How to hire an Operations Associate

How to hire an operations associate, step by step

Here's a step-by-step operations associate hiring guide:

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

What does an Operations Associate do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   The operations associate 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

   An operations associate's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, operations associates 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.

   Here's a comparison of operations associate salaries for various roles:

   Type Of Operations Associate	Description	Hourly Rate
   Operations Associate		$13-45
   Business Developer	A business developer specializes in conducting in-depth business analysis and crafting various strategies that would not just help a business grow, but also strengthen client base and brand awareness. One of their primary responsibilities revolves around identifying areas in need of improvement... Show More	$31-75
   Principal Consultant	A principal consultant is responsible for evaluating business' needs and opportunities, identifying potential leads to create project proposals, and maintaining strong business relationships that would generate revenues and increase the organization's profitability. Principal consultants must be up-to-date with the current market trends to ensure that the business adapts to the industry's changes... Show More	$43-72

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common Skills:

   • Customer Service
   • Sales Floor
   • Basic Math
   • Portfolio
   • Work Ethic
   • Math
   • Cleanliness
   • Client Service
   • PowerPoint
   • Data Entry
   • Patients
   • Store Operations
   • Excellent Interpersonal
   • Strong Analytical

   Check All Skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Demonstrate ability to manage and organize clinical setting for patients and families.
   • Meet minimum standards for compliance with AML laws and regulations.
   • Organize and complete online LTL shipment orders for customers and vendors.
   • Create new access, removing access, and act as SME for offshore staff.
   • Perform preventative maintenance, as needed, to assist in the achievement of SLA contractual requirements.
   • Communicate with LTL, TL carriers regarding billing/invoice, class, re weigh and other discrepancies.

   More Operations Associate duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your operations associate job description is a great way to entice the best and brightest candidates. An operations associate salary can vary based on several factors:

   • Location. For example, operations associates' average salary in florida is 45% less than in new york.
   • Seniority. Entry-level operations associates earn 71% less than senior-level operations associates.
   • Certifications. An operations associate with a few certifications under their belt will likely demand a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for a prestigious company or an exciting start-up can make a huge difference in an operations associate's salary.

   Average operations associate salary

   $52,703yearly

   $25.34 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level operations associate salary

   $28,000 yearly salary

   Updated June 12, 2025

   Average operations associate salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate
   1	New York	$73,362	$35
   2	Delaware	$71,288	$34
   3	New Jersey	$70,539	$34
   4	Massachusetts	$69,714	$34
   5	California	$66,490	$32
   6	Illinois	$59,522	$29
   7	Maryland	$59,386	$29
   8	Pennsylvania	$56,828	$27
   9	District of Columbia	$54,210	$26
   10	Maine	$52,881	$25
   11	Virginia	$52,000	$25
   12	North Carolina	$46,285	$22
   13	Nevada	$45,479	$22
   14	Ohio	$45,309	$22
   15	Washington	$45,144	$22
   16	Mississippi	$45,137	$22
   17	Arizona	$44,806	$22
   18	Indiana	$44,162	$21
   19	Wisconsin	$43,832	$21
   20	Utah	$43,652	$21

   Average operations associate salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average Salary	Hourly Rate	Job Openings
   1	Biogen	$118,781	$57.11	1
   2	Cerberus Capital Management	$116,332	$55.93
   3	Eli Lilly and Company	$114,467	$55.03	35
   4	Novartis	$113,744	$54.68	4
   5	Meta	$112,625	$54.15	337
   6	Better	$112,506	$54.09	1
   7	Google	$110,968	$53.35	45
   8	Cambridge Associates	$109,915	$52.84	3
   9	Lucid Motors	$109,067	$52.44	13
   10	PitchBook Data	$108,970	$52.39	8
   11	Tesla	$108,456	$52.14	14
   12	Bristol-Myers Squibb	$107,400	$51.63	19
   13	Pacific Investment Management Company LLC	$107,007	$51.45
   14	Robinhood	$106,910	$51.40	6
   15	Databricks	$106,445	$51.18
   16	Capital Group	$104,562	$50.27	2
   17	Bloom Energy	$104,023	$50.01
   18	City National Bank	$102,899	$49.47	15
   19	Goldman Sachs	$102,303	$49.18	64
   20	Cantor Fitzgerald	$101,742	$48.91	2

4. Writing an Operations Associate Job Description

   An operations associate 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 an operations associate job description:

   Operations Associate job description example

   Why Patients Need You
   Everything we do, every day, is in line with an unwavering commitment to the quality and the delivery of safe and effective products to patients. Our science and risk-based compliant quality culture is flexible, innovative, and customer oriented. Whether you are involved in development, maintenance, compliance or analysis through research programs, your contribution will directly impact patients.
   
   What You Will Achieve
   You will be a member of Pfizer's dedicated and highly effective GTx2 Operations Compliance. You will provide oversight of quality related requirements for operations areas and drive improvements to processes and manufacturing facility to assure full cGMP compliance. You will help ensure that regulatory compliance is maintained through commitment tracking, SOP creation and maintenance, compliance communications/education, and development and maintenance of key compliance metrics.
   As a GTx Quality Assurance Associate, your knowledge and skills will contribute towards the goals and objectives of the team. Your focus and ability to meet team targets will help in completing critical deliverables. Your innovative use of communication tools and techniques will facilitate in explaining difficult issues and establishing consensus between teams.
   It is your hard work and focus that will make Pfizer ready to achieve new milestones and help patients across the globe.
   
   How You Will Achieve It
   Contribute to the completion of projects, manage own time to meet agreed targets and develop plans for work activities on own projects within a team.Suggest improvements and conduct continuous improvement activities.Assist Operations teams with improvement projects as they relate to inspection readiness and as identified during Site Self Assessments.Author and maintain general operations SOPsDevelop and share compliance communications/education Track Operations CAPA/commitments to ensure timely completion Track and report on key compliance metrics
   Collect data in support of process robustness
   
   Qualifications
   Must-Have
   Applicant must have High School Diploma (or equivalent) with six years of relevant experience; OR an Associate's degree with four years of experience; OR a Bachelor's degree with 0-2 years of experience. Knowledge of current Good Manufacturing Practices and the applicable GxP regulations and standards Proactive approach and strong critical thinking skills Must be able to work in a team environment within own team and interdepartmental teams Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
   
   Nice-to-Have
   Willing to lead by example and jump right in, desire to get to root cause, collaborative and active listener.Effectively manages stressful situations, able to focus on task at regardless of circumstances and stress induced pressure
   
   PHYSICAL/MENTAL REQUIREMENTS
   Ability to gown in manufacturing areas and provide shop floor support if needed.
   Work Location Assignment: On Premise
   
   Relocation assistance may be available based on business needs and/or eligibility.
   
   Pfizer requires all U.S. new hires to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 prior to the first date of employment. As required by applicable law, Pfizer will consider requests for Reasonable Accommodations.
   
   Sunshine ActPfizer reports payments and other transfers of value to health care providers as required by federal and state transparency laws and implementing regulations. These laws and regulations require Pfizer to provide government agencies with information such as a health care provider's name, address and the type of payments or other value received, generally for public disclosure. Subject to further legal review and statutory or regulatory clarification, which Pfizer intends to pursue, reimbursement of recruiting expenses for licensed physicians may constitute a reportable transfer of value under the federal transparency law commonly known as the Sunshine Act. Therefore, if you are a licensed physician who incurs recruiting expenses as a result of interviewing with Pfizer that we pay or reimburse, your name, address and the amount of payments made currently will be reported to the government. If you have questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact your Talent Acquisition representative.
   
   EEO & Employment EligibilityPfizer is committed to equal opportunity in the terms and conditions of employment for all employees and job applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, gender identity or gender expression, national origin, disability or veteran status. Pfizer also complies with all applicable national, state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment as well as work authorization and employment eligibility verification requirements of the Immigration and Nationality Act and IRCA. Pfizer is an E-Verify employer.
   
   Manufacturing
   
   #LI-PFE

   Copy This Example

   

5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right operations associate 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.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your operations associate job on Zippia to find and recruit operations associate candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting operations associates 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.

   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 operations associate

   Once you've found the operations associate 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.

   It's also important to follow up with applicants who do not get the job with an email letting them know that the position is filled.

   To prepare for the new operations associate 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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