How to hire a hospital chaplain

How to hire a hospital chaplain, step by step

Here's a step-by-step hospital chaplain hiring guide:

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

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your hospital chaplain 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 a hospital chaplain 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 a hospital chaplain 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 a hospital chaplain that fits the bill.

   Here's a comparison of hospital chaplain salaries for various roles:

   Type of Hospital Chaplain	Description	Hourly rate
   Hospital Chaplain		$12-44
   Pastor	Pastors are considered the leader of a church whose primary role is to give sermons to church members. They also have other duties, including conducting worship services, planning weekly sermons, and interpreting scriptures for the congregation... Show more	$14-30
   Evangelist	The primary job of an evangelist is to spread the gospel message, also known as the evangel. As an evangelist, you will travel from one place to another to preach the word of God... Show more	$12-46

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Patients
   • Clinical Pastoral
   • Pastoral Care
   • Spiritual Care
   • Patient Care
   • Crisis Intervention
   • Ministry
   • CPE
   • Compassion
   • Emotional Support
   • Spiritual Assessments
   • ACPE
   • Memorial Services
   • Acute Care

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Lead outreach efforts to local faith groups engaging them in the life and ministry opportunities on campus.
   • Conduct spiritual assessments and develop pastoral care plans for assign patients.
   • Minister to cardiac, pediatrics, oncology, mental health, and hospice wards.
   • Show compassion, empathy and care for each patient.
   • Educate patients and families in stress management and facilitate comforting end-of-life conversations.
   • Counsele inmates struggling with a variety of problems including: psychological issues, addiction recovery, abuse recovery, and rehabilitation.

3. Make a budget

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

   • Location. For example, hospital chaplains' average salary in florida is 55% less than in california.
   • Seniority. Entry-level hospital chaplains earn 72% less than senior-level hospital chaplains.
   • Certifications. A hospital chaplain 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 a hospital chaplain's salary.

   Average hospital chaplain salary

   $49,423yearly

   $23.76 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level hospital chaplain salary

   $26,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 18, 2025

4. Writing a hospital chaplain job description

   A hospital chaplain 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 a hospital chaplain job description:

   Hospital chaplain job description example

   If you are looking for a per diem position in Spiritual Health, this could be your opportunity. Here at St. Peter's Hospital, we care for more people in more places.
   * Recognized leader: Magnet Hospital in the Capital Region
   
   * Quality of Life: Where career opportunities and quality of life converge
   
   * Advancement: Strong orientation program, generous tuition allowance and career development
   
   What you will do:
   
   This is a wonderful opportunity for a Chaplain to join our Team!The Chaplain assumes overall responsibility for the coordination of spiritual services; provides spiritual counseling and emotional support to patients/families and team members of all denominations; and participates in the development of the patient/family care plan.Work schedule is flexible.
   
   Responsibilities:
   
   * Demonstrate theoretical and practical knowledge of the MISSION and CORE VALUES of SPHP.
   
   * Have good understanding of, and commitment to the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services.
   
   * Have capacity and willingness to respond to emergency and crisis intervention requests for spiritual and emotional support, and other spiritual care-related requests/referrals by patients' families/loved ones, and other health care colleagues/physicians and other clinicians.
   
   * Be willing to participate in, or lead deceased patients' memorial serves for bereaved families.
   
   * Be able and willing to integrate spiritual care into every facet of SPHP ministry where assigned.
   
   * Have the capacity and willingness to freely initiate, develop, plan, implement, and measure own annual work performance goals, as well as personal and professional development goals that align with Spiritual Care Department's Annual Strategic Initiatives and Plans, to meet SPHP's system-wide Strategic Plan/s and goals.
   
   * Have the capacity for an intentionally mindful, constructive, and unitive spiritual solution to matters of conflict or division , which may have the potential to hamper the care or well-being of patients, patients' families/loved ones, physicians or other clinicians and colleagues in any of SPHP's Faith-based or non-Faith-based healthcare environment.
   
   * Be willing and able to mentor Spiritual Care Volunteers/students.
   
   * Be willing and ready to accept and perform other duties and responsibilities as may be assigned.
   
   * Be active and in good standing with one's own faith tradition affiliation, with demonstrable proof, if requested by SPHP's HR or hiring Spiritual Care Department leadership.
   
   What you will need:
   
   * Master's degree from an accredited institution in Theology, Pastoral Care, or Spirituality is required.
   
   * Minimum of 1-3 years of experience in chaplaincy or pastoral experience, preferably in healthcare setting.
   
   * Hospice experience and/or equivalent education in pastoral ministry is preferred.
   
   * Excellent interpersonal skills, knowledge regarding family dynamics, issues of death and dying.
   
   * Ability to work in a collaborative team relationship.
   
   * Ability to perform public speaking engagements, and lead memorial services, often during evening hours.
   
   Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
   
   Trinity Health is a family of 115,000 colleagues and nearly 26,000 physicians and clinicians across 25 states. Because we serve diverse populations, our colleagues are trained to recognize the cultural beliefs, values, traditions, language preferences, and health practices of the communities that we serve and to apply that knowledge to produce positive health outcomes. We also recognize that each of us has a different way of thinking and perceiving our world and that these differences often lead to innovative solutions.
   
   Our dedication to diversity includes a unified workforce (through training and education, recruitment, retention, and development), commitment and accountability, communication, community partnerships, and supplier diversity.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find hospital chaplains 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 hospital chaplains they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level hospital chaplains 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 hospital chaplain job on Zippia to find and recruit hospital chaplain candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   To successfully recruit hospital chaplains, 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 hospital chaplain

   Once you've selected the best hospital chaplain 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.

   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.

   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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