How to hire a department lead

How to hire a department lead, step by step

Here's a step-by-step department lead hiring guide:

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

What does a department lead do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   The department lead 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

   A department lead's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, department leads from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   The following list breaks down different types of department leads and their corresponding salaries.

   Type of Department Lead	Description	Hourly rate
   Department Lead		$10-37
   Floor Supervisor	A floor supervisor is personnel hired by the hospitality and retail establishments who provide a quality experience to guests by inspecting the guest area's cleanliness. To maintain freshness, a floor supervisor collaborates with a manager to deploy custodial staff and train new employees... Show more	$10-16
   Stock Supervisor	A stock supervisor maintains supplies in warehouses, manufacturing units, and other storehouses. They give training to staff and update incoming and outgoing accessories records... Show more	$12-23

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Cleanliness
   • Safety Procedures
   • Customer Service
   • Store Management
   • Inventory Management
   • Sales Floor
   • Math
   • Troubleshoot
   • POS
   • Inventory Control
   • Performance Reviews
   • Product Knowledge
   • Customer Orders
   • Leadership

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Implement inventory management system to effectively manage on-hands, assist with correct replenishment and maintain an acceptable level of over-stock.
   • Operate POS system, and receive payment by cash, check, credit cards, vouchers, or automatic debit.
   • Oversee the completion of all POS transactions, maintain cash office records and assistant in training of all new cashiers.
   • Conduct geotechnical and geological investigations and mineral resource evaluations for commercial, industrial and governmental clients using the above-mentioned drilling techniques.
   • Develop unique SQL, cloudbase, and ADHOC telephony query techniques resulting in the identification of previously undiscovered nefarious networks.

   More department lead duties

3. Make a budget

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

   • Location. For example, department leads' average salary in montana is 59% less than in rhode island.
   • Seniority. Entry-level department leads 72% less than senior-level department leads.
   • Certifications. A department lead 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 department lead's salary.

   Average department lead salary

   $42,113yearly

   $20.25 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level department lead salary

   $22,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 31, 2025

   Average department lead salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	Connecticut	$81,890	$39
   2	New York	$75,721	$36
   3	District of Columbia	$72,479	$35
   4	Massachusetts	$65,213	$31
   5	Minnesota	$56,809	$27
   6	Ohio	$55,067	$26
   7	Texas	$55,004	$26
   8	Illinois	$54,617	$26
   9	Nevada	$53,942	$26
   10	California	$53,539	$26
   11	Wisconsin	$52,698	$25
   12	Missouri	$52,569	$25
   13	Maine	$50,650	$24
   14	South Carolina	$50,466	$24
   15	Alabama	$48,340	$23
   16	Georgia	$47,135	$23
   17	Tennessee	$47,090	$23
   18	Washington	$44,180	$21
   19	Indiana	$43,784	$21
   20	North Carolina	$43,150	$21

   Average department lead salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Tufts Medical Center	$136,651	$65.70
   2	Gillette	$128,873	$61.96
   3	Cleveland Clinic	$109,942	$52.86	92
   4	Harsco	$104,840	$50.40
   5	Edward Jones	$98,600	$47.40	13
   6	AMETEK	$93,536	$44.97
   7	HDR	$87,445	$42.04	18
   8	Gresham Smith	$82,551	$39.69
   9	Olsson	$76,624	$36.84
   10	Raytheon Technologies	$70,587	$33.94	7
   11	Virginia Commonwealth University	$56,703	$27.26	19
   12	Leggett & Platt	$55,561	$26.71
   13	RGA Environmental, A Terracon Company	$54,617	$26.26	17
   14	Oldcastle Infrastructure	$53,115	$25.54	4
   15	Conway Medical Center	$52,005	$25.00	1
   16	P&G	$49,383	$23.74
   17	St Joseph Medical Group	$49,082	$23.60	4
   18	Tuality Healthcare	$48,899	$23.51	1
   19	AssuredPartners	$48,513	$23.32
   20	IKEA North America Services, LLC	$47,554	$22.86	3

4. Writing a department lead job description

   A good department lead job description should include a few things:

   • Summary of the role
   • List of responsibilities
   • Required skills and experience

   Including a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager is also appreciated by candidates. Here's an example of a department lead job description:

   Department lead job description example

   Located in Boston and the surrounding communities, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute brings together world renowned clinicians, innovative researchers and dedicated professionals, allies in the common mission of conquering cancer, HIV/AIDS and related diseases. Combining extremely talented people with the best technologies in a genuinely positive environment, we provide compassionate and comprehensive care to patients of all ages; we conduct research that advances treatment; we educate tomorrow's physician/researchers; we reach out to underserved members of our community; and we work with amazing partners, including other Harvard Medical School-affiliated hospitals.
   
   The Department Administrative Lead reports directly to the Departmental Administrator and works within the Cancer Biology Business Office structure. This position will provide executive support for at least one faculty member and their laboratories, as well as supervise all of the executive support staff in the Business Office to manage the daily administrative operations of the department. This position coordinates activities with appropriate external departments, collaborators, donors and vendors. The Department of Cancer Biology is a basic research department at DFCI, with no clinical responsibilities. We support the individual labs led by Independent Investigators (IIs) and their laboratory staff.
   
   Manages the day-to-day administrative operations of the department. Oversees established administrative processes and procedures such as Cancer Biology hiring process; calendar management; HMS appointments; travel arrangements; maintaining CV's and training tables; arranges coverage for absences, etc.
   
   Serves as Manager of the executive support team in the Business Office and direct supervisor of executive support staff, including hiring, training, and performance management. Prioritizes and directs staff activities based on departmental goals and objectives. Coordinates and maintains schedules for the executive support staff, business office and team meetings and other related events.
   
   Onboards new team members. Tracks and monitors new hire milestones, training and competencies as applicable.
   
   Provides or coordinates executive support for faculty, including but not limited to scheduling, travel arrangements, presentations, laboratory hiring, and other related tasks. May support senior leader(s).
   
   Ensures that the executive support team understand and work within all DFCI spending guidelines as they support the various laboratory activities.
   Supports compliance and regulatory activities, as needed. Supports internal and institute facing written communication, preparing employee reimbursements, reviewing P-card expenses, as well as provides departmental information to multiple audiences. Coordinates and supports executive support staff related activities, which may include annual performance evaluations, education accreditation tracking and communication. Provides project coordination for departmental initiatives. Performs other duties and projects, as required. Participates in the CB Management Team. Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Healthcare Administration or related field preferred. Relevant experience may substitute degree. 5 years of office administration, budget support and/or administrative support experience in an academic research setting Ability to foster teamwork and motivate others Project management experience preferred. Excellent interpersonal, oral and written communication skills Excellent attention to detail and organizational skills Strong critical thinking and problem-solving skills Excellent customer service skills and the ability to interact professionally with peers, leadership and external contacts Ability to prioritize, multitask and meet deadlines Ability to work with diverse groups of people in an environment of frequently changing priorities and deadlines Ability to work independently At Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, we work every day to create an innovative, caring, and inclusive environment where every patient, family, and staff member feels they belong. As relentless as we are in our mission to reduce the burden of cancer for all, we are equally committed to diversifying our faculty and staff. Cancer knows no boundaries and when it comes to hiring the most dedicated and diverse professionals, neither do we. If working in this kind of organization inspires you, we encourage you to apply.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find department leads 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 department leads they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level department leads 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 department lead job on Zippia to find and attract quality department lead candidates.
   • Use niche websites such as salesjobs, salesheads, allretailjobs.com, sales trax.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   To successfully recruit department leads, 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. You can move on to the technical interview if a candidate is good enough for the next step.

   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 department lead

   Once you've found the department lead 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 department lead. 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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