How to hire a pathologist assistant

How to hire a pathologist assistant, step by step

Here's a step-by-step pathologist assistant hiring guide:

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

What does a pathologist assistant do?

Post a pathologist assistant job for free, promote it for a fee

Post free

1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your pathologist assistant 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 a pathologist assistant 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

   A pathologist assistant's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, pathologist assistants 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.

   The following list breaks down different types of pathologist assistants and their corresponding salaries.

   Type of Pathologist Assistant	Description	Hourly rate
   Pathologist Assistant	Medical assistants complete administrative and clinical tasks in the offices of physicians, hospitals, and other healthcare facilities. Their duties vary with the location, specialty, and size of the practice.	$11-48
   MD	A Doctor of Medicine or MD is the designation of a person who completed medical education. Generally, MDs focus on the treatment of conditions in need of medication... Show more	$12-107
   Medical Internship	When it comes to a medical internship, one of the primary duties is to attend to the patients' needs while under a more experienced physician's supervision. During this period, the medical interns must rotate in various fields of specialties or departments for exposure... Show more	$15-37

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • ASCP
   • Patients
   • PA
   • Dictation
   • Frozen Sections
   • Anatomic Pathology
   • Tissue Specimens
   • Pathology Residents
   • Microscopic Examination
   • Surgical Pathology Specimens
   • CLIA
   • Clinical History
   • Sectioning
   • Laboratory Equipment

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Recognize & investigate instrument malfunctions, perform calibrations, manage QC, and maintain comprehensive written records of tests & procedures.
   • Assist and perform frozen sections, teach pathology residents and pa's.
   • Assist doctor when seeing patients, and document all patient information in paper chart and EMR.
   • Perform blood draws, record vital signs, maintain medical records, DNA collection, EKG's, medical office duties.
   • Gross examination, description, measuring and sectioning all kind of surgical specimens receive in the pathology laboratory.
   • Employ all require OSHA safety procedures and devices.

   More pathologist assistant duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your pathologist assistant job description helps attract top candidates to the position. A pathologist assistant 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 pathologist assistant in Colorado may be lower than in Massachusetts, and an entry-level pathologist assistant usually earns less than a senior-level pathologist assistant. Additionally, a pathologist assistant 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 pathologist assistant salary

   $50,079yearly

   $24.08 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level pathologist assistant salary

   $24,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 21, 2026

   Average pathologist assistant salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	Massachusetts	$98,701	$47
   2	New York	$92,129	$44
   3	Maryland	$81,050	$39
   4	New Jersey	$76,809	$37
   5	Vermont	$64,171	$31
   6	Delaware	$63,982	$31
   7	Pennsylvania	$52,919	$25
   8	Arizona	$48,704	$23
   9	California	$48,344	$23
   10	Michigan	$46,013	$22
   11	Illinois	$45,905	$22
   12	Ohio	$44,402	$21
   13	Wisconsin	$43,470	$21
   14	Minnesota	$41,905	$20
   15	Texas	$40,339	$19
   16	West Virginia	$37,153	$18
   17	Iowa	$36,420	$18
   18	Florida	$34,893	$17
   19	North Carolina	$34,744	$17
   20	Oregon	$34,118	$16

   Average pathologist assistant salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Essentia Health	$263,744	$126.80	57
   2	University Hospitals	$258,114	$124.09	2
   3	Christiana Care Health Services, Inc.	$239,215	$115.01	12
   4	Sanford Health	$232,788	$111.92	144
   5	Nebraska Medicine	$231,219	$111.16	2
   6	Tufts Medical Center	$231,073	$111.09
   7	Cleveland Clinic	$229,441	$110.31	162
   8	Cedars-Sinai	$225,214	$108.28	68
   9	University of Maryland Medical System	$225,029	$108.19	30
   10	SSM Health	$224,974	$108.16	122
   11	Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center	$222,442	$106.94	7
   12	St. Joseph's Health	$220,753	$106.13	5
   13	Brigham and Women's Hospital	$219,959	$105.75	99
   14	UMass Memorial Health	$192,661	$92.63	41
   15	Hospital Sisters Health System	$189,964	$91.33	17
   16	Stanford Health Care	$187,522	$90.15	17
   17	Emory Healthcare	$186,897	$89.85	57
   18	Kaiser Permanente	$185,394	$89.13	118
   19	Novant Health	$181,615	$87.31	120
   20	St. Joseph Healthcare	$179,057	$86.09	10

4. Writing a pathologist assistant job description

   A pathologist assistant 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 pathologist assistant job description:

   Pathologist assistant job description example

   Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey is seeking a Pathologist's Assistant in Biospecimen Repository Services at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey.
   
   Pathologist's Assistant acts as the lead pathologist assistant in support of the research goals and objectives of the Biospecimen Repository Services Tissue Retrieval Shared Resource, as specified by the NIH-National Cancer Institute Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG) awarded to the Cancer Institute of New Jersey. The Pathologist Assistant grosses all human tissue specimens under the supervision of a board certified Pathologist. Assists pathologists in the diagnosis of human disease. Provides technical, administrative, and educational assistance to members of the lab and other departments. Committed to continuous quality improvement, excellent patient care, and outstanding cancer research.
   Among the key duties of this position are the following:
   
   * Acts as lead person responsible for grossing surgical human tissue specimens as needed to meet the research goals and objectives the Biospecimen Repository Services Tissue Retrieval Shared Resource at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey.
   * Responsible for actively consulting with Pathologist and is aware of the delicate balance between research needs and diagnostic potential of every specimen, and as such, exercises judicious care in selecting tissue for the tissue bank while also ensuring that there is an appropriate amount of tissue for patient diagnosis.
   * Grosses all types of tissue specimens autonomously, including complex resections. Dictates accurate specimen description and selects appropriate sections for submission, in order to facilitate the patient's diagnosis in the most efficient manner possible.
   * Organizes and manages the integrity of data entered into the tissue retrieval database.
   * Obtains and anonymizes pathology reports for all tissue retrieval tissue specimens. Keeps appropriate records relating to such procedures. Complies with all HIPAA regulations and Institutional Review Board regulations for the protection of human subjects.
   * Coordinates retrieval of all tissue specimens for the Cancer Institute of New Jersey's tissue bank, guides tissue technicians in pick-up, data recording and labeling procedures.
   * Performs frozen sectioning of tissue specimens for immediate diagnosis.
   * Meets with principal investigators and study coordinators to develop and implement a plan for facilitating retrieval of tissue specimens for specific research protocols.
   * Maintains current knowledge of all active research protocols requiring the retrieval of human tissue specimens. Extracts pertinent information from research protocols and applies this information in the daily grossing of surgical human tissue specimens. Takes active steps to obtain additional necessary information, when needed.
   * Responsible for reviewing quality assurance of tissue retrieval specimens with board certified pathologist.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

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

6. Interview candidates

   Your first interview with pathologist assistant candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

   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 pathologist assistant

   Once you've decided on a perfect pathologist assistant 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.

   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.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new pathologist assistant. 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.)

   Sign up to download full list

   Sign up

How much does it cost to hire a pathologist assistant?