How to hire a clinical nurse specialist

How to hire a clinical nurse specialist, step by step

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

What does a clinical nurse specialist do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   The clinical nurse specialist hiring process starts by determining what type of worker you actually need. Certain roles might require a full-time employee, whereas part-time workers or contractors can do others.

   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 clinical nurse 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.

   This list shows salaries for various types of clinical nurse specialists.

   Type of Clinical Nurse Specialist	Description	Hourly rate
   Clinical Nurse Specialist	Registered nurses (RNs) provide and coordinate patient care, educate patients and the public about various health conditions, and provide advice and emotional support to patients and their family members.	$25-52
   Nurse Manager	The primary role of nurse managers is to supervise the nursing staff in a clinical or hospital setting. They are the ones who are in charge of patient care, setting work schedules, and making budgetary and management decisions... Show more	$28-55
   Instructor Nurse	Nurse educators are instructors in the medical field. Usually, they are a registered nurse with additional education in the area of teaching... Show more	$20-51

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Patients
   • BLS
   • Clinical Practice
   • CNS
   • Professional Development
   • Patient Outcomes
   • Acls
   • Oncology
   • Social Work
   • Acute Care
   • Critical Care
   • Educational Programs
   • Home Health
   • Quality Care

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage chronic conditions (CHF, COPD, DM, ESRD) in a medically complex patient population.
   • Supervise and manage hypertension clinic.
   • Manage continuity of care for complex general internal patients with limit resources-diabetes, hypertension, psychiatric, and homeless.
   • Consult and follow patients in the ICU, emergency room, on the floor, and in clinic.
   • Coordinate care of vascular patients from preoperative throughout hospital stay, assess home care needs and rehabilitation placement.
   • Interview staff, recommend hiring, provide direct supervision, initiate disciplinary actions, and ensure quality care for veteran patients.

   More clinical nurse specialist duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the clinical nurse specialist job description is a good way to get more applicants. A clinical nurse specialist 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 a clinical nurse specialist in Iowa may be lower than in California, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level clinical nurse specialist. Additionally, a clinical nurse specialist with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average clinical nurse specialist salary

   $77,086yearly

   $37.06 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level clinical nurse specialist salary

   $54,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 12, 2025

   Average clinical nurse specialist salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$121,347	$58
   2	Oregon	$111,319	$54
   3	Minnesota	$104,571	$50
   4	Massachusetts	$99,233	$48
   5	Washington	$98,827	$48
   6	Wisconsin	$92,822	$45
   7	Pennsylvania	$87,279	$42
   8	Nevada	$86,649	$42
   9	Arizona	$86,336	$42
   10	District of Columbia	$85,086	$41
   11	New York	$84,644	$41
   12	North Carolina	$82,657	$40
   13	Michigan	$76,965	$37
   14	Texas	$73,255	$35
   15	Maryland	$72,859	$35
   16	Illinois	$71,325	$34
   17	Georgia	$71,103	$34
   18	Utah	$66,862	$32
   19	Tennessee	$65,760	$32
   20	Florida	$57,801	$28

   Average clinical nurse specialist salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Mayo Clinic	$155,672	$74.84	184
   2	FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies	$128,738	$61.89	1
   3	Maine Health/maine Mental Health Partners	$124,401	$59.81	60
   4	Stanford Health Care	$122,494	$58.89	86
   5	CVS Health	$118,833	$57.13	316
   6	The LCADA Way	$117,784	$56.63
   7	Medline	$115,401	$55.48	3
   8	Children's Minnesota	$113,100	$54.38	18
   9	University of Maryland Medical System	$113,083	$54.37	136
   10	Northwell Health	$112,994	$54.32	175
   11	East Boston Neighborhood Health Center	$111,391	$53.55	3
   12	Tenet Healthcare	$105,719	$50.83	372
   13	Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center	$104,139	$50.07	13
   14	NorthShore University HealthSystem	$104,129	$50.06
   15	Miriam Hospital	$102,846	$49.45
   16	Adventist HealthCare	$102,721	$49.39	44
   17	Hoag	$102,154	$49.11	41
   18	Cedars-Sinai	$101,922	$49.00	226
   19	Seattle Cancer Care Alliance	$101,644	$48.87
   20	Sutter Health	$101,447	$48.77	236

4. Writing a clinical nurse specialist job description

   A job description for a clinical nurse 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 a clinical nurse specialist job description:

   Clinical nurse specialist job description example

   Hours of Work: nights or rotating
   
   Job Facility: University of Maryland Medical Center
   
   Employment Type: Full Time
   
   Shift: NIGHT
   
   What You Will Do:
   
   Registered Nurse - PICU/CICU
   Full-time - Night Shift
   Baltimore, Maryland
   
   Better State of Care Magnet designated Academic Medical Center with a 19 bed combined Pediatric Intensive/Cardiac Care Unit (PICU/CICU) providing expert multidisciplinary care for children from infants to young adults with life-threatening conditions. We meet the unique needs of these specialized populations by integrating safety-focused, family-centered patient care with superb service, while individualizing patient education and psycho-social support. We endeavor to incorporate current evidence and innovative research into our practice, throughout the continuum of care.
   
   University of Maryland Medical Center is seeking an experience Registered Nurse (preferred Pediatric CICU/ICU) to join the PICU Nursing team!
   
   We offer:
   An Achievable Professional Advancement Model: Opportunities to progress in function, skills, collaboration, growth, leadership and pay through our advancement model; A collaborative work environment; The opportunity to work in a specialized care environment at an Academic Medical Center with Magnet Designation; Work Life Balance: paid vacation, personal days, separate sick time, and floating holidays; A full benefit package including a three tiered health, vision & dental package, life insurance, Employer paid matching retirement contributions, and other programs; A competitive wage scale: Annual merit increases and a base wage scale that is measured against market standards. Tuition reimbursement for your continued education; Certification and continuing education reimbursement;
   Job Summary:
   
   This role is designed for the nurse who is a clinical and professional leader at the unit level. Demonstrates effective and consistent leadership behaviors in advancing evidence based practices, leading unit governance initiatives, and coaching others to achieve and grow in the role of the professional nurse.
   Job Responsibilities:
   Provides independent care of unit specific patient population; serves as Clinical Resource for others, utilizes and integrates evidence into practice, functions effectively in roles specific to unit (such as arrest team for ICU, triage for ED, etc). Serves as a clinical expert and professional resource for the unit nurses. Utilizes clinical expertise to teach nurses informally on the unit in a structured role or through formal teaching in classes. Leads in the development of Performance Improvement, or Evidence Based Practice, or research at the unit level. Meets at least one form of advancing practice in the continuum of research: PI, EBP, or research. Leads at least one primary project that uses a model as the project's framework. The selected model must be identified within the portfolio. Performs charge role as scheduled; coaches new charge nurses. Oversees unit orientation program. Serves as an expert preceptor, coach and mentor to new nurses, students and preceptors.
   What You Need to Be Successful:
   Licensure as a Registered Nurse in the state of Maryland, or eligible to practice due to Compact state agreements outlined through the MD Board of Nursing, is required. BSN or Conferred BSN degree required. Current CPR certification required. Relevant clinical work experience related to practice on the unit. Maintenance of 20 contact hours of education every two yearss Member of a professional organization. Must be at least a 0.50 FTE.
   We are an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

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

   Post your job online:

   • Post your clinical nurse specialist job on Zippia to find and recruit clinical nurse specialist 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

   To successfully recruit clinical nurse specialists, 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.

   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 clinical nurse specialist

   Once you've found the clinical nurse specialist 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 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.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new clinical nurse specialist. 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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