How to hire a clinical instructor

How to hire a clinical instructor, step by step

Here's a step-by-step clinical instructor hiring guide:

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

What does a clinical instructor do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your clinical instructor 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 a clinical instructor 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

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

   This list shows salaries for various types of clinical instructors.

   Type of Clinical Instructor	Description	Hourly rate
   Clinical Instructor	Postsecondary teachers instruct students in a wide variety of academic and career and technical subjects beyond the high school level. They also conduct research and publish scholarly papers and books.	$22-74
   Adjunct Nursing Faculty	Adjunct nursing faculty serve to augment the regular faculty. They are vital personnel in a clinic or hospital; they help nurses with patient care and manage patient documents, medical charts, and other clerical duties... Show more	$21-43
   Nursing Faculty	Nursing faculty members are professionals who are responsible for providing education and instructional materials about topics that are related to the nursing profession. These professionals must maintain communication with the Director of Nursing to discuss the progress and concerns of their nursing students... Show more	$21-43

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Patients
   • Direct Patient Care
   • Clinical Practice
   • Pediatrics
   • Medical Surgical
   • Clinical Supervision
   • Student Learning
   • CPR
   • Patient Safety
   • Memorial Hospital
   • BSN
   • Professional Development
   • Clinical Rotations
   • Radiology

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage, direct, and teach ADN nursing students in the clinical setting in Tulsa hospitals.
   • Experience with ER & ICU patients, set up and perform portable exams.
   • Provide clinical instructions/teaching for the BSN program
   • Educate accelerate BSN students on an inpatient pediatric floor with hands-on instruction
   • Establish strong rapport with patients through effective therapeutic communication and delivery of compassionate level of patient care.
   • Review and demonstrate methods of obtaining accurate health history information for wellness or illness base encounters with patients across the lifespan.

   More clinical instructor duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your clinical instructor job description helps attract top candidates to the position. A clinical instructor salary can be affected by several factors, such as geography, experience, seniority, certifications, and the prestige of the hiring company.

   For example, the average salary for a clinical instructor in Minnesota may be lower than in California, and an entry-level clinical instructor usually earns less than a senior-level clinical instructor. Additionally, a clinical instructor with certifications may command a higher salary, and working for a well-known company or start-up may also impact an employee's pay.

   Average clinical instructor salary

   $84,613yearly

   $40.68 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level clinical instructor salary

   $46,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 23, 2025

   Average clinical instructor salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$118,440	$57
   2	Michigan	$105,938	$51
   3	Massachusetts	$104,233	$50
   4	Connecticut	$101,269	$49
   5	Pennsylvania	$96,209	$46
   6	Utah	$96,104	$46
   7	Oregon	$95,146	$46
   8	Maryland	$94,622	$45
   9	New York	$92,517	$44
   10	New Jersey	$85,351	$41
   11	Colorado	$85,089	$41
   12	Louisiana	$84,832	$41
   13	Missouri	$83,195	$40
   14	Georgia	$82,433	$40
   15	Kansas	$82,351	$40
   16	Indiana	$82,288	$40
   17	Florida	$81,128	$39
   18	Wisconsin	$80,272	$39
   19	Washington	$79,647	$38
   20	Virginia	$77,605	$37

   Average clinical instructor salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	OhioHealth	$252,392	$121.34	19
   2	UC Health	$240,853	$115.79	40
   3	IU Health Inc	$230,469	$110.80	31
   4	Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center	$228,108	$109.67	16
   5	UCI Health	$223,998	$107.69
   6	University of Mississippi Medical Center	$215,033	$103.38	7
   7	The University of Kansas Health System	$212,249	$102.04	33
   8	SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University	$201,756	$97.00	97
   9	University Of Virginia Health System	$198,714	$95.54
   10	Cedars-Sinai	$194,006	$93.27	145
   11	LSU Health Sciences Center	$184,267	$88.59
   12	Vidant Health	$173,716	$83.52	14
   13	Detroit Medical Center	$172,816	$83.08
   14	Sinai Chicago	$172,480	$82.92
   15	Mission Regional Medical Center	$171,876	$82.63	109
   16	IUPUI	$166,207	$79.91
   17	Medical University of South Carolina	$163,397	$78.56	28
   18	University of Maryland, Baltimore	$162,625	$78.19	134
   19	Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health	$159,864	$76.86	1
   20	UB Family medicine	$159,495	$76.68

4. Writing a clinical instructor job description

   A clinical instructor 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 clinical instructor job description:

   Clinical instructor job description example

   Instruct Dental Hygiene education and skills to students enrolled in the Dental Hygiene Associate Degree program in accordance with the curriculum standards and objectives.
   
   Day Classes | On-Site | Full-Time
   Monday- Friday
   
   Dental Hygiene Instructors will provide dental services, supervise dental assistant externs, and work with students, clinic instructors, and clinical staff as part of the dental clinic. Dental faculty may also be assigned didactic and laboratory instruction as part of the dental hygiene education program.
   
   ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS
   
   * Demonstrate and maintain familiarity with program and course objectives.
   * Prepare and deliver instruction to achieve specific objectives based upon established curriculum.
   * Implement daily lesson plans and class activities to reflect related Program competencies.
   * Attend and participate in faculty meetings.
   * Monitor attendance of students and coordinate with the Program Director and Student Services Coordinator when absences occur. Prepare attendance reports for courses taught by the office management department.
   * Maintain student grades and files by established policies. Prepare midterm, and final grades for each course taught and review them with students.
   * Monitor student academic progress and inform Program Director when a student's grade average does not meet the minimum requirement of 77%. Collaborate with Program Director to develop remediation activities as needed.
   * Counsel students in coordination with Clinical Director and Program Director.
   * Monitor students in the classroom. Ensures academic policies are adhered to by students.
   * Provide dental hygiene students with tutoring assistance as needed. Refer students to the Student Services Coordinator if assistance is beyond the instructor's scope or at the student's request. The Student Services Coordinator will help students identify outside agencies specializing in tutoring services meeting specific needs.
   
   The list of essential functions is not exhaustive and may be supplemented.
   
   MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
   
   * Baccalaureate degree from an academic institution accredited by a regional or national accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education (USDE).
   * Graduate of a Dental Hygiene program accredited by the Commission on Dental accreditation.
   * Three (3) years of full-time clinical experience as a Dental Hygienist or Dentist.
   * Must have a current license, certification, or other credential required by local, state, and/or federal laws to work in the Dental Hygiene field.
   * Current knowledge of the specific subjects taught.
   * Documented background in educational methodology consistent with teaching assignments.
   * Verbal and written communication skills.
   * Knowledge of Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, and computer skills.
   
   #ID1

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find clinical instructors for your business:

   • Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your clinical instructor job on Zippia to find and recruit clinical instructor candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites such as k12jobspot, learn4good, serious teachers, teachingjobs.com.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   To successfully recruit clinical instructors, your first interview needs to engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. You can go into more detail about the company, the role, and the responsibilities during follow-up interviews.

   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 clinical instructor

   Once you've selected the best clinical instructor candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing 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.

   After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new clinical instructor. 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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How much does it cost to hire a clinical instructor?