How to hire an Associate

How to hire an associate, step by step

Here's a step-by-step associate hiring guide:

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

What does an Associate do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the associate you need to hire. Certain associate roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.

   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 associate 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 associate that fits the bill.

   This list shows salaries for various types of associates.

   Type Of Associate	Description	Hourly Rate
   Associate	Retail sales workers include both those who sell retail merchandise, such as clothing, furniture, and automobiles, (called retail salespersons) and those who sell spare and replacement parts and equipment, especially car parts (called parts salespersons). Both types of workers help customers find the products they want and process customers’ payments.	$16-67

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common Skills:

   • Customer Service
   • Sales Floor
   • Patients
   • Cleanliness
   • Windows
   • HR
   • Customer Issues
   • Product Knowledge
   • POS
   • PowerPoint
   • Safety Standards
   • Stock Merchandise
   • Financial Statements
   • Pallet Jack

   Check All Skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage the sale of smoothies at different educational institutes while interacting with hundreds of students and ensuring their happiness and satisfaction.
   • Manage customer resolutions associate with flight reservations.
   • Lead the team by exemplify reliability through punctuality and personal integrity.
   • Help drive sales by providing excellent customer service in gourmet cheese, wine, beer, and coffee departments.
   • Utilize teamwork, communication, customer service, responsibility, and organizational skills.
   • Work according to ISO standards.

   More Associate duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the associate job description is a good way to get more applicants. An associate 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 associate in Wyoming may be lower than in New York, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level associate. Additionally, an associate with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average associate salary

   $69,556yearly

   $33.44 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level associate salary

   $34,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 13, 2025

   Average associate salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate
   1	District of Columbia	$93,302	$45
   2	New York	$90,902	$44
   3	California	$82,294	$40
   4	Connecticut	$75,612	$36
   5	Massachusetts	$73,450	$35
   6	New Jersey	$69,759	$34
   7	Delaware	$63,988	$31
   8	Virginia	$59,042	$28
   9	Pennsylvania	$58,711	$28
   10	Maryland	$58,397	$28
   11	Arizona	$56,108	$27
   12	Washington	$53,411	$26
   13	Maine	$53,231	$26
   14	North Carolina	$52,847	$25
   15	Oregon	$52,695	$25
   16	Ohio	$52,512	$25
   17	Michigan	$52,287	$25
   18	Texas	$51,079	$25
   19	Florida	$48,779	$23
   20	Illinois	$48,425	$23

   Average associate salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average Salary	Hourly Rate	Job Openings
   1	Simpson Thacher & Bartlett	$267,834	$128.77	3
   2	Reed Smith	$255,348	$122.76
   3	Latham & Watkins	$247,914	$119.19
   4	Hughes Hubbard & Reed	$246,455	$118.49
   5	Sidley Austin	$246,445	$118.48
   6	Mayer Brown	$246,388	$118.46
   7	Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman	$244,531	$117.56	11
   8	Fried Frank	$243,628	$117.13
   9	Kramer Levin	$243,449	$117.04
   10	Nixon Peabody	$242,958	$116.81
   11	Ropes & Gray	$242,592	$116.63
   12	K&L Gates	$242,368	$116.52
   13	Paul Hastings	$242,342	$116.51
   14	Boies Schiller Flexner	$241,241	$115.98
   15	Munger, Tolles & Olson	$240,546	$115.65
   16	Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton	$240,234	$115.50
   17	Cooley	$239,709	$115.24
   18	Alston & Bird	$239,654	$115.22	11
   19	Kirkland & Ellis	$239,030	$114.92
   20	Skadden	$238,600	$114.71

4. Writing an Associate Job Description

   A good associate job description should include a few things:

   • Summary of the role
   • List of responsibilities
   • Required skills and experience

   Including a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager is also appreciated by candidates. Here's an example of an associate job description:

   Associate job description example

   We are looking for a Kitchen Associate to prepare delicious and famous sandwiches and meals. You will cook dishes that will delight our customers with their taste and timely delivery.
   
   An excellent Kitchen Associate must be able to follow instructions in cooking and delivering well-prepared meals. They must be deft in moving around the kitchen and apt in multi-tasking. Experience is not required, as long as you are eager to learn, follow cooking procedures and standard food safety practices.
   The goal is to help preserve and enhance our reputation so we can expand our clientele.
   
   Responsibilities
   Set up workstations with all needed ingredients and cooking equipment
   Prepare ingredients to use in cooking
   Cook food in various utensils or grills
   Check food while cooking.
   Ensure great presentation
   Keep a sanitized and orderly environment in the kitchen
   Ensure all food and other items are stored properly
   Check the quality of ingredients
   Monitor stock in the kitchen
   Additional Information
   This job posting is for a position in a restaurant owned and operated by an independent franchisee, not McDonalds Corporation or McDonalds USA, LLC. This means the independent franchisee, and not McDonalds Corporation or McDonalds USA, LLC, is alone responsible for all employment-related matters in the restaurant including, among other things, setting any requirements for this job and all decisions concerning hiring, firing, discipline, supervisions, staffing, and scheduling. McDonalds Corporation or McDonalds USA, LLC will not receive a copy of any application you submit for this job posting and will have no control over whether you receive an interview and/or are ultimately hired, does not control and is not responsible for the employment policies and practices of independent franchisees, and does not employ independent franchisees employees. If you are hired for this job posting, the independent franchisee, and not McDonalds Corporation or McDonalds USA, LLC, will be your employer.
   
   This job posting contains some general information about what it is like to work in a McDonalds restaurant, but is not a complete job description. People who work in a McDonalds restaurant perform a number of different tasks every day, and this posting does not list all of the essential functions of the job. Required qualifications: Legally authorized to work in the United States Preferred qualifications: 16 years or older

   Copy This Example

   

5. Post your job

   To find associates 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 associates they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level associates 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.

   To find associate 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 salesjobs, salesheads, allretailjobs.com, sales trax.
   • Post your job on free job posting websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting associates 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.

   Remember to include a few questions that allow candidates to expand on their strengths in their own words. Asking about their unique skills might reveal things you'd miss otherwise. At this point, good candidates 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 associate

   Once you've found the associate candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   It's equally important to follow up with applicants who don't get the job with 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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