How to hire an art therapy specialist

How to hire an art therapy specialist, step by step

Here's a step-by-step art therapy 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 art therapy specialist job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new art therapy specialist
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does an art therapy specialist do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your art therapy specialist 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 art therapy specialist 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 art therapy specialist 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.

   Here's a comparison of art therapy specialist salaries for various roles:

   Type of Art Therapy Specialist	Description	Hourly rate
   Art Therapy Specialist	Recreational therapists plan, direct, and coordinate recreation-based treatment programs for people with disabilities, injuries, or illnesses. Recreational therapists use a variety of modalities, including arts and crafts, drama, music, dance, sports, games, and community reintegration field trips to help maintain or improve a patient’s physical, social, and emotional well-being.	$16-31
   Bereavement Program Coordinator	A bereavement program coordinator is in charge of organizing and coordinating services to help families deal with a loved one's death or illness. Among their responsibilities include offering counseling sessions, assisting families in arranging a funeral and memorial service, referring them to other agencies, and helping them understand additional important information... Show more	$19-30
   Art Internship	In an art internship, an intern's duties primarily depend on the directives of a manager and the place of employment. Typically, their duties revolve around gaining industry insights and experience while performing support tasks such as preparing and processing documents, answering calls and correspondence, organizing and forwarding files, and running errands... Show more	$10-18

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Patients
   • Mental Health
   • Art Therapy Sessions
   • Rehabilitation
   • Social Work
   • Crisis Intervention
   • Art Therapy
   • Substance Abuse
   • Atr-Bc
   • Individual Therapy Sessions
   • Developmental Disabilities
   • Therapeutic Interventions
   • Mental Illness
   • Art Curriculum

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage Facebook account composing creative content for daily posts to increase audience engagement
   • Assist therapist with ADL retraining and training of patients while in the hospital.
   • Create and execute art therapy program in an extend care and rehabilitation facility.
   • Utilize twitter and Facebook to gather general information regarding professional use of social media such as LinkedIn.
   • Develop, coordinate and implement art therapy sessions for adult & adolescent mentally ill patients; complete appropriate individual assessments.
   • Design vision boards and layouts for marketing documents in InDesign.

   More art therapy specialist duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your art therapy specialist job description is one of the best ways to attract top talent. An art therapy specialist can vary based on:

   • Location. For example, art therapy specialists' average salary in south carolina is 36% less than in alaska.
   • Seniority. Entry-level art therapy specialists 48% less than senior-level art therapy specialists.
   • Certifications. An art therapy specialist with certifications usually earns a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for an established firm or a new start-up company can make a big difference in an art therapy specialist's salary.

   Average art therapy specialist salary

   $47,464yearly

   $22.82 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level art therapy specialist salary

   $34,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 23, 2026

   Average art therapy specialist salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$55,021	$26
   2	Massachusetts	$54,275	$26
   3	Pennsylvania	$53,613	$26
   4	New York	$53,174	$26
   5	Utah	$52,883	$25
   6	Oregon	$52,324	$25
   7	Michigan	$52,114	$25
   8	Missouri	$51,571	$25
   9	New Jersey	$48,886	$24
   10	Maryland	$46,549	$22
   11	Ohio	$46,058	$22
   12	Illinois	$45,231	$22
   13	Maine	$44,562	$21
   14	Texas	$44,300	$21
   15	Washington	$43,896	$21
   16	Colorado	$43,171	$21
   17	Kansas	$42,464	$20
   18	Florida	$41,431	$20
   19	Louisiana	$39,482	$19

   Average art therapy specialist salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Activision Blizzard	$66,710	$32.07	5
   2	Bungie	$64,832	$31.17
   3	Akron Children's Hospital	$60,439	$29.06
   4	LCMC Health	$60,361	$29.02	1
   5	ProMedica Toledo Hospital	$57,711	$27.75	5
   6	State University of New York College at Cortland	$53,930	$25.93
   7	RWJBarnabas Health	$53,213	$25.58	5
   8	Harlem Children's Zone	$53,199	$25.58	1
   9	University of Illinois Springfield	$53,163	$25.56	1
   10	Beaumont Health	$52,477	$25.23	1
   11	UMiami Health System	$52,257	$25.12	4
   12	Bon Secours Community Hospital	$52,033	$25.02	19
   13	Hca Hospital Services Of San Diego	$51,586	$24.80	1
   14	UofL Hospital	$51,453	$24.74	1
   15	University of California-Berkeley	$50,708	$24.38
   16	Childhelp	$49,953	$24.02
   17	HealthTrust	$49,883	$23.98	13
   18	St. Vincent Charity Medical Center	$49,476	$23.79
   19	Fairview Health Services	$49,243	$23.67	2
   20	Texas Children's Hospital	$48,245	$23.19	3

4. Writing an art therapy specialist job description

   A job description for an art therapy specialist 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 art therapy specialist job description:

   Art therapy specialist job description example

   ArsenalBio's mission is to develop efficacious and safe cellular therapies for patients with chronic diseases, initially cancer. Our products are being designed to herald the transition of adoptive cell therapy from a hospital based treatment to outpatient therapy, like most other cancer treatments.
   
   ArsenalBio is seeking a talented and motivated Cell Therapy Specialist to join the ArsenalBio Technical Operations team supporting cell therapy manufacturing activities. The individual will work closely with Manufacturing, Process Development, Quality and other support roles. The position will report into the director of Manufacturing in supporting day to day manufacturing processes. The individual will also interact cross-functionally across the organization to enable the success of ArsenalBio.
   
   What You Will Do:Perform all tasks associated with the GMP manufacturing of cellular productsfollowing batch records, tech transfer protocols, validation protocols and SOPs.Assist in setting up manufacturing areas and equipment/fixtures.Work as part of a small team to execute GMP runs in close collaboration with Process Development, MSAT and QualityExcellent aseptic/sterile techniques and prior experience with cell therapy
   
   What You Will Bring:Bachelor's degree in relevant scientific field. 0-2 years of experience in biotechnology/pharmaceutical industry in a manufacturing role Experience in clinical scale cell processing (such as Miltenyi CliniMACS/Prodigy and equivalent platforms) desired Excellent written and verbal communication skills Ability to quickly learn new skills and knowledge on the job, demonstrate productivity,and deliver high-quality results Excellent teamwork and collaboration skills Ability to multitask as needed in a start-up environment
   What We Will Offer You:
   ArsenalBio has a generous and comprehensive benefits package that includes but is not limited to medical, dental, and vision as well as mental health resources, virtual and telehealth options, coaching, infertility treatment, parental leave and health savings accounts. We also offer flexible work schedules and flexible time off, which includes two extra “Arsenal Days of Rest” every quarter for employees to recharge.
   
   We have a robust mentorship program, and comprehensive development tools to help employees take control of their career paths and grow into their best selves. ArsenalBio believes in investing in the well-being of our employees - both at work and at home, as they are our greatest asset. They bring scientific talents in molecular biology, immunology, pharmacology, protein chemistry, computational biology, automation, genome engineering, software and other fields to make the future happen now.
   
   ArsenalBio prioritizes the providing of a safe and healthy workplace that is consistent with COVID-19 public health guidance and legal requirements. In order to protect our employees and visitors, we require all visitors (including candidates) and employees to present proof of being fully vaccinated against COVID-19 when coming onsite.
   
   We are committed to hiring the best talent from diverse backgrounds. A diverse workforce engenders richness of thought, creativity and discovery. We invite individuals who embrace intellectual achievement to bring their unique personal and professional journeys and together we will build transformative cell therapies for cancer patients.
   
   We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.
   
   To all recruitment agencies: ArsenalBio does not accept agency resumes. Please do not forward resumes to our jobs alias, or ArsenalBio employees. ArsenalBio is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find the right art therapy 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 art therapy specialists they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit art therapy 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.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your art therapy specialist job on Zippia to find and attract quality art therapy specialist candidates.
   • Use niche websites such as healthcarejobsite, health jobs nationwide, hospitalcareers, medreps.com.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting art therapy 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.

   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 art therapy specialist

   Once you've decided on a perfect art therapy specialist candidate, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, it should include benefits and perks available to the employee. Qualified candidates may be considered for other positions, so make sure your offer is competitive. Candidates may wish to negotiate. Once you've settled on the details, formalize your 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 employee's start date, you can create an onboarding schedule and complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9 forms, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Human Resources should also ensure that a new employee file is created.

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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