How to hire an operating room aide

How to hire an operating room aide, step by step

Here's a step-by-step operating room aide hiring guide:

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

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your operating room aide job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find an operating room aide for hire on a part-time basis or as a 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 an operating room 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 an operating room aide that fits the bill.

   This list shows salaries for various types of operating room aides.

   Type of Operating Room Aide	Description	Hourly rate
   Operating Room 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	$11-17
   PRN	A PRN or a "pro re nata" employee is responsible for covering a shift or a specific situation, especially during short-staffing or the need to complete a particular task. The PRNs often work for a medical industry without a regular or full-time commitment, having the freedom to manage their time and take multiple assignments from different organizations... Show more	$8-42
   Nurse Technician	Nurse technicians, also known as nursing aides, assistants, or attendants, usually work in clinics, hospitals, and nursing homes. Primarily, they help a registered nurse by providing essential mobility, care, and support to patients... Show more	$12-19

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Patients
   • Patient Care
   • Medical Terminology
   • Cleanliness
   • Patient Transport
   • Surgical Procedures
   • Surgical Cases
   • Surgery Room
   • Stretchers
   • Room Turnover
   • Room Equipment
   • Lunch Room
   • Blood Products
   • IV

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Help maintain appearance, cleanliness of dining halls as well as kept them stock and organize.
   • Transport patients within facility and maintain a clean and orderly patient environment.
   • Assist patients with personal hygiene and ambulate patients according to specific procedures.
   • Plan activities base on assign student's IEP to encourage appropriate independence and facilitate/support student's participation in all activities.
   • Collaborate with other teachers or administrators to develop, evaluate, or revise kindergarten or elementary school programs.

3. Make a budget

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

   • Location. For example, operating room aides' average salary in mississippi is 36% less than in maine.
   • Seniority. Entry-level operating room aides 36% less than senior-level operating room aides.
   • Certifications. An operating room 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 an operating room aide's salary.

   Average operating room aide salary

   $13.90hourly

   $28,902 yearly

   ---

   Entry-level operating room aide salary

   $23,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 19, 2025

4. Writing an operating room aide job description

   A job description for an operating room aide 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 an operating room aide job description:

   Operating room aide job description example

   Responsible for assisting in the following area: Laundry Distribution, Supply Distribution, Receiving, Warehouse Maintenance, Customer Service, Central Sterile Processing and other areas within Supply Chain Management. Receives assignment and associated tasks from Managers. Delivers and retrieves items throughout the hospital, as directed. Accepts additional assignments related to support functions as is needed to provide service excellence to patients, visitors, and hospital staff. Supports the Mission of Trinity Health and Holy Cross Hospital.
   
   **Available to work at both Silver Spring and Germantown locations in either Linen or Supply chain as defined in the job description.**
   **Minimum Licensure/Certification Required (if applicable):**
   
   Valid driver's license.
   
   **Minimum Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Required:**
   
   High School Diploma or equivalent. Ability to read, write, speak and comprehend English. Basic computer skill. Ability to perform simple math. Ability to communicate clearly and effectively.
   
   **Working Conditions:**
   
   **Physical Requirements** : Medium work. Exerting up to 50 pounds of force occasionally, and/or up to 30 pounds of force frequently, and/or up to 10 pounds of force constantly to move objects.
   
   **Visual Acuity** : The worker is required to have close visual acuity to perform an activity such as: preparing and analyzing data and figures; transcribing; viewing a computer terminal; reading; visual inspection involving small defects, small parts; and assembly. The worker is required to have visual acuity to determine the accuracy, neatness, and thoroughness of the work assigned or to make relevant observations.
   
   **Environmental Conditions** : The worker is required to function in narrow aisles or passageways.
   
   **Reporting Relationship:**
   
   Supervised by the SCM Service and Support Manager ensuring standard compliance
   
   **Trinity Health's Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion**
   
   Trinity Health employs about 133,000 colleagues at dozens of hospitals and hundreds of health centers in 22 states. Because we serve diverse populations, our colleagues are trained to recognize the cultural beliefs, values, traditions, language preferences, and health practices of the communities that we serve and to apply that knowledge to produce positive health outcomes. We also recognize that each of us has a different way of thinking and perceiving our world and that these differences often lead to innovative solutions.
   
   Trinity Health's dedication to diversity includes a unified workforce (through training and education, recruitment, retention and development), commitment and accountability, communication, community partnerships, and supplier diversity.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find operating room 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.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your operating room aide job on Zippia to find and attract quality operating room aide candidates.
   • Use niche websites such as healthcarejobsite, health jobs nationwide, hospitalcareers, medreps.com.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting operating room 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.

   Remember to include a few questions that allow candidates to expand on their strengths in their own words. Asking about their unique skills might reveal things you'd miss otherwise. At this point, good candidates 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 operating room aide

   Once you have selected a candidate for the operating room 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.

   It's also good etiquette to follow up with applicants who don't get the job by sending them an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new operating room aide. 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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