How to hire a child psychiatrist

How to hire a child psychiatrist, step by step

Here's a step-by-step child psychiatrist hiring guide:

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

What does a child psychiatrist do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring a child psychiatrist, 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

   No

   You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them a child psychiatrist 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 a child psychiatrist that fits the bill.

   This list presents child psychiatrist salaries for various positions.

   Type of Child Psychiatrist	Description	Hourly rate
   Child Psychiatrist	Physicians and surgeons diagnose and treat injuries or illnesses. Physicians examine patients; take medical histories; prescribe medications; and order, perform, and interpret diagnostic tests... Show more	$73-196
   Outpatient Psychiatrist	Outpatient psychiatrists are medical professionals who are responsible for providing diagnosis, treatment, and prevention plans for outpatients with mental health problems as well as substance use disorders. These psychiatrists are required to supervise psychiatry residents with outpatient psychotherapy and medication management while working with patients at the psychiatry wards... Show more	$75-195
   Staff Psychiatrist	A Staff Psychiatrist provides psychiatric services for the treatment of patients with mental health problems in an outpatient and/or inpatient setting. They are also responsible for supervising and training advanced psychiatry residents.	$77-191

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Adolescent Psychiatry
   • Psychopharmacology
   • Mental Health
   • Medication Management
   • Medical Education
   • Mental Illness
   • Family Practice
   • Family Therapy
   • Clinical Sites

   Responsibilities:

   • Perform psychotherapy, psychopharmacology and drug detoxification.
   • See frequently hospitalize patients on outpatient basis as part of multidisciplinary team.
   • Implement individualized care plans, using a variety of treatments to stabilize patients during their hospitalization.
   • Conduct full neurological evaluation, including lab, MRI & /or EEG.

3. Make a budget

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

   • Location. For example, child psychiatrists' average salary in hawaii is 39% less than in alaska.
   • Seniority. Entry-level child psychiatrists 63% less than senior-level child psychiatrists.
   • Certifications. A child psychiatrist 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 child psychiatrist's salary.

   Average child psychiatrist salary

   $249,711yearly

   $120.05 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level child psychiatrist salary

   $152,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 5, 2026

   Average child psychiatrist salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	Illinois	$268,946	$129
   2	Washington	$262,385	$126
   3	Maine	$261,480	$126
   4	Oregon	$255,774	$123
   5	California	$251,310	$121
   6	Wisconsin	$242,813	$117
   7	Pennsylvania	$238,657	$115
   8	Missouri	$237,638	$114
   9	Ohio	$236,333	$114
   10	Colorado	$228,394	$110
   11	Connecticut	$227,687	$109
   12	Arizona	$225,438	$108
   13	Virginia	$223,675	$108
   14	Georgia	$221,703	$107
   15	Delaware	$217,391	$105
   16	District of Columbia	$215,609	$104
   17	Iowa	$214,782	$103
   18	South Carolina	$214,230	$103
   19	Maryland	$213,199	$103
   20	New York	$206,733	$99

   Average child psychiatrist salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	OSF HealthCare	$332,415	$159.81	94
   2	Spectrum Healthcare Resources	$301,369	$144.89	43
   3	SSM Health	$271,439	$130.50	13
   4	Kaiser Permanente	$263,721	$126.79	135
   5	UnityPoint Health	$263,363	$126.62	81
   6	Western Pennsylvania Hospital	$258,870	$124.46
   7	National Medical Association	$256,162	$123.15
   8	Children's Minnesota	$253,928	$122.08	3
   9	Access International, Inc.	$246,250	$118.39	1
   10	Beth Israel Lahey Health	$246,250	$118.39	47
   11	Univ. Of Texas Cancer Ctr.	$246,241	$118.39	12
   12	Kansas Hospital Association	$245,648	$118.10
   13	The Medicus Firm	$243,014	$116.83	7
   14	Iberia Comprehensive Comm Hlth	$241,363	$116.04	1
   15	Maine Health/maine Mental Health Partners	$241,049	$115.89	19
   16	Northwest Permanente	$238,630	$114.73	6
   17	Franklin Service	$237,855	$114.35	12
   18	LifeStream Behavioral Center	$236,551	$113.73
   19	CommuniCare	$235,926	$113.43	4
   20	Burrell Behavioral Health	$234,669	$112.82	9

4. Writing a child psychiatrist job description

   A job description for a child psychiatrist 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 a child psychiatrist job description:

   Child psychiatrist job description example

   Welcome to Pathways of California’s career website! If you are passionate about helping others and enthusiastic about your future, we want you to join our team!
   
   Our company is known for an unwavering commitment to exceptional value and recovery-focused, quality care. We are experts in the field of behavioral health care, providing cutting-edge mental health and substance use community-based services and offer a dynamic employment experience! Pathways offers competitive salaries and benefits, comprehensive on-boarding and job training, a supportive learning environment, ongoing education in the use of evidence-based, promising practices and much more!
   
   We have over 30 outpatient behavioral health locations nestled throughout our communities located in Kern County, Los Angeles County, Orange County, and San Diego County.
   
   Pathways is seeking an innovative and purpose driven individual to join our team as a Sub-Contracted Psychiatrist (8-12 hours weekly) for our Project Cornerstone located in San Diego.
   Cornerstone
   
   is a school-based, full service partnership (FSP) program serving Medi-cal eligible and unfunded youth (*ages 5-21) and their families. Cornerstone is currently partnered with 14 school sites within San Diego Unified School District and serves the Mid-City area of San Diego. Services include individual therapy, family therapy, case management, crisis intervention, psychiatric evaluation and medication management.
   
   SUMMARY
   
   Responsible for providing culturally appropriate psychiatric and medication management services to program clients which includes evaluation and assessment, diagnoses, and prescription of medication and monitoring medication side effects and participation in treatment process. Will supervise nurse practitioner and RNs. Will also provide supervision input on LVNs and RNs.
   
   DO THE FOLLOWING APPLY TO YOU?
   
   Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree or Doctor of Osteopathy (DO) received from an accredited medical school. Board Certified in psychiatry or eligible for the certification examination in psychiatry as defined by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Independently licensed to practice medicine in the State of California. Must have completed a two year psychiatry fellowship; with emphasis on children preferred. Strong clinical and interpersonal skills, ability to lead and direct work of others, and excellent written and verbal communication skills. Intermediate level PC skills required.
   
   ABOUT YOUR ROLE
   
   Completes psychiatric medication assessments, multi-axial diagnosis and documentation including assessments, evaluation, diagnosis and follow-up notes meeting all the standards of the company, and County, State and Federal regulatory boards. Assesses for clinical conditions and refer out for medical conditions. Address medical concerns as they relate to psychotropic medication prescribed. Provides psychiatric services to program participants for 16 hours weekly Identifies clients’ current MORS and provides services that will facilitate movement to a lower level of care. Evaluates all clients entering the program for medical and behavioral health needs. Acts as psychiatric consultant to staff members of other disciplines providing assessment as needed. Completes documentation, as soon as service is provided and ensure that it meets the standards established in the program and MediCal and Medicare. Provides staff training in-services as needed. Provides crisis intervention. Attends monthly treatment teams to discuss case planning for clients and movement to a lower level of care. PERKS OF WORKING WITH PATHWAYS CALIFORNIA:
   
   *NOW OFFERING DAILY PAY TO OUR EMPLOYEES*
   
   PERKS OF WORKING WITH PATHWAYS CALIFORNIA: Competitive Salary 80 Hours of PTO Annually/10 Days 6 Paid Holidays Paid Time Off Medical, Dental, Vision including a Health Savings Account or FSA Health, Dependent, and Transportation Flexible Spending Accounts Basic and Optional Life Insurance for Employee, Spouse, and/or Dependents 401K Perks @ Pathways (student loan refinancing, pet insurance, Verizon wireless discount, movie, hotel, concert and sporting event discounts)
   Are you interested in working with a company that values people and has a passion for service? Do you want to become part of an organization that cares about your personal and professional growth? If you have answered YES to these questions, then you should consider working for Children's Behavioral Health!
   
   Competitive salaries & benefits• Paid Vacation Days (1st year 12 days; increases with tenure)• Paid Sick Days (Accrual per pay period)• 10 Paid Holidays (including Day after Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve )• Medical, Dental, Vision including a Health Savings Account or FSA• Health, Dependent and Transportation Flexible Spending Accounts• Basic and Optional Life Insurance for Employee, Spouse and/or Dependents• 401K Perks @ Pathways (student loan refinancing, pet insurance, Verizon wireless discount, movie, hotel, concert and sporting event discounts)
   
   If you're #readytowork PATHWAYS CA is #readytohire! Not the job you’re looking for? Pathways has a variety of positions in various locations; please go to www.pathwaysofcalifornia.com/ click on “Apply Here” icon in the upper right-hand corner and click on the location near you from the drop-down menu. Pathways is an equal opportunity employer with a commitment to diversity. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, veteran status or any other protected characteristic.
   
   To Learn More About Us:
   
   Pathways is an equal opportunity employer with a commitment to diversity. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, veteran status or any other protected characteristic.

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5. Post your job

   To find child psychiatrists 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 child psychiatrists they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level child psychiatrists 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 child psychiatrist 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 healthcarejobsite, health jobs nationwide, hospitalcareers, medreps.com.
   • Post your job on free job posting websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting child psychiatrists 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 child psychiatrist

   Once you've decided on a perfect child psychiatrist 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 important to follow up with applicants who do not get the job with an email letting them know that the position is filled.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new child psychiatrist. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.

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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How much does it cost to hire a child psychiatrist?