How to hire a medical assistant

How to hire a medical assistant, step by step

Here's a step-by-step medical assistant hiring guide:

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

What does a medical assistant do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring a medical assistant, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or 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 medical assistant 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 medical assistant that fits the bill.

   This list shows salaries for various types of medical assistants.

   Type of Medical Assistant	Description	Hourly rate
   Medical Assistant	Medical assistants complete administrative and clinical tasks in the offices of physicians, hospitals, and other healthcare facilities. Their duties vary with the location, specialty, and size of the practice.	$12-20
   Medical Internship	When it comes to a medical internship, one of the primary duties is to attend to the patients' needs while under a more experienced physician's supervision. During this period, the medical interns must rotate in various fields of specialties or departments for exposure... Show more	$15-37
   Medical Scribe	As a medical scribe, their main responsibility is to follow a physician's daily work and do charting of patient encounters in real-time by accessing their medical electronic health record (EHR). It is their duty to make sure the patient schedules are followed, generate referral letters for physicians and manage and sort medical documents within the EHR... Show more	$11-18

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Patients
   • Vital Signs
   • Patient Care
   • Phlebotomy
   • CPR
   • EKG
   • Customer Service
   • Exam Rooms
   • Office Procedures
   • Blood Pressure
   • Patient Flow
   • Test Results
   • Medical Terminology
   • Treatment Rooms

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Create and maintain confidential patient files; implement EHR systems to automate patient records management for the purposes of meaningful use.
   • Adhere to OSHA guidelines while performing instrument sterilization in addition to managing medical inventory.
   • Participate in emergency surgical intervention in obstetrics and gynecology patients.
   • Demonstrate proficiency in taking patient history and vitals, venipuncture, injections, urinalysis and preparing examination trays.
   • Attend to new out patients in gynecology clinic, make clinical diagnosis and follow up.
   • Provide RMA support to physician, and patients, including but not limit to vitals and patient history.

   More medical assistant duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your medical assistant job description helps attract top candidates to the position. A medical assistant salary can be affected by several factors, such as geography, experience, seniority, certifications, and the prestige of the hiring company.

   For example, the average salary for a medical assistant in Mississippi may be lower than in Alaska, and an entry-level medical assistant usually earns less than a senior-level medical assistant. Additionally, a medical assistant with certifications may command a higher salary, and working for a well-known company or start-up may also impact an employee's pay.

   Average medical assistant salary

   $16.78hourly

   $34,900 yearly

   ---

   Entry-level medical assistant salary

   $27,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 5, 2025

   Average medical assistant salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	Washington	$45,301	$22
   2	Oregon	$42,188	$20
   3	California	$40,969	$20
   4	Massachusetts	$39,748	$19
   5	District of Columbia	$39,627	$19
   6	Hawaii	$38,854	$19
   7	Minnesota	$38,094	$18
   8	New York	$36,873	$18
   9	New Hampshire	$36,479	$18
   10	Illinois	$36,405	$18
   11	Colorado	$36,225	$17
   12	Wisconsin	$36,134	$17
   13	Arizona	$35,416	$17
   14	Maryland	$34,731	$17
   15	New Jersey	$34,459	$17
   16	Utah	$34,179	$16
   17	Maine	$34,081	$16
   18	Michigan	$34,028	$16
   19	Nevada	$33,636	$16
   20	Nebraska	$33,457	$16

   Average medical assistant salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Columbia University in the City of New York	$47,378	$22.78	1
   2	Adobe	$46,108	$22.17	3
   3	Conviva	$44,910	$21.59
   4	AIG	$44,879	$21.58
   5	University of California-Berkeley	$44,832	$21.55	1
   6	Seattle Cancer Care Alliance	$44,703	$21.49
   7	Student Conservation Association	$44,163	$21.23	4
   8	Brigham and Women's Hospital	$44,052	$21.18	134
   9	The University of Chicago	$43,120	$20.73	32
   10	UC Santa Barbara	$43,092	$20.72
   11	UC Merced	$42,873	$20.61
   12	Lawrence General Hospital	$42,837	$20.59	36
   13	Oakland University	$42,817	$20.59
   14	Rowan University	$42,765	$20.56
   15	SoCalGas	$42,472	$20.42
   16	University of California	$42,435	$20.40	107
   17	Medical University of South Carolina	$42,384	$20.38	28
   18	New York Institute of Technology	$42,220	$20.30	1
   19	Massachusetts General Hospital	$42,182	$20.28	1
   20	Mount Auburn Hospital	$41,928	$20.16	1

4. Writing a medical assistant job description

   A job description for a medical assistant 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 a medical assistant job description:

   Medical assistant job description example

   Dignity Health Medical Foundation, established in 1993, is a California nonprofit public benefit corporation with care centers throughout California. Dignity Health Medical Foundation is an affiliate of Dignity Health – one of the largest health systems in the nation - with hospitals and care centers in California, Arizona and Nevada. Today, Dignity Health Medical Foundation works hand-in-hand with physicians and providers throughout California to provide comprehensive healthcare services to the many communities we serve.
   
   As Dignity Health Medical Foundation continues to grow and establish new premier care centers, we provide increasing support and investment in the latest technologies, finest physicians and state-of-the-art medical facilities. We strive to create purposeful work settings where staff can provide great care, while advancing in knowledge and experience through challenging work assignments and stimulating relationships. Our staff is well-trained and highly skilled, qualities that are vital to maintaining excellence in care and service.
   
   The Medical Assistant (MA) position is responsible for knowing his/her professional scope of practice as defined by the California Business and Professional Code and for satisfactorily completing the Dignity Health Medical Foundation orientation period that includes demonstrating skills and behaviors that meet a fully competent level of performance. The MA maintains a clean, organized, and safe environment, and performs patient care services that support the physician / provider's practice under the clinical supervision of the Physician, Registered Nurse, Nurse Practitioner, Physician’s Assistant, or Licensed Vocational Nurse.
   
   Assisting in prepping patients for examinations or procedures, assisting with procedures, relaying instructions from the physician to a patient or authorized person, and collecting patient data
   
   Documenting patient concerns, patient concerns, patient messages, and care provided to the patient in the patient’s medical record for the physician's review
   
   Administrating medications specifically directed by the physician and performing accurate vital sign measurements and documentation.
   
   This position may have access to third party credit card information and transaction systems (cash registers, point of sale devices, applications supporting credit card transactions, and reports or other documents containing credit card information) from single transactions or a single card at a time.
   ? Qualifications: Minimum Qualifications: High school diploma (or equivalent) required Satisfactory completion of a formal Medical Assistant program pursuant to the Division of Allied Health Professions or military training that is equivalent to an accredited Medical Assistant program (determination by Dignity Health Medical Foundation H.R. department in conjunction with the State Division of Allied Health Professions) required Excellent interpersonal, organizational, and customer service skills required Medical terminology, familiarity with CPT and ICD-10 coding procedures and reference tools, and pharmacology appropriate to the Medical Assistant scope of practice required Current BLS certification required (must be certified through the American Heart Association) Preferred Qualifications: Six (6) months of experience in an outpatient setting as a Medical Assistant preferred Certification must be obtained through one of the private agencies approved by the Medical Board of California: American Association of Medical Assistants (preferred) American Medical Technologists California Certifying Board of Medical Assistants Multi-skilled Medical Certification Institute, Inc. (NCCT) Familiarity with an electronic practice management system preferred **This position is represented by the SEIU-UHW.**

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find medical assistants 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.

   To find medical assistant candidates, you can consider the following options:

   • Post your job opening on Zippia or other job search websites.
   • Use niche websites that focus on engineering and technology jobs, such as healthcarejobsite, health jobs nationwide, hospitalcareers, medreps.com.
   • Post your job on free job posting websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Your first interview with medical assistant 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 medical assistant

   Once you've decided on a perfect medical assistant 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 equally important to follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new medical assistant. 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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