How to hire a certified art therapist

How to hire a certified art therapist, step by step

Here's a step-by-step certified art therapist hiring guide:

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

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring a certified art therapist, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

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

   Yes

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   Hiring the perfect certified art therapist 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 certified art therapist salaries for various positions.

   Type of Certified Art Therapist	Description	Hourly rate
   Certified Art Therapist	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.	$24-53
   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
   • Patient Care
   • Rehabilitation
   • Physical Therapy
   • Occupational Therapy
   • CHT
   • Outpatient Clinic
   • Discharge Planning
   • Substance Abuse
   • Hand Therapy
   • OTR
   • Splints
   • PTA
   • Mental Health

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Demonstrate working knowledge of community mental health services identify in the Medicaid guidelines and attain contractual outcomes within designate time frames.
   • Improve patient outcomes by correctly evaluating and providing ongoing assessments of patients' rehabilitation needs relative to the upper extremity.
   • Provide individual short term and long term psychotherapy, and anger management for adolescents and adults.
   • Fabricate static and/or dynamic finger, hand, wrist and elbow splints as well as upper extremities casts.
   • Transition to OTR at conclusion of registry examination.
   • Measure and fabricate customized static and dynamic splints.

3. Make a budget

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

   • Location. For example, certified art therapists' average salary in hawaii is 42% less than in california.
   • Seniority. Entry-level certified art therapists 54% less than senior-level certified art therapists.
   • Certifications. A certified art therapist 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 a certified art therapist's salary.

   Average certified art therapist salary

   $76,046yearly

   $36.56 hourly rate

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   Entry-level certified art therapist salary

   $51,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 19, 2026

4. Writing a certified art therapist job description

   A certified art therapist 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 a certified art therapist job description:

   Certified art therapist job description example

   Scripps Health Administrative Services supports our five hospitals and 19 outpatient facilities, which treat half a million patients annually through 2,600 affiliated physicians.
   
   At Scripps Health, you will experience the pride, support, respect that has been repeatedly recognized as one of the nation’s Top 100 Places to Work.
   
   You’ll be surrounded by people committed to making a difference in the lives of their patients and their teammates. So if you’re open to change, go ahead and unlock your potential.
   
   We invite you to join our Orthopedic Surgery department as a Certified Hand Therapist at Scripps Clinic in Oceanside. The ideal candidate is confident in their skills and is passionate about their work and excited to become an integral member of our team.
   
   The Certified Hand Therapist evaluates and assesses patient function or ability, including establishing a plan of care according to standards of practice. They perform reassessment relative to the initial evaluation and modify the plan of care as needed with outpatient hand therapy patients.
   
   This position is full-time (80 hours per period) working weekdays and is located at Scripps Clinic at 78th & Jefferson in North County San Diego.
   #LI-LS1 Required Certification/Registration: \t Graduate of accredited school of Occupational Therapy \t Current Occupational Therapy license in State of California \t Current BLS from the American Heart Association \t Certification from the Hand Therapy Certification Commission Preferred: \t 2 years CHT experience Scripps Health is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, or gender identity/expression), age, marital status, status as a protected veteran, among other things, or status as a qualified individual with disability.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right certified art therapist for your business:

   • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your certified art therapist job on Zippia to find and recruit certified art therapist candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites such as healthcarejobsite, health jobs nationwide, hospitalcareers, medreps.com.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   During your first interview to recruit certified art therapists, engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. During the following interview, you'll be able to go into more detail about the company, the position, and the responsibilities.

   You should also ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match the ideal candidate profile you developed earlier. Candidates good enough for the next step can complete 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 certified art therapist

   Once you've decided on a perfect certified art therapist 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.

   After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new certified art therapist. Human Resources and the hiring manager should complete Employee Action Forms. Human Resources should also ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc., and that new employee files are 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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