How to hire an early head start director

How to hire an early head start director, step by step

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

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   The early head start director 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

   An early head start director's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, early head start directors 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.

   Here's a comparison of early head start director salaries for various roles:

   Type of Early Head Start Director	Description	Hourly rate
   Early Head Start Director	Preschool and childcare center directors supervise and lead staffs, oversee daily activities, design curriculums, and prepare budgets. They are responsible for all aspects of their center’s program.	$12-29
   Test Center Administrator	A test center administrator is responsible for overseeing the daily operations at test centers, ensuring efficiency and smooth workflow. They typically set goals, establish guidelines and timelines, liaise with external partners such as vendors at suppliers, coordinate staff, monitor the progress of all operations, and address issues and concerns, resolving them promptly and efficiently... Show more	$10-14
   Parent Educator	A parent educator is a professional who specializes in tutoring parents on skills to help them raise children who are healthy and well-rounded. You will help parents learn the skills they may need to raise children who are healthy emotionally, psychologically, and physically... Show more	$13-25

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Social Work
   • Child Development
   • Childhood
   • Social Services
   • Community Resources
   • Child Care
   • EHS
   • Performance Standards
   • Data Entry
   • Professional Development
   • Mental Health
   • Early Childhood Development
   • Family Support
   • Support Services

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Lead program development for an early childhood education initiative.
   • Provide technical assistance to EHS staff i.e.
   • Implement direct early childhood development education, health, nutrition, and social services to children and families.
   • Monitor regulations at the NAEYC accredit program sites.
   • Ensure all classrooms exceed NAEYC accreditation standards and guidelines.
   • Participate and develop the design of EHS internal structures, systems and policies.

   More early head start director duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the early head start director job description is a good way to get more applicants. An early head start director 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 an early head start director in Louisiana may be lower than in Rhode Island, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level early head start director. Additionally, an early head start director with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average early head start director salary

   $39,448yearly

   $18.97 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level early head start director salary

   $25,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 19, 2025

   Average early head start director salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	Massachusetts	$42,288	$20
   2	California	$39,453	$19
   3	New York	$39,129	$19
   4	Minnesota	$38,703	$19
   5	Washington	$38,691	$19
   6	Oregon	$37,760	$18
   7	New Jersey	$36,545	$18
   8	Illinois	$36,079	$17
   9	Georgia	$34,385	$17
   10	Iowa	$34,235	$16
   11	Texas	$34,095	$16
   12	Pennsylvania	$34,069	$16
   13	Colorado	$33,958	$16
   14	Missouri	$31,214	$15
   15	Florida	$30,401	$15
   16	North Carolina	$28,971	$14

   Average early head start director salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Columbia University in the City of New York	$61,314	$29.48
   2	Broward County Public Schools	$48,315	$23.23	8
   3	Lifesteps	$41,355	$19.88	5
   4	Armstrong County Community Action Agency - Food Distribution Center	$40,788	$19.61
   5	CAPS	$40,788	$19.61
   6	LEAP Legal Software	$40,168	$19.31
   7	Thames Valley Council for Community Action Inc	$39,803	$19.14
   8	Salt Lake County	$39,134	$18.81	1
   9	Children International	$39,102	$18.80	2
   10	Children's Home & Aid	$38,114	$18.32
   11	Fort Valley State University	$37,812	$18.18	2
   12	Children's Home Society of NC	$37,715	$18.13
   13	Telamon	$37,049	$17.81
   14	Volunteers of America Los Angeles	$36,979	$17.78	3
   15	Eagle County	$36,957	$17.77
   16	Parents And Children Together	$36,917	$17.75	1
   17	EOAC Waco	$36,852	$17.72	4
   18	Commission on Economic Opportunity	$36,554	$17.57
   19	Community Action Organization	$36,538	$17.57
   20	The University of Kansas Health System	$36,037	$17.33	1

4. Writing an early head start director job description

   A job description for an early head start director 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 an early head start director job description:

   Early head start director job description example

   JOIN OUR TEAM AND RECEIVE A $1500 HIRING BONUS!
   
   Easterseals Southern California is a mission-driven organization dedicated to making a difference in the lives of our participants. Our Home Based Visitors work with pregnant mothers as well as plan and implement home-based learning experiences that ensure effective implementation of early childhood curriculum and promote children's progress across developmental domains. ESSC makes special efforts to ensure that the Home Based Visitor program has a generous budget allotted for quality teaching supplies and learning products. Home Based Visitors work collaboratively with the Home Based Supervisor to determine the materials and supplies needed to provide quality learning during home visits. Easterseals employees also enjoy a comprehensive benefits package, a generous PTO plan, ongoing training, an educational reimbursement program, an employer-matching retirement plan, and employee discounts. Come grow your career with us!
   
   $17.41-21.14/hr
   
   + Plans, implements, evaluates and supervises a developmentally appropriate and inclusive educational curriculum, including socialization activities twice a month, for assigned children and their parents in compliance with program requirements.
   
   + Travels weekly to child's home (or mutually agreed location). Assesses and promotes parent-child relationships through modeling developmentally and culturally appropriate interactions, communications, and the use of materials found in the home. Collaborates with parents to provide an individualized education program for their child(ren). Provides strategies to enhance learning; provides support and encouragement to the parents to become their child's primary, lifelong educator.
   
   + Actively Participates in practice-based coaching model, which is provided by Easterseals.
   
   + Assists in the active recruitment of participants, including various recruitment-specific activities. Coordinates the intake and enrollment process of participants. Maintains accurate and confidential records, documents, files and databases throughout the entire recruitment process.
   
   + Plans and actively participates in trainings, workshops and meetings for parents and associates. Coordinates the development and implementation of Family Partnership Agreements, beginning as soon as possible and continuing over the period of enrollment, every 3 months.
   
   + Engages in the well-being of assigned child(ren) by participating in required health, nutritional, and dental screenings, and ensuring the cleanliness of educational supplies.
   
   + Establishes and maintains effective communication with associates, the community and social services resources in order to function as an advocate, liaison and referral source for families. Follow-up when necessary.
   
   + Performs other duties as assigned.
   
   + HS Diploma, GED or National equivalent is required. Must possess and maintain a Child Development Associate Teacher Permit. Must meet ongoing educational requirements to qualify for child development permit/CDA requirements.
   
   + Must have completed 3-6 units of an Infant/Toddler Class from an accredited college with a "C" grade or better.
   
   + Within 18 months of hire, must obtain a credential or certification in social work, human services, family services, counseling or related field.
   
   + Training and experience necessary to develop consistent, stable and supportive relationships with very young children; must develop knowledge of infant and toddler development, safety issues in infant and toddler child care settings (i.e., reducing the risk of SIDS).
   
   + Must possess and maintain current pediatric (infant/toddler) CPR and first aid certificate as well as a food handler's certificate.
   
   + Prior to beginning work and on an annual basis thereafter, must complete California-mandated Child Abuse Reporter Training as well as Pesticide Safety Training (per Healthy Schools Act).
   
   + Demonstrated proficiency with MS Office applications (e.g. Outlook, Excel, Skype).
   
   + Ability to properly interpret and implement regulations of the California Department of Education, Funding Terms and Conditions (Title 5), Department of Social Services, Community Care Licensing (Title 22), Early Head Start Performance Standards, and of Easterseals policies and procedures. and groups. Must relate well to children and their families and maintain a positive affect.
   
   + Ability to exercise sound judgment, plan, establish and meet timelines.
   
   + Ability to stand for extended periods. Ability to lift 40 lbs. continuously. Ability to reach, bend, stoop, and squat. Must possess fine manual dexterity. Ability to push, pull, talk/hear, with near and far visual acuity/depth perception/color vision/field of vision.
   
   + Ability to pass a post-offer physical examination and a TB test.
   
   + Ability to provide any/all current immunizations as required by the State of California for child development centers and staff.
   
   + Ability to travel locally; maintain driving record in compliance with Transportation Safety Standards; maintain auto insurance and vehicle registration.
   
   + Ability to obtain and maintain a criminal record/fingerprint clearance from the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation per Easterseals Southern California and/or program requirements. Must have sex offender index clearance.
   
   ID: 2022-5843

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find early head start directors for your business:

   • Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your early head start director job on Zippia to find and recruit early head start director 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

   To successfully recruit early head start directors, 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 early head start director

   Once you've selected the best early head start director candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing the 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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