How To Become A Hearing Officer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a hearing officer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Typically, Hearing Officers are the ones who implement the law by overseeing the judicial process in courts. They also conduct pretrial hearings, solve administrative disputes, facilitate negotiations between opposing parties, and issue judicial decisions. The hearing officers are generally appointed to preside over agency investigations and hearings to exercise their powers through the court system. They often oversee overruling decisions made by agencies and disputes, such as in insurance and disability cases. They may also preside in the federal jurisdiction for governmental claims.

To become a hearing officer, you must have a law degree and work experience as a lawyer. Although there may be some job offerings for those with a bachelor's degree, a law degree is the required academic qualification for most jobs as a local, state, or hearing officer. If you're a Hearing Officer in the USA, you will make an average salary of $57,222 per year or $28 per hour. However, this figure can vary significantly depending upon your experience and skills.

ScoreHearing OfficerUS Average

Salary

4.9

Avg. Salary $63,003

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

10.0

Growth rate -1%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

2.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.31%

Asian 6.50%

Black or African American 5.68%

Hispanic or Latino 7.91%

Unknown 4.39%

White 75.22%

Gender

female 54.39%

male 45.61%

Age - 45

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 45

Stress level

10.0

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

10.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.2

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a hearing officer

Explore hearing officer education requirements

Most common hearing officer degrees

Bachelor's

53.6 %

Doctorate

26.5 %

Master's

10.2 %

Start to develop specific hearing officer skills

Skills	Percentages
Documentary Evidence	16.68%
Legal Research	9.18%
Appeals	8.83%
Due Process	5.74%
Conduct Hearings	5.50%

Complete relevant hearing officer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New hearing officers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a hearing officer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real hearing officer resumes.

Research hearing officer duties and responsibilities

Brief patients on test about to be perform explained test results and make follow up appointments as needed.
Perform professional, quasi-judicial work conducting hearings and preparing recommend decisions on child support establishment, enforcement and modification appeals.
Perform quasi-judicial duties presiding over unemployment insurance administrative hearings to decide appeals alleging a full array of employer-employee misconduct and grievances.
Prepare and update litigation files for review board hearings.

Prepare your hearing officer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your hearing officer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a hearing officer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable hearing officer resume templates

Build a professional hearing officer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your hearing officer resume.