How to hire a professional educator

How to hire a professional educator, step by step

Here's a step-by-step professional educator hiring guide:

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

What does a professional educator do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your professional educator 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 professional educator 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

   Hiring the perfect professional educator 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.

   Here's a comparison of professional educator salaries for various roles:

   Type of Professional Educator	Description	Hourly rate
   Professional Educator	Kindergarten and elementary school teachers prepare younger students for future schooling by teaching them basic subjects such as math and reading.	$16-35
   Student Teacher	A student-teacher is responsible for assisting their supervising instructors in maintaining the class orderliness during lectures and class activities. Student teachers' duties include helping with lesson plans, organizing learning activities, managing student behaviors, observing classroom procedures, preparing visual materials and other educational equipment, providing feedback for students, and keeping students' records for evaluation... Show more	$22-35
   Head Teacher	A headteacher is responsible for monitoring the students' overall learning process, managing and evaluating the performance of school staff, implementing effective learning strategies for the students, encouraging them to reach their maximum potential, and gain self-confidence. Headteachers often lead meetings, especially discussing school activities and the child's performance to their parents, implementing safety policies, and enforcing disciplinary actions for policy violations... Show more	$15-39

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Classroom Management
   • Curriculum Development
   • Training Programs
   • English Language
   • Autism
   • Professional Development
   • Kids
   • K-12
   • Mathematics
   • Student Learning
   • Healthcare Professionals
   • Program Development
   • Learning Styles
   • Professional Education Programs

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage revolving caseload of students with IEP team including initials, transfer placements, manifestation determinations.
   • Design and organize workshops for parents to provide tools in assisting students to increase literacy and mathematics achievement.
   • Provide urban education, multicultural education and leadership training for a diverse population of new teachers.

   More professional educator duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your professional educator job description helps attract top candidates to the position. A professional educator 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 professional educator in Indiana may be lower than in New York, and an entry-level professional educator usually earns less than a senior-level professional educator. Additionally, a professional educator 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 professional educator salary

   $50,068yearly

   $24.07 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level professional educator salary

   $34,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 23, 2025

   Average professional educator salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	New York	$80,836	$39
   2	Maryland	$74,652	$36
   3	New Jersey	$67,958	$33
   4	Washington	$66,594	$32
   5	California	$60,885	$29
   6	Michigan	$53,879	$26
   7	Oregon	$51,713	$25
   8	Utah	$51,092	$25
   9	Wisconsin	$46,362	$22
   10	Georgia	$46,148	$22
   11	Tennessee	$46,138	$22
   12	Nevada	$44,368	$21
   13	Florida	$43,747	$21
   14	Colorado	$41,730	$20
   15	Indiana	$41,249	$20
   16	Texas	$39,988	$19
   17	Mississippi	$39,199	$19

   Average professional educator salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	HealthTrust	$66,361	$31.90	1
   2	UCI Health	$66,154	$31.80
   3	University of California	$64,651	$31.08	17
   4	Alpine School District	$63,850	$30.70	3
   5	UC Santa Barbara	$63,736	$30.64
   6	St. Charles Health System	$62,438	$30.02
   7	Kean University	$61,324	$29.48	2
   8	University of California-Berkeley	$60,893	$29.28
   9	Valley View Hospital	$60,798	$29.23	2
   10	Indiana University of Pennsylvania	$60,570	$29.12
   11	Johnson & Johnson	$59,917	$28.81	6
   12	Avanos Medical	$58,679	$28.21
   13	University of Mississippi Medical Center	$56,835	$27.32	3
   14	Temple University	$56,721	$27.27	1
   15	Schoolcraft College	$55,583	$26.72
   16	Univ Of Colorado-Colorado Spgs	$54,729	$26.31
   17	University of Colorado Boulder	$54,656	$26.28	5
   18	Georgia State University	$54,356	$26.13	2
   19	Hca Hospital Services Of San Diego	$54,279	$26.10
   20	University of Kentucky	$54,068	$25.99	2

4. Writing a professional educator job description

   A job description for a professional educator 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 a professional educator job description:

   Professional educator job description example

   The Director oversees the advancement of the professional development programs, in alignment with the CNO and the organizational Strategic Plans.
   
   In collaboration with clinical and administrative leadership, this Director will be responsible for overseeing activities within the Nursing Division related to clinical education, professional nursing practice, research, care delivery systems, evidence-based practice, and nursing outcomes improvement.
   
   The incumbent may also serve as Magnet Program or Pathway Program Director and coordinate efforts to maintain designation and achieve compliance with all ANCC Program requirements.
   
   The Director will take a leadership role in overseeing nursing professional development programs; supporting the application of evidence-based practice; and defining innovative strategies to build a culture of clinical excellence and reliable care. In addition the Director will be pivotal to promoting nursing research and shared governance within the organization.
   
   Recommends changes in behavioral and organizational practices that are critical to the development of a professional practice milieu.
   
   Assesses need and evaluates current and future professional nursing and future professional nursing practices at Augusta Health.
   
   Plans, organizes, directs and controls all activities required to continually gain and sustain award designation.
   Oversees the Nursing Professional Development Program (Clinical Ladder Program). Leads the nursing strategic planning process and is accountable for developing, organizing, implementing, and evaluating plans for Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) and the transformation of clinical care. Supports and oversees shared governance. Education Requirements BSN required and current Master's in a related field or enrolled in MSN program. Current RN licensure in the state of Virginia. Experience Requirements A minimum of 5 years nursing experience required with experience developing and conducting education programs, planning, organizing and managing complex function and processes, project management, and knowledge of Shared Governance. Skill Requirements Prior management experience preferred. Possesses excellent oral and written communication skills with the ability to communicate in a positive, consistent, enthusiastic, and open manner. Demonstrates knowledge of hospital and departmental policies, procedures, and guidelines. Shows commitment to Augusta Health, patient care and the community. Demonstrates leadership qualities/abilities. Demonstrates ability to create and maintain internal and external relationships necessary to effectively accomplish job-related goals and objectives. Maintains and operationalizes current knowledge in nursing professional development and of healthcare trends in order to effectively manage program responsibilities. Demonstrates ability to establish and maintain internal and external relationships. Demonstrates ability to exercise judgment, tact and diplomacy. Demonstrates ability to relate to diverse populations of internal and external customers. Company Information
   Augusta Health is a mission-driven, independent, nonprofit, community health system located in Fishersville Virginia in Virginia's scenic Shenandoah Valley. Augusta Health offers a full continuum of inpatient and outpatient which includes Augusta Medical Center a 255 bed inpatient facility and Augusta Medical Group which is comprised of 40 practice locations and four urgent care locations. Equal Opportunity
   Augusta Health recruits, hires and promotes qualified candidates for employment without regard to age, color, disability, gender identity or expression, marital status, national or ethnic origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, veteran or military discharge status, and family medical or genetic information.

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5. Post your job

   To find the right professional educator for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important sources of talent for any company is its existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and current employees and ask if they know or have worked with professional educators they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit professional educators who meet your education requirements.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter now have more than 3.5 billion users, and you can use social media to reach potential job candidates.

   To find professional educator 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 k12jobspot, learn4good, serious teachers, teachingjobs.com.
   • Post your job on free job posting websites.

6. Interview candidates

   To successfully recruit professional educators, 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. You can move on to the technical interview if a candidate is good enough for the next step.

   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 professional educator

   Once you've found the professional educator 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 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.

   After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new professional educator. 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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