How to hire a manual tester

How to hire a manual tester, step by step

Here's a step-by-step manual tester hiring guide:

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

What does a manual tester do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the manual tester you need to hire. Certain manual tester 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

   A manual tester's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, manual testers 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 manual testers.

   Type of Manual Tester	Description	Hourly rate
   Manual Tester		$30-50
   Test Analyst	The duties of a test analyst depend on one's line of work or industry of employment. In the information technology setting, a test analyst is responsible for testing computer software or hardware to ensure its quality before being released in the market... Show more	$26-42
   Quality Assurance Engineer	A Quality Assurance Engineer's role is to oversee the overall production and ensure that the product is cost-efficient and aligns with the company's standards. The responsibility mainly revolves around conducting activities that examine and scrutinize the condition of a product or service to identify issues and come up with possible solutions to resolve the issue or attain stronger customer satisfaction... Show more	$29-52

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Manual Test Cases
   • Regression
   • QA
   • Test Scripts
   • Jira
   • Status Reports
   • Java
   • Web Services
   • Test Results
   • Development Life
   • PL/SQL
   • Test Plan
   • Test Scenarios
   • User Acceptance

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Used JIRA to manage testing and track test results for each build and report defects detect.
   • Manage departmental inventory and troubleshoot testing, reporting and inventory issues.
   • Assign the tasks of conducting regression testing, UAT testing and update testing reports to the manager.
   • Contribute in developing website by using HTML coding.
   • Design and develop front view components using JSP and HTML.
   • Ensure to communicate SDLC testing results to the appropriate authority.

   More manual tester duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the manual tester job description is a good way to get more applicants. A manual tester 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 a manual tester in Indiana may be lower than in Washington, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level manual tester. Additionally, a manual tester with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average manual tester salary

   $81,680yearly

   $39.27 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level manual tester salary

   $63,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 17, 2025

   Average manual tester salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$104,278	$50
   2	Washington	$97,662	$47
   3	Maryland	$86,476	$42
   4	District of Columbia	$85,727	$41
   5	Connecticut	$84,807	$41
   6	New York	$80,988	$39
   7	North Carolina	$80,921	$39
   8	Massachusetts	$80,320	$39
   9	Texas	$78,673	$38
   10	Ohio	$77,243	$37
   11	Minnesota	$76,231	$37
   12	Illinois	$75,992	$37
   13	Florida	$75,375	$36
   14	Missouri	$75,211	$36
   15	Iowa	$67,559	$32
   16	Tennessee	$66,461	$32
   17	Oklahoma	$63,171	$30

   Average manual tester salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Populus Group	$98,708	$47.46
   2	Randstad North America, Inc.	$98,457	$47.34	5
   3	Monster Products	$95,714	$46.02	1
   4	Kelly Services	$93,615	$45.01	5
   5	Motion Recruitment	$92,557	$44.50	6
   6	Nolij Consulting	$91,945	$44.20
   7	TechDigital	$91,924	$44.19
   8	Comtech	$91,545	$44.01	16
   9	Booz Allen Hamilton	$90,441	$43.48	29
   10	Enterprise Solutions Inc.	$89,595	$43.07
   11	Ivy Tech Community College	$86,575	$41.62
   12	Tech Talent South	$85,848	$41.27
   13	Fast Switch	$82,730	$39.77
   14	Sunera Technologies	$82,688	$39.75
   15	ANJANEYAP	$81,798	$39.33
   16	Erp Analysts	$81,597	$39.23
   17	Alliance Global Services	$80,435	$38.67
   18	HCL Technologies	$80,378	$38.64	29
   19	Capgemini	$79,965	$38.44	27
   20	Hexaware Technologies	$79,456	$38.20	5

4. Writing a manual tester job description

   A manual tester 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. Below, you can find an example of a manual tester job description:

   Manual tester job description example

   Job DescriptionCANDIDATES MUST BE WILLING TO RELOCATE TO THE ANN ARBOR AREA WITHIN 30 DAYS OF STARTING. HYBRID ONSITE PRESENCE (2 DAYS/WEEK) WILL BE REQUIRED.
   This is a 100% manual testing role. Certify software functionality for new Production releases- Participate in developing and documenting user stories, including testing estimates and validation tests.
   • Develop, document, and maintain the test strategy and test scenarios.
   • Partner with the developers to ensure all areas of the application are fully tested across environments.
   • Create, modify, and execute test cases for functional testing and report results in a clear, concise manner. • Present appropriate results and data at the release sign offs.
   • Perform manual testing in a variety of clients applications and systems from mobile/web app, accessibility, and analytics to hardware firmware.
   • Create defects (JIRA bugs) for issues found with appropriate level of details
   • Manage and triage the defect backlog and ensure issues are resolved, including validation of the fix.
   • Design and execute cross-system integration tests and regression tests for each release
   • Execute automated test suites and analyze the results to identify the cause for failures
   • Engage in various Agile ceremonies for the team, document and estimate QA strategy for each story/card • Manage some of the test tools used in the ecosystem
   
   QUALIFICATIONS
   • Ability to work independently with an aptitude for detailed work and follow-up activities
   • Bachelor's degree in computer science or related
   • Experience in heavy traffic eCommerce applications
   • Experience testing POS applications
   • Experience with defect tracking tools (JIRA, Bugzilla, etc.)
   • Experience working with Relational Databases (SQL Server preferred)
   • Knowledge in CI/CD processes and tools preferably Jenkins
   • Minimum 3 years industry experience, preferably in an Agile team environment

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find manual testers 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 manual tester job on Zippia to find and attract quality manual tester candidates.
   • Use niche websites such as dice, engineering.com, stack overflow, it job pro.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   To successfully recruit manual testers, 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.

   You should also ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match the ideal candidate profile you developed earlier. Candidates good enough for the next step can complete the technical interview.

   Sometimes, it's not enough to interview manual tester candidates, so you can ask them to do a test project. If you are not a technical person and don't know what a test project should be, you can use these websites:

   • TestDome
   • CodeSignal
   • Testlify
   • BarRaiser
   • Coderbyte

   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 manual tester

   Once you've decided on a perfect manual tester 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.

   To prepare for the new manual tester first day, you should share an onboarding schedule with them that covers their first period on the job. You should also quickly complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources must ensure a new employee file is created for internal record keeping.

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 a manual tester?