How to hire a nursing home aide

How to hire a nursing home aide, step by step

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

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the nursing home aide you need to hire. Certain nursing home aide 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

   Hiring the perfect nursing home aide also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

   This list presents nursing home aide salaries for various positions.

   Type of Nursing Home Aide	Description	Hourly rate
   Nursing Home Aide	Home health aides help people with disabilities, chronic illness, or cognitive impairment with activities of daily living. They often help older adults who need assistance... Show more	$11-50
   Health Care Provider	A health care provider offers health care services such as the diagnosis of diseases in medical laboratories, imaging centers, or treatment services. Your job responsibility as a health care provider may be to look after the well-being of patients and provide specific medical care to them... Show more	$12-29
   Home Health Care	Home health aides are healthcare professionals who are responsible for providing support and personal services to patients. These aides are required to monitor their patients by observing the physical and mental condition of their patients... Show more	$11-28

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Patients
   • Home Health
   • Vital Signs
   • Physical Therapy
   • Nursing Home
   • Compassion
   • HHA
   • CPR
   • Direct Patient Care
   • Care Services
   • Laundry Services
   • Companionship
   • Blood Pressure
   • Clean Environment

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Perform Adl's medication administration.
   • Assist nurse with the residents with their ADL.
   • Treat each patient with genuine, compassion, kindness and respect.
   • Assist with colostomy and catheter care under the supervision of the RN.
   • Complete proper state training including blood borne pathogens, CPR training and others.
   • Promote continuity of care by accurately and completely communicating to other caregivers the status of patients for which care is provided.

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your nursing home aide job description is one of the best ways to attract top talent. A nursing home aide can vary based on:

   • Location. For example, nursing home aides' average salary in florida is 63% less than in pennsylvania.
   • Seniority. Entry-level nursing home aides 78% less than senior-level nursing home aides.
   • Certifications. A nursing home aide with certifications usually earns a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for an established firm or a new start-up company can make a big difference in a nursing home aide's salary.

   Average nursing home aide salary

   $49,268yearly

   $23.69 hourly rate

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   Entry-level nursing home aide salary

   $23,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 24, 2025

4. Writing a nursing home aide job description

   A good nursing home aide job description should include a few things:

   • Summary of the role
   • List of responsibilities
   • Required skills and experience

   Including a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager is also appreciated by candidates. Here's an example of a nursing home aide job description:

   Nursing home aide job description example

   Adobe Care & Wellness is an organization whose culture is based on inclusivity, and ensuring that our team members can thrive and work in an environment that brings them joy and allows them to do the best work of their careers. We provide top-tier and meaningful medical services while taking into consideration the nuisances of cultural and regional dynamics. Our woman-owned business is recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in Arizona and is proof that necessity is the mother of innovation. We believe that our values are crucial not only to our growth, but the future we want to build for the medical industry as a whole .
   
   Summary: During an in-home visit that can last up to one hour, Adobe Care and Wellness providers review member s current health status, medical history, medications, social determinates, and other risks. By completing the comprehensive visit in their own home, we are able to get more insight into a member s overall health that can be difficult to capture during routine office visits.
   Ability to Make Your Own Schedule!!! $125 per visit
   
   DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
   
   Travel up to 90%; regions are identified and updated based on business needs.
   Conduct in-home assessments on identified patients, following established guidelines.
   Formulate a list of current and past medical conditions using clinical knowledge, judgment, and current findings.
   Identify urgent and emergent situations for proper intervention.
   Educate members on topics related to health conditions and the continuation of care.
   Identify diagnoses to be used in care management and active medical management.
   Develop positive relationships with members, caregivers, providers, and other care team members as needed.
   Communicate gaps in care to the member s primary care physician if needed.
   Identify internal and external referral needs when available.
   Interact with peers in a collegial manner, supporting efforts to improve outcomes.
   Compliant with all HIPPA regulations and maintain the security of protected health information (PHI).

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find nursing home aides 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 nursing home 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

   Recruiting nursing home aides 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 nursing home aide

   Once you've decided on a perfect nursing home aide 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.

   To prepare for the new nursing home aide 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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