How to hire a medical surgical staff nurse

How to hire a medical surgical staff nurse, step by step

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

Post a medical surgical staff nurse job for free, promote it for a fee

Post free

1. Identify your hiring needs

   The medical surgical staff nurse hiring process starts by determining what type of worker you actually need. Certain roles might require a full-time employee, whereas part-time workers or contractors can do others.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A medical surgical staff nurse's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, medical surgical staff nurses 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 presents medical surgical staff nurse salaries for various positions.

   Type of Medical Surgical Staff Nurse	Description	Hourly rate
   Medical Surgical Staff Nurse	Registered nurses (RNs) provide and coordinate patient care, educate patients and the public about various health conditions, and provide advice and emotional support to patients and their family members.	$18-55
   Nurse Extern	The job of a nurse extern is to assist the mentor nurse in their nursing duties. They help the mentor nurse in various medical procedures such as administering medications or starting intravenous therapies... Show more	$13-22
   Registered Nurse Charge Nurse	A registered charge nurse is responsible for supervising nurses' workflow in a particular department or area, ensuring every patient gets the proper care that they need. A registered charge nurse has the discretion to direct tasks, arrange schedules, and monitor patients, such as in the aspects of admission and discharge... Show more	$22-52

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Patients
   • CPR
   • Acute Care
   • Acls
   • Direct Patient Care
   • Telemetry
   • Resuscitation
   • ICU
   • IV
   • Good Interpersonal
   • Family Education
   • Chemotherapy
   • Staff Nurses
   • Discharge Planning

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage patient pain relief and sedation by providing pharmacological and non-pharmacological intervention, monitor patient response and record care plans accordingly.
   • Provide comprehensive nursing care to a variety of in-patient medical, surgical and telemetry patients.
   • Coordinate and provide direct patient care for cardiac/telemetry, surgical, orthopedic, respiratory, geriatric and pain management patients.
   • Obtain CPR certification for the first time.
   • Assist with patients that have acute active GI bleeding.
   • Administer rapid response and cardiac arrest care as a part of resuscitation team.

   More medical surgical staff nurse duties

3. Make a budget

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

   Average medical surgical staff nurse salary

   $67,649yearly

   $32.52 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level medical surgical staff nurse salary

   $39,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 16, 2025

   Average medical surgical staff nurse salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$117,356	$56
   2	New York	$87,106	$42
   3	New Jersey	$85,031	$41
   4	Washington	$80,825	$39
   5	Massachusetts	$77,758	$37
   6	Colorado	$76,739	$37
   7	Illinois	$73,935	$36
   8	Connecticut	$73,795	$35
   9	Pennsylvania	$67,090	$32
   10	Louisiana	$66,573	$32
   11	Maryland	$66,165	$32
   12	Texas	$64,744	$31
   13	Ohio	$63,516	$31
   14	Minnesota	$63,010	$30
   15	North Carolina	$59,092	$28
   16	Florida	$58,424	$28
   17	Missouri	$58,046	$28
   18	Iowa	$52,931	$25

   Average medical surgical staff nurse salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	University of California-Berkeley	$102,726	$49.39	2
   2	University of California	$91,096	$43.80	112
   3	Tenet Healthcare	$85,650	$41.18	1,205
   4	University Hospitals	$83,690	$40.24	52
   5	Sutter Health	$82,344	$39.59	324
   6	UofL Hospital	$80,132	$38.52	110
   7	The University of Chicago	$78,405	$37.69	109
   8	NorthShore University HealthSystem	$77,505	$37.26
   9	Hca Hospital Services Of San Diego	$76,771	$36.91	30
   10	University of Maryland Medical System	$76,594	$36.82	252
   11	MAS Medical Staffing	$75,991	$36.53	634
   12	Medical City Arlington	$75,827	$36.46	132
   13	Baystate Health	$75,273	$36.19	299
   14	WakeMed	$73,694	$35.43	6
   15	Erlanger Health System	$73,412	$35.29	161
   16	Emanate Health	$73,207	$35.20	9
   17	Brigham and Women's Hospital	$72,764	$34.98	221
   18	Norman Regional Health System	$72,333	$34.78	29
   19	Trident Medical Center	$71,581	$34.41	8
   20	Massachusetts General Hospital	$71,384	$34.32	14

4. Writing a medical surgical staff nurse job description

   A medical surgical staff nurse 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 medical surgical staff nurse job description:

   Medical surgical staff nurse job description example

   Overview

   *External offers made for this position between October 1st, 2022 to December 31st, 2022 are eligible to receive up to a $20,000 Sign-On Bonus.*

   *This position qualifies for the Mount Nittany Health Employee Referral incentive as per policy 6063*

   Responsible to the Unit Director/Manager for the overall nursing practice of the unit for the shift of assignment. In the absence of the Unit Manager, the GN is responsible to the Clinical Supervisor, Charge Nurse or the Clinical Coordinator of the shift. The GN must practice under the supervision of a registered nurse.

   Provides professional nursing care based on current nursing knowledge through use of the nursing process. This includes the responsibility for assessment of the patient's needs, development of the plan of care to meet those needs, implementation of nursing measures and evaluation of the effectiveness of the nursing care and other treatment measures.

   Qualifications

   MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

   Education:

   1) High School education or equivalent.
   2) Graduate of an accredited nursing program.

   Experience:

   1) Relevant experience preferred.

   Knowledge, Skills, Abilities:

   1) Demonstrates a high level of mental and emotional tolerance and even temperament when dealing with ill people.
   2) Uses tact, sensitivity, sound judgment and a professional attitude when relating with patients, families and co-workers at all times.

   License/Certification/Registration:

   1) Current PA RN licensure pending with practice permit.
   2) Meets the American Heart Association's standards for Healthcare Provider Basic Life Support (BLS) and renews BLS every two years.

   
   SUPERVISION RECEIVED

   Receives direct supervision from the Unit Director/Manager/Clinical Coordinator. May also be accountable to the Team Leader, Clinical Supervisor and/or Charge Nurse. Performs functions under close supervision and is expected to consult frequently with the supervisor on matters requiring professional judgment. Graduate nurses are not given charge responsibility for a unit and are not assigned as the only professional nurse on the unit.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find medical surgical staff nurses 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 medical surgical staff nurses they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level medical surgical staff nurses 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 medical surgical staff nurse job on Zippia to find and attract quality medical surgical staff nurse candidates.
   • Use niche websites such as healthcarejobsite, health jobs nationwide, hospitalcareers, medreps.com.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting medical surgical staff nurses requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   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.

   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 surgical staff nurse

   Once you've found the medical surgical staff nurse candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   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 medical surgical staff nurse 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.)

   Sign up to download full list

   Sign up

How much does it cost to hire a medical surgical staff nurse?