How to hire a nurses' aide

How to hire a nurses' aide, step by step

Here's a step-by-step nurses' aide hiring guide:

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

What does a nurses' aide do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   The nurses' aide 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

   You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them a nurses' aide 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 nurses' aide that fits the bill.

   This list shows salaries for various types of nurses' aides.

   Type of Nurses' Aide	Description	Hourly rate
   Nurses' Aide	Nursing assistants, sometimes called nursing aides, help provide basic care for patients in hospitals and residents of long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes. Orderlies transport patients and clean treatment areas... Show more	$11-18
   Mobile Phlebotomist	A mobile phlebotomist mostly travels to various places such as patients' homes and nursing facilities to draw blood samples for laboratory analysis and medical condition diagnosis. Their responsibilities revolve around gathering information to verify the patient's identification, coordinating with nurses or facility officials, labeling and organizing samples according to a set of protocols, delivering samples to designated areas, and maintaining patient records... Show more	$12-19
   Patient Sitter	The primary job of a patient sitter is to provide patients with care and companionship. You will be responsible for a few duties that always include supervising patients, assisting them with basic personal hygiene and care, and monitoring their vital signs... Show more	$10-19

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Patients
   • Vital Signs
   • Electrocardiogram
   • Compassion
   • Rehabilitation
   • Medical Equipment
   • Home Health
   • CPR
   • English Language
   • Resident Care
   • ADL
   • Care Plan
   • Customer Service
   • Blood Pressure

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage and schedule restorative nursing programs for patients to encourage further rehabilitation or maintenance of physical function.
   • Maintain current CPR and hospital policies, work with patients ranging from pediatrics to geriatrics on a daily basis.
   • Perform ADL's (activities of daily living) and direct care services to assign patients to ensure schedule appointments are met
   • Assist with patient transfer, ambulation, catheter care, vital signs, answering call lights, feeding, and shower.
   • Lead RCA that overlook on residents and supervise staff.
   • Perform housekeeping to maintain cleanliness of the facility or patient's residence.

   More nurses' aide duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your nurses' aide job description helps attract top candidates to the position. A nurses' aide 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 nurses' aide in Georgia may be lower than in Hawaii, and an entry-level nurses' aide usually earns less than a senior-level nurses' aide. Additionally, a nurses' aide 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 nurses' aide salary

   $14.66hourly

   $30,496 yearly

   ---

   Entry-level nurses' aide salary

   $23,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 23, 2025

   Average nurses' aide salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	Hawaii	$37,685	$18
   2	New Hampshire	$36,706	$18
   3	Connecticut	$36,481	$18
   4	Pennsylvania	$33,669	$16
   5	New York	$32,996	$16
   6	Michigan	$32,037	$15
   7	Delaware	$31,406	$15
   8	New Jersey	$31,236	$15
   9	California	$30,380	$15
   10	Ohio	$29,930	$14
   11	Indiana	$28,073	$14
   12	Colorado	$27,968	$13
   13	Texas	$27,946	$13
   14	New Mexico	$27,555	$13
   15	North Carolina	$25,875	$12
   16	Missouri	$23,899	$11
   17	Louisiana	$23,233	$11

   Average nurses' aide salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	University of California-Berkeley	$41,417	$19.91	5
   2	Emanate Health	$40,062	$19.26	3
   3	Princeton University	$38,958	$18.73
   4	North Shore Healthcare	$35,836	$17.23	137
   5	Encompass Health	$35,005	$16.83	599
   6	Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College	$34,698	$16.68	4
   7	Home Health & Hospice Care	$34,487	$16.58	7
   8	Queens Health Systems	$34,484	$16.58	17
   9	Mount Sinai Health System	$34,398	$16.54	6
   10	Lahey Health Behavioral Services	$34,346	$16.51
   11	Health Alliance	$33,761	$16.23	20
   12	McLaren Health Care	$33,224	$15.97	67
   13	St Luke's Hospital & Health Network Inc	$33,024	$15.88
   14	ProMedica Toledo Hospital	$32,896	$15.82	1
   15	WakeMed	$32,806	$15.77
   16	Geisinger Medical Center	$32,703	$15.72	89
   17	The Henry Ford	$32,667	$15.71
   18	McLeod Health	$32,658	$15.70	9
   19	Regional Health Rapid City Hospital	$32,655	$15.70	32
   20	Hawaii Pacific Health	$32,611	$15.68	19

4. Writing a nurses' aide job description

   A nurses' aide 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 nurses' aide job description:

   Nurses' aide job description example

   **$3000 Sign-on Bonus** Paid out monthly

   **Starting Pay $18/hr plus experience

   **Night Shift differential pay

   Full-time 1st and 3rd shift and part-time day shift and night shift float positions available.

   Spring Creek Nursing and Rehabilitation Center located in Green Springs, Ohio is a beautiful campus consisting of Spring Creek Assisted Living and Spring Creek Nursing and Rehabilitation for Nursing Care Services. Spring Creek strives to have an unparalleled reputation for programs, services, and exceptional care!

   Spring Creek Nursing and Rehab is currently seeking State Tested Nurse Aides (STNA) for our long-term care (LTC) and skilled nursing facility. As part of the Spring Creek Team, you will be responsible for the care and needs of our many residents and patients. The wide range of complexities our facilities offer provides a wonderful experience to build careers upon. If you want to make a difference in the lives of others, than Spring Creek is where you should be!

   Spring Creek is an equal opportunity employer.

   Job duties include but not limited to the following:

   - Provides, assists or supervises patients with self-care as outlines in plan of care allowing patients time to do for themselves as able, including: grooming, dressing, bathing, nail care of non-diabetic patients and applying male external catheters, emptying catheters/leg bags, all of which promote self-worth.

   - Receive daily report from the Nurse on duty

   - Review medical record for assigned patients at the beginning of the shift prior to initiation of care.

   - Observes and reports to the Nurse any changes noted in the patient’s condition to ensure prompt, safe treatment for our patients.

   - Immediately report to the nurse on duty any changes including pressure areas, skin tears, bruising, reddened areas and complaints of any wrong doing from the patients.

   - Answers call lights promptly to assure patient’s needs are met.

   Benefits:

   -New Wage scale based off of years of experience

   -$3000 Sign-on bonus paid out monthly over the course of a year

   -On the job training

   -Paid time off after 90 days

   -Medical, Dental, Vision, Life insurance after 60 days

   -Supplemental insurance through Colonial Life after 60 days

   -401K after 90 days

   -Pick up bonuses

   -$3500 Employee referral bonus

   -Friendly, team- oriented work environment

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right nurses' aide for your business:

   • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.

   To find nurses' aide 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

   To successfully recruit nurses' aides, 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 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 nurses' aide

   Once you have selected a candidate for the nurses' aide position, it is time to create an offer letter. In addition to salary, the offer letter should include details about benefits and perks that are available to the employee. Ensuring your offer is competitive is vital, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and it is important to be open to discussion and reach a mutually beneficial agreement. After the offer has been accepted, it is a good idea to formalize 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.

   After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new nurses' aide. Human Resources and the hiring manager should complete Employee Action Forms. Human Resources should also ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc., and that new employee files are 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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How much does it cost to hire a nurses' aide?