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How to hire a digital archivist

Digital archivist hiring summary. Here are some key points about hiring digital archivists in the United States:

  • In the United States, the median cost per hire a digital archivist is $1,633.
  • It takes between 36 and 42 days to fill the average role in the US.
  • Human Resources use 15% of their expenses on recruitment on average.
  • On average, it takes around 12 weeks for a new digital archivist to become settled and show total productivity levels at work.

How to hire a digital archivist, step by step

To hire a digital archivist, you need to identify the specific skills and experience you want in a candidate, allocate a budget for the position, and advertise the job opening to attract potential candidates. To hire a digital archivist, you should follow these steps:

Here's a step-by-step digital archivist hiring guide:

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

    The digital archivist 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?

    Hiring the perfect digital archivist 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 digital archivists.

    Type of Digital ArchivistDescriptionHourly rate
    Digital ArchivistArchivists appraise, process, catalog, and preserve permanent records and historically valuable documents. Curators oversee collections of artwork and historic items, and may conduct public service activities for an institution... Show more$11-50
    ArchivistAn archivist is an information professional who assesses the value of information and then stores them in such a way that people can access the information and make sense of it. Archivists are required to have a great understanding of the historical context of the records, such as the relationship of a record to other records and why it was created in the first place... Show more$11-45
  2. Create an ideal candidate profile

    Common skills:
    • Metadata
    • Digital Preservation
    • Digital Materials
    • Digital Assets
    • Online Database
    • Digitizing
    • DACS
    • Collection Management
    • CDS
    • Digital Format
    • Adobe Photoshop
    • EAD
    • Cataloging
    • Rare Books
    Check all skills
    Responsibilities:
    • Provide archiving support to international team of boutique design firm, digitizing a high volume of fashion publications.
    • Establish systems and process protocol for cataloging and archiving future digital material additions.
    • Create and coordinate a research and cataloging system for digital media archival and written communication.
    • Create correspondences/completed FDA forms/maintain submission calendars/review submission documents.
    • Accession and process collections maintaining records using PastPerfect software.
  3. Make a budget

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

    • Location. For example, digital archivists' average salary in wyoming is 62% less than in district of columbia.
    • Seniority. Entry-level digital archivists 77% less than senior-level digital archivists.
    • Certifications. A digital archivist 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 digital archivist's salary.

    Average digital archivist salary

    $50,746yearly

    $24.40 hourly rate

    Entry-level digital archivist salary
    $24,000 yearly salary
    Updated December 13, 2025
  4. Writing a digital archivist job description

    A digital archivist 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 digital archivist job description:

    Digital archivist job description example

    This is a Hybrid Role for LAC Federal
    Position is mostly remote but needs to be in the DC area

    LAC Federal is seeking a Digitial Archivist 1) to appraise a prominent national museum's historically significant digital institutional records for disposition, 2) to prepare permanent, official records for long term preservation and access, 3) to ingest the institutional records into the Digital Asset Management System (DAMS) or transfer to their Archives, and 4) to dispose of records with limited or short-term value in accordance with established records retention policies. Files consist of audiovisual production assets, community engagement documentation, museum documentation images, third party exhibition images, and other project documentation that involves multiple departments including education and outreach, exhibition planning and design, publications, and research and curatorial materials.

    Specific Tasks

    Following Museum’s procedures and working under the supervision of the Contracting Officer's Technical Representative (COTR), the contractor shall perform the following tasks which may include but are not limited to:

    • Attend all Museum, unit, and team meetings that facilitate project communication, progress, or directly affects the contractor’s work as identified by the COTR

    • Appraise records in consultation with COTR and asset creators

    • Create file system inventories, eliminate duplicate material, rename files, migrate files to standard preservation and access formats, and verify fixity

    • Assign metadata to born-digital and digital surrogate archival records, including audiovisual, still image, and textual digital assets using metadata schemes selected by the museum

    • Review media assets and digital collections for legal, ethical, and policy restrictions in consultation with COTR and Museum's Intellectual Property Manager

    • Prepare appraised and selected digital assets for import into DAMS or transfer to Archives

    • Manage ingested assets and metadata in DAMS

    • Update digital archiving workflow and records retention schedule documentation following Museum’s guidelines if necessary

    • Work within the established Museum standards for digital asset and digital content management

    Qualifications

    • Technical experience with digital asset management principles, practices, and standards
    • Understanding and specialized experience with software for asset management tasking including creating file system inventories, maintaining data within spreadsheets, renaming files, migrating file formats, transcoding video, embedding metadata, running fixity checks, and deduplicating files.
    • Experience or familiarity with one or more of the following applications: Adobe Bridge, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premier, BWF Metaedit, Foxit PhantomPDF, Microsoft Office suite, The National Archives’ Digital Record Object Identification tool (DROID), and DupeGuru.
    • Must be self-motivated, able to work independently, and meet measurable goals and timeframes.
    • Proficiency and practical experience using Microsoft Office Suite, specifically Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Outlook
    • Must be detail oriented and open to taking direction, ability to follow established policies and procedures
    • Excellent written and oral communication and customer service skills


    Physical Requirements:

    • Ability to sit for long periods of time and to maintain focus on projects such as computer screens or detailed paperwork.

    LS&S i s an equal opportunity affirmative action employer and administers all personnel practices without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, veteran status, genetics or any other category protected under applicable law.


    Hours Per Week: 40
  5. Post your job

    To find the right digital archivist 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 digital archivists they would recommend.
    • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit digital archivists 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 digital archivist job on Zippia to find and recruit digital archivist candidates who meet your exact specifications.
    • Use field-specific websites.
    • Post a job on free websites.
  6. Interview candidates

    Your first interview with digital archivist candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

    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 digital archivist

    Once you have selected a candidate for the digital archivist position, it is time to create an offer letter. In addition to salary, the offer letter should include details about benefits and perks that are available to the employee. Ensuring your offer is competitive is vital, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and it is important to be open to discussion and reach a mutually beneficial agreement. After the offer has been accepted, it is a good idea to formalize the agreement with a contract.

    It's equally important to follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

    To prepare for the new digital archivist first day, you should share an onboarding schedule with them that covers their first period on the job. You should also quickly complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources must ensure a new employee file is created for internal record keeping.

  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 digital archivist?

Before you start to hire digital archivists, it pays to consider both the one-off costs like recruitment, job promotion, and onboarding, as well as the ongoing costs of an employee's salary and benefits. While most companies that hire digital archivists pay close attention to the initial cost of hiring, ongoing costs are much more significant in the long run.

Digital archivists earn a median yearly salary is $50,746 a year in the US. However, if you're looking to find digital archivists for hire on a contract or per-project basis, hourly rates typically range between $11 and $50.

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