How to hire an early childhood specialist

How to hire an early childhood specialist, step by step

Here's a step-by-step early childhood specialist hiring guide:

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

What does an early childhood specialist do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your early childhood specialist 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 an early childhood specialist 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 an early childhood specialist 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 an early childhood specialist that fits the bill.

   This list presents early childhood specialist salaries for various positions.

   Type of Early Childhood Specialist	Description	Hourly rate
   Early Childhood Specialist	Preschool teachers educate and care for children younger than age 5 who have not yet entered kindergarten. They teach reading, writing, science, and other subjects in a way that young children can understand.	$12-24
   Resource Teacher	A Resource Teacher is responsible for providing curriculum support systems for students, teachers, and administrators. Another role of a Resource Teacher is to assist the class teacher and provide additional support for children with moderate learning difficulties.	$7-59
   Infant Teacher	Infant teachers provide care to infants and a safe environment for them to develop. They are teachers that specialize in giving an educational environment to preschool babies and toddlers... Show more	$10-17

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Professional Development
   • Technical Assistance
   • Staff Development
   • Data Collection
   • Child Development
   • Performance Standards
   • Childhood Education
   • Curriculum Implementation
   • Family Engagement
   • Math
   • CPR
   • Classroom Management
   • Early Childhood Development
   • Social Work

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Perform CPR and first aid duties.
   • Complete assessments, develop IEP's and track progress.
   • Assist children's ministry team with projects as needed.
   • Follow lesson plans to fit the school and kids needs.
   • Facilitate formal kindergarten transition strategies for children in the GSRP program.
   • Greet parents and kids punctually every day, in friendly manner.

   More early childhood specialist duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your early childhood specialist job description helps attract top candidates to the position. An early childhood specialist 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 an early childhood specialist in Wisconsin may be lower than in New York, and an entry-level early childhood specialist usually earns less than a senior-level early childhood specialist. Additionally, an early childhood specialist 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 early childhood specialist salary

   $35,575yearly

   $17.10 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level early childhood specialist salary

   $25,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 17, 2025

   Average early childhood specialist salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	New York	$45,164	$22
   2	Maryland	$44,080	$21
   3	California	$43,702	$21
   4	Texas	$37,997	$18
   5	Colorado	$37,767	$18
   6	Connecticut	$35,696	$17
   7	Virginia	$33,431	$16
   8	Arizona	$33,164	$16
   9	Indiana	$31,544	$15
   10	South Carolina	$31,097	$15
   11	Georgia	$30,757	$15
   12	North Carolina	$30,706	$15
   13	Missouri	$30,639	$15
   14	New Mexico	$30,542	$15
   15	Montana	$30,012	$14
   16	Oregon	$29,534	$14
   17	Illinois	$29,288	$14
   18	Washington	$29,090	$14
   19	Nevada	$27,969	$13
   20	Ohio	$27,816	$13

   Average early childhood specialist salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Edmonds Community College, Lynnwood	$66,065	$31.76	3
   2	STG International	$52,601	$25.29	2
   3	ICF	$48,875	$23.50	2
   4	Forsyth Country Day School	$48,833	$23.48
   5	Bellevue Jr/Sr High School	$47,158	$22.67
   6	Chicago Public Schools	$46,563	$22.39	23
   7	International Rescue Committee	$44,446	$21.37
   8	Washington State University	$44,024	$21.17
   9	Research Foundation of The City University of New York	$43,201	$20.77
   10	Independent Health	$42,991	$20.67
   11	ascc	$40,821	$19.63
   12	St. Clare Catholic School	$40,422	$19.43	6
   13	Southwest Key Programs	$40,341	$19.39
   14	LifeWorks	$40,336	$19.39
   15	Coe	$39,940	$19.20
   16	Canyon Independent School District	$39,718	$19.10	1
   17	Scholastic	$38,747	$18.63
   18	BLUE RIDGE COMMUNITY ACTION	$38,718	$18.61	3
   19	Children's Home & Aid	$38,573	$18.54
   20	Presbyterian Children's Homes and Services	$38,459	$18.49

4. Writing an early childhood specialist job description

   An early childhood specialist 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 an early childhood specialist job description:

   Early childhood specialist job description example

   Early Childhood Instructional Specialist 2022-2023 School Year

   Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of New York

   The Archdiocese of New York partners with the NYC DOE to offer Prek For All and 3K For All in over 45 schools in the Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island. We believe that high-quality learning experiences anchored in a playful approach to focused learning will provide the best foundation for future learning for the young children and families we serve. Our programs are located in our elementary school buildings and as such are part of our greater school community that is committed to offering a safe, structured and personalized learning environment for all of the students entrusted to our care.

   The Office of Early Childhood of the Archdiocese of New York seeks to expand our team of Early Childhood Instructional Specialists who support the 3-K and Pre-K for All programs in our regional schools. Positions are available for the 2022-2023 program year.

   Our Early Childhood Specialists collaborate with school building leaders, teachers, our team of Early Childhood Social Workers, and the NYC Department of Education's Division of Early Childhood Education in order to provide the highest quality of early childhood programming to New York City's youngest learners. The most important characteristic of our team is that we are passionate about helping and supporting our leaders and teachers to make a lasting impact on the children and families that we serve.

   Early Childhood Instructional Specialists are self-starters, problem-solvers, and effective communicators who have a broad and deep knowledge of early childhood learning and development as well as a talent for building strong relationships with varied personalities.

   To join our team, you should have:

   • a vision for what high quality instruction in an early childhood classroom looks like, sounds like and feels like.
   • experience coaching and/or providing professional development to adults in an educational setting
   • a keen awareness of current trends and innovations in Early Childhood
   • familiarity with the NYC Department of Education Pre-K for All (PKFA) and 3K for All (3KFA) curriculum, policies and procedures
   • worked successfully in an inclusive and diverse work environment
   • an understanding of the NYS Prekindergarten Learning Standards
   • a working knowledge of early childhood developmental screening tools and assessments
   • experience with ECERS-3 and CLASS

   Our team members must have:

   • a Masters in Early Childhood Education, and/or Early Childhood Special Education New York State Teaching Certification in Early Childhood (Birth-2)
   • a minimum of five years of previous Early Childhood teaching experience
   • the ability to travel to schools and offices within the Archdiocesan regions of the Bronx, Manhattan and/or Staten Island
   • a referral from a current supervisor
   • proof of Covid -19 vaccinaton

   Competitive salary and comprehensive benefits package included.

   Position start date: September 2022

   
   
   Job Posted by ApplicantPro
   

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5. Post your job

   To find early childhood 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 early childhood specialists they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level early childhood 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 early childhood specialist job on Zippia to find and recruit early childhood specialist 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

   Your first interview with early childhood specialist 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.

   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 early childhood specialist

   Once you've decided on a perfect early childhood specialist 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.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new early childhood specialist. 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 an early childhood specialist?