How to hire an exercise specialist

How to hire an exercise specialist, step by step

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

What does an exercise specialist do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the exercise specialist you need to hire. Certain exercise specialist 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

   An exercise specialist's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, exercise specialists 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.

   This list shows salaries for various types of exercise specialists.

   Type of Exercise Specialist	Description	Hourly rate
   Exercise Specialist	Exercise physiologists develop fitness and exercise programs that help patients recover from chronic diseases and improve cardiovascular function, body composition, and flexibility.	$13-29
   Athletic Trainer	An athletic trainer is a healthcare professional who works with physicians to improve a patient's quality of life. Their profession encompasses the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of chronic medical conditions involving disabilities, functional limitations, and impairments... Show more	$16-29
   Certified Athletic Trainer	A certified athletic trainer is a health and medical expert who specializes in providing health care assistance to athletes. They typically devise strategies to prevent injuries during training sessions and other activities, develop health care plans, and provide immediate care or first aid when injuries occur... Show more	$17-29

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Patients
   • Rehabilitation
   • Patient Care
   • Customer Service
   • Physical Therapy
   • Blood Pressure
   • CPR
   • Cardiac Rehabilitation
   • Cleanliness
   • ACSM
   • EKG
   • Fitness Assessments
   • Heart Rate
   • ECG

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Case manage cardiac rehabilitation participants providing educational support and counseling, smoking cessation, stress management, and exercise safety.
   • Conduct fitness assessments base on ACSM guidelines and educate clients on results.
   • Develop and plan individualized exercise programs for fitness members, personal training clients, senior citizens and post-rehab physical therapy patients.
   • Educate patients on therapeutic exercises prescribe by physical therapists, maintain orderliness of clinic and aid in administrative tasks and documentation.
   • Conduct new member orientations and fitness test using ACSM guidelines.
   • Instruct group exercise classes such as: yoga, cycling, and weight training.

   More exercise specialist duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your exercise specialist job description is a great way to entice the best and brightest candidates. An exercise specialist salary can vary based on several factors:

   • Location. For example, exercise specialists' average salary in arkansas is 43% less than in alaska.
   • Seniority. Entry-level exercise specialists earn 54% less than senior-level exercise specialists.
   • Certifications. An exercise specialist with a few certifications under their belt will likely demand a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for a prestigious company or an exciting start-up can make a huge difference in an exercise specialist's salary.

   Average exercise specialist salary

   $41,669yearly

   $20.03 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level exercise specialist salary

   $28,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 5, 2025

   Average exercise specialist salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	Hawaii	$50,704	$24
   2	Oregon	$50,653	$24
   3	Nevada	$49,962	$24
   4	Utah	$49,282	$24
   5	Washington	$48,578	$23
   6	Indiana	$44,231	$21
   7	New York	$43,917	$21
   8	North Carolina	$43,481	$21
   9	Colorado	$39,612	$19
   10	Illinois	$38,872	$19
   11	Rhode Island	$37,767	$18
   12	Massachusetts	$37,424	$18
   13	Georgia	$36,948	$18
   14	New Mexico	$36,785	$18
   15	New Hampshire	$36,515	$18
   16	Texas	$35,647	$17
   17	Michigan	$35,059	$17
   18	Maryland	$34,923	$17

   Average exercise specialist salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Hancock Wellness	$55,895	$26.87	2
   2	Prime Healthcare	$53,586	$25.76	34
   3	West Tennessee Healthcare	$53,074	$25.52	4
   4	University of Illinois Springfield	$50,895	$24.47
   5	Oregon Health & Science University	$48,987	$23.55	4
   6	Presbyterian	$48,934	$23.53	4
   7	The University of Kansas Health System	$48,902	$23.51	3
   8	Mission Regional Medical Center	$48,236	$23.19	50
   9	Cleveland Clinic	$47,980	$23.07	66
   10	University of Rochester	$47,908	$23.03	15
   11	PeaceHealth	$45,824	$22.03	16
   12	Univ Of Colorado-Colorado Spgs	$45,490	$21.87
   13	Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center	$44,221	$21.26
   14	Community Health Network	$43,789	$21.05	20
   15	Yale New Haven Health	$43,729	$21.02	6
   16	St. Charles Health System	$43,259	$20.80	1
   17	WakeMed	$42,947	$20.65
   18	Avalon Healthcare Solutions	$42,519	$20.44
   19	Nash Holdings	$42,499	$20.43
   20	Memorial Health Systems Corporation	$42,499	$20.43	25

4. Writing an exercise specialist job description

   A job description for an exercise specialist 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 exercise specialist job description:

   Exercise specialist job description example

   Join the Cleveland Clinic team, where you will work alongside passionate caregivers and provide patient-first healthcare. Cleveland Clinic is recognized as the No. 4 hospital in the nation, according to the U.S. and World News Report. At Cleveland Clinic, you will work alongside passionate and dedicated caregivers, receive endless support and appreciation, and build a rewarding career with one of the most respected healthcare organizations in the world.
   
   As an Exercise Specialist, you will be responsible for physical assessments, exercise prescription, exercise floor coverage, equipment cleanliness/preventive maintenance, policy enforcement, member exercise incentive programming and always delivering excellent customer service. This role requires someone who can take part in learning all aspects of not only the Cleveland Clinic facility but working with members and clients to make their lives healthier, happier, and safer.
   The ideal candidate is someone who:
   
   - Is determined.
   - Has a great attitude.
   - Is a team player.
   - Has a strong work ethic.
   
   This opportunity will allow the candidate to branch out into other areas/departments and work within those areas. Also, the candidate will have the opportunity to create/attend seminars, continue their education, teach classes, be a part of personal training and go out into the community to promote our center. The work culture in this department is positive and communication is clear between all team members. You will be supported by leadership and professional development is encouraged.
   
   Cleveland Clinic provides what matters most: career growth, delivering world-class care to our patients, continuous learning, exceptional benefits and working for an organization that offers many long-term career paths. Join us and experience a culture where opportunities to advance and the support to get there go hand-in-hand. Makes regular rounds of the exercise floor in an effort to ensure safety and assist members and guests with any exercise related issues or questions they may have. Schedules and administers computerized health risk appraisal and physical fitness assessment to new and existing members. Prescribes individual exercise programs that follow ACSM established guidelines based on assessment. Follows the equipment cleaning and preventive maintenance check list. All equipment needs to be inspected and cleaned daily. Follows established procedure when exercise equipment is found to be malfunctioning in an effort to get the equipment operational within 24 hours, including posting of the appropriate status signage, notifying the Manager and recording the problem in theequipment log located at the Wellness Service Desk. Develops and implements member exercise incentive programs to motivate and enhance consistency and retention. Maintains current information on all club programs, services and activities and promotes regularly. Displays proficiency in the operation of the computer hardware and KI software. Attends and positively contributes in all mandatory meetings and inservices. Follows system and department policies and procedures with special attention to attendance and punctuality, confidentiality, dress code and display of ID badge, and safety. Completes mandatory education and training in order to maintain organization and department specific competencies and requirements. Maintains applicable certification/licensure. Maintains current Basic Life Support (BLS). Other duties as assigned
   Education: Bachelor's degree in exercise physiology exercise science physical education or other related profession. Master's degree preferred.
   Certifications: Additional ACSM ACE AFAA NSCA or related certifications preferred. Maintains current Basic Life Support (BLS).
   Complexity of Work: Excellent communication and customer service related skills required. Ability to work variable hours necessary. Possess a professional attitude and demeanor. Must be capable of maintaining positive ongoing communications.
   Work Experience: One year experience as an instructor in a community corporate commercial or clinical health/fitness facility preferred. Experience in the administration of physical assessment exercise prescription and program development. Basic computer operational skills preferred.
   Physical Requirements:
   
   Personal Protective Equipment: Follows standard precautions using personal protective equipment as required

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find the right exercise specialist 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 exercise specialists they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit exercise specialists 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 exercise specialist job on Zippia to find and attract quality exercise specialist candidates.
   • Use niche websites such as healthcarejobsite, health jobs nationwide, hospitalcareers, medreps.com.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Your first interview with exercise 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 exercise specialist

   Once you've decided on a perfect exercise 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.

   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 exercise specialist. 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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