-day issues, major incidents, and outages to resolution, the Application Support Analyst will work hand-in-hand with application development, infrastructure and implementation teams. He or she will be responsible for implementing Best Practices, identifying opportunities for improvement and efficiency gains, and ensure risk and controls compliance for the supported platforms. The ideal candidate for this role is a dynamic individual with excellent communication, strong analytical skills, business acumen and the ability to assimilate information quickly, with focus on incident and problem management.
   This role requires a wide variety of strengths and capabilities, including:
   5+ years of hands-on experience in Production Support with multiple applications within an enterprise environment Must have supported distributed applications in an enterprise environment, and must have hands-on experience and/or in-depth knowledge of the following: Oracle, SQL, SQL Server, Unix, Java Experience working with scheduling tools like Autosys/Control-M is required 1-3 years' experience in cloud platform technologies (i.e. AWS, Kubernetes, etc.) Strong analytical & trouble shooting skills required, RCA, and general troubleshooting Experience with one of the Incident Management Tools (i.e. ServiceNow) Knowledge of Splunk, Dynatrace, Grafana, Prometheus is a plus Must demonstrate the ability to effectively communicate verbally and in writing to the team and the customers
   
   Chase is a leading financial services firm, helping nearly half of America's households and small businesses achieve their financial goals through a broad range of financial products. Our mission is to create engaged, lifelong relationships and put our customers at the heart of everything we do. We also help small businesses, nonprofits and cities grow, delivering solutions to solve all their financial needs.
   
   We recognize that our people are our strength and the diverse talents they bring to our global workforce are directly linked to our success. We are an equal opportunity employer and place a high value on diversity and inclusion at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of any protected attribute, including race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital or veteran status, pregnancy or disability, or any other basis protected under applicable law. In accordance with applicable law, we make reasonable accommodations for applicants' and employees' religious practices and beliefs, as well as any mental health or physical disability needs.
   
   The health and safety of our colleagues, candidates, clients and communities has been a top priority in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. JPMorgan Chase was awarded the "WELL Health-Safety Rating" for all of our 6,200 locations globally based on our operational policies, maintenance protocols, stakeholder engagement and emergency plans to address a post-COVID-19 environment.
   
   As a part of our commitment to health and safety, we have implemented various COVID-related health and safety requirements for our workforce. Employees are expected to follow the Firm's current COVID-19 or other infectious disease health and safety requirements, including local requirements. Requirements include sharing information including your vaccine card in the firm's vaccine record tool, and may include mask wearing. Requirements may change in the future with the evolving public health landscape. JPMorgan Chase will consider accommodation requests as required by applicable law.
   
   Equal Opportunity Employer/Disability/Veterans

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find the right application support specialist for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important sources of talent for any company is its existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and current employees and ask if they know or have worked with application support specialists they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit application support specialists who meet your education requirements.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter now have more than 3.5 billion users, and you can use social media to reach potential job candidates.

   To find application support specialist candidates, you can consider the following options:

   • Post your job opening on Zippia or other job search websites.
   • Use niche websites that focus on engineering and technology jobs, such as dice, engineering.com, stack overflow, it job pro.
   • Post your job on free job posting websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting application support specialists 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.

   Sometimes, it's not enough to interview application support specialist candidates, so you can ask them to do a test project. If you are not a technical person and don't know what a test project should be, you can use these websites:

   • TestDome
   • CodeSignal
   • Testlify
   • BarRaiser
   • Coderbyte

   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 application support specialist

   Once you have selected a candidate for the application support specialist position, it is time to create an offer letter. In addition to salary, the offer letter should include details about benefits and perks that are available to the employee. Ensuring your offer is competitive is vital, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and it is important to be open to discussion and reach a mutually beneficial agreement. After the offer has been accepted, it is a good idea to formalize the agreement with a contract.

   It's also good etiquette to follow up with applicants who don't get the job by sending them an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   To prepare for the new application support specialist first day, you should share an onboarding schedule with them that covers their first period on the job. You should also quickly complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources must ensure a new employee file is created for internal record keeping.

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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