How to hire a critical care nurse

How to hire a critical care nurse, step by step

Here's a step-by-step critical care nurse hiring guide:

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

What does a critical care nurse do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the critical care nurse you need to hire. Certain critical care nurse 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

   Hiring the perfect critical care nurse 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.

   Here's a comparison of critical care nurse salaries for various roles:

   Type of Critical Care Nurse	Description	Hourly rate
   Critical Care Nurse	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.	$21-62
   Nurse Clinician	A nurse clinician is a health expert who provides care and assistance to patients in hospitals, clinics, or similar establishments. Among their responsibilities include preparing equipment and documents, administering medication, monitoring the patient's condition, maintaining charts, and regularly reporting to physicians... Show more	$23-42
   Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner	An advanced registered nurse practitioner (ARNP) is responsible for patient care. An ARNP may practice independently or work with other healthcare professionals such as physicians... Show more	$29-73

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Patients
   • BLS
   • Acls
   • Life Support
   • Quality Care
   • Compassion
   • Home Health
   • CPR
   • Rehabilitation
   • Advanced Life Support
   • Direct Patient Care
   • Patient Outcomes
   • Telemetry
   • IV

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Interpret laboratory results, EKG readings, cardiac monitors, managing medication drips, and ventilator settings.
   • Monitor chemotherapy and administration of oral chemo medication, obtain laboratory specimens to manage client status via central lines.
   • Work on the general units of rehabilitation, geriatrics, and telemetry.
   • Work in critical care floors ranging from MICU to SICU to regular ICU.
   • Perform emergency medical procedures such as BLS, ACLS, and other condition stabilizing interventions.
   • Care for patients with a wide variety of critical illnesses and are CCRN certify for many years.

   More critical care nurse duties

3. Make a budget

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

   • Location. For example, critical care nurses' average salary in nebraska is 54% less than in california.
   • Seniority. Entry-level critical care nurses 65% less than senior-level critical care nurses.
   • Certifications. A critical care nurse 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 critical care nurse's salary.

   Average critical care nurse salary

   $76,788yearly

   $36.92 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level critical care nurse salary

   $45,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 5, 2025

   Average critical care nurse salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$121,120	$58
   2	New York	$104,136	$50
   3	Massachusetts	$103,117	$50
   4	Nevada	$97,894	$47
   5	Connecticut	$97,065	$47
   6	Washington	$96,522	$46
   7	Minnesota	$93,551	$45
   8	Maryland	$84,740	$41
   9	Arkansas	$82,845	$40
   10	Georgia	$81,665	$39
   11	Illinois	$81,557	$39
   12	Texas	$81,033	$39
   13	New Mexico	$80,512	$39
   14	Colorado	$80,347	$39
   15	North Carolina	$78,709	$38
   16	Ohio	$76,421	$37
   17	Tennessee	$73,945	$36
   18	Michigan	$72,222	$35
   19	Florida	$71,916	$35
   20	Kentucky	$71,834	$35

   Average critical care nurse salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Dignity Health	$140,709	$67.65	1,063
   2	Medical City Arlington	$124,109	$59.67	157
   3	Express Healthcare Professionals	$122,646	$58.96
   4	Aya Healthcare	$120,260	$57.82	115
   5	Baptist Health Care	$119,725	$57.56	52
   6	University of California-Berkeley	$111,169	$53.45	4
   7	East Alabama Health	$109,528	$52.66	50
   8	MAS Medical Staffing	$106,283	$51.10	592
   9	Nacogdoches Memorial Health	$105,501	$50.72	7
   10	University of Maryland, Baltimore	$105,119	$50.54	6
   11	Houston Healthcare	$101,968	$49.02	20
   12	Highland General Hospital	$101,625	$48.86
   13	Erlanger Health System	$101,378	$48.74	159
   14	Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health	$100,808	$48.47	5
   15	Spectrum Healthcare Resources	$98,954	$47.57
   16	Falcon Critical Care Transport	$98,016	$47.12
   17	Careerstaff Unlimited - A Genesis Healthcare Company	$97,991	$47.11
   18	Royal Ambulance	$97,014	$46.64	4
   19	Sunstar Paramedics	$96,860	$46.57
   20	Ambulnz	$96,595	$46.44	6

4. Writing a critical care nurse job description

   A critical care nurse 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. To help get you started, here's an example of a critical care nurse job description:

   Critical care nurse job description example

   Methodist Dallas Medical Center is seeking an experienced Neuro Critical Care Unit Registered Nurse to join the Methodist Team. This is a full time, nights, job opportunity.
   
   In this challenging Neuro Critical Care Unit Registered Nursing position, the Registered Nurse renders highly professional and technical nursing care to assigned critical care patients. The Register Nurse will provide direct and indirect patient care using the nursing process (assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation). The RN will direct and supervise other assigned team members and will collaborate with multidisciplinary team members to provide age/developmentally appropriate care in accordance with unit standards of care.
   Neuro Critical Care Unit Registered Nurse Job Responsibilitie s: *Communicate clearly and openly
   *Build relationships to promote a collaborative environment
   *Be accountable for your performance
   *Always look for ways to improve the patient experience
   *Take initiative for your professional growth
   *Be engaged and eager to build a winning team Neuro Critical Care Unit Registered Nurse Job Requirements: *Graduate of an accredited school of professional nursing. BSN Preferred
   *Current BCLS Certification and ACLS
   *Current additional certifications as required by department
   *Current license to practice professional nursing in Texas or eligibility to do so
   *Work experience: at least 2 years Critical Care RN experience Since 1927, Methodist Dallas Medical Center has served North Texas as a leader in sophisticated and compassionate medical care. Our hospital features all-private rooms with 585 beds, and the medical staff at Methodist Dallas includes more than 250 physicians with expertise in more than 60 medical specialties.
   Methodist Dallas Medical Center has been named a Best Place to Work for 14 consecutive years by the Dallas Business Journal. We have deliberately created the kind of culture where employees are valued by leadership, are part of process initiatives, and truly support each other as a team.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find the right critical care nurse for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important sources of talent for any company is its existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and current employees and ask if they know or have worked with critical care nurses they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit critical care nurses who meet your education requirements.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter now have more than 3.5 billion users, and you can use social media to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your critical care nurse job on Zippia to find and attract quality critical care nurse candidates.
   • Use niche websites such as healthcarejobsite, health jobs nationwide, hospitalcareers, medreps.com.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting critical care nurses 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.

   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 critical care nurse

   Once you've decided on a perfect critical care nurse 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.

   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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