Research Summary. Here are some key points about hiring application support specialists in the United States:
Recruiting application support specialists involves both the one-time costs of hiring and the ongoing costs of adding a new employee to your team. Your spending during the hiring process will mostly be on things like promoting the job on job boards, reviewing and interviewing candidates, and onboarding the new hire. Ongoing costs will obviously involve the employee's salary, but also may include things like benefits.
Application support specialists earn a median yearly salary is $81,820 a year in the US. However, if you're looking to find application support specialists for hire on a contract or per-project basis, hourly rates typically range between $25 and $61.
To hire an application support specialist, you need to identify the specific skills and experience you want in a candidate, allocate a budget for the position, and advertise the job opening to attract potential candidates. To hire an application support specialist, you should follow these steps:
The first step in the application support specialist hiring process is determining what type of worker you actually need. For example, certain roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.
Before you hire an application support specialist, you should also consider the ideal background you'd like them to have. For example, what industry or field they have experience in, what level of seniority or education the job requires, and how much it'll cost to hire a candidate that fits the bill.
This list provides information on the salaries of different application support specialist roles.
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 |
Before creating an application support specialist job description, imagine the ideal employee for this position and begin creating a profile. What skills do they have and what responsibilities do they have to be proficient in?
Here are some of the most common application support specialist skills:
Here are the responsibilities that most application support specialists perform:
Beyond the nuts and bolts, cultural fit is an important factor. It might help to ask yourself how your ideal application support specialist will live by the company's mission statement and contribute to the team dynamic you already have in place. Clearly communicating this vision in your application support specialist job description will help attract candidates who are better suited for the role.
Rank # | State | # Of Jobs | % of Population | Avg. Salary |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Michigan | 1,716 | 17% | $69,379 |
2 | Virginia | 1,602 | 19% | $86,488 |
3 | Massachusetts | 1,450 | 21% | $93,438 |
4 | Missouri | 1,208 | 20% | $59,884 |
5 | Maryland | 1,084 | 18% | $76,993 |
Including a salary range in the 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, their level of experience, education and certifications, and the prestige of the employer. 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.
Rank | State | Avg. Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Count |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | California | $105,617 | $51 | |
2 | New York | $103,334 | $50 | 6 |
3 | New Jersey | $103,147 | $50 | |
4 | Delaware | $100,561 | $48 | 1 |
5 | Massachusetts | $93,356 | $45 |
Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Meta | $149,575 | $71.91 | 5 |
2 | Cantaloupe | $142,304 | $68.42 | 5 |
3 | Citi | $135,881 | $65.33 | 122 |
4 | Tradeweb | $132,013 | $63.47 | |
5 | Axis | $127,395 | $61.25 | |
6 | DRW | $125,175 | $60.18 | 2 |
7 | Zoho | $118,289 | $56.87 | |
8 | JPMorgan Chase & Co. | $117,447 | $56.46 | 79 |
9 | State Street | $111,832 | $53.77 | 17 |
10 | HSBC Bank | $111,647 | $53.68 | 14 |
11 | Sunovion Pharmaceuticals | $110,552 | $53.15 | |
12 | NetImpact Strategies | $109,904 | $52.84 | 8 |
13 | Federal Reserve Bank | $109,025 | $52.42 | 27 |
14 | Oceaneering | $108,345 | $52.09 | 3 |
15 | Barclays | $106,746 | $51.32 | 2 |
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 | 4 |
20 | American Family Insurance | $105,384 | $50.67 | 20 |
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:
To find the right application support specialist for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:
To find application support specialist candidates, you can consider the following options:
Recruiting application support specialists involves bringing your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they introduce 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 a good idea to ask about candidates' special skills and talents to see if they map with your ideal candidate profile. If you think a candidate is good enough for the next step, you can move on to the technical interview.
In some cases, it's not enough just 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:
The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.
Once you have selected a candidate for the 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. It is important to make sure that your offer is competitive, 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 forms, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources needs to make sure that a new employee file is created for internal recordkeeping.