How to hire a program assistant

How to hire a program assistant, step by step

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

What does a program assistant do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your program 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 program 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

   You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them a program assistant 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 a program assistant that fits the bill.

   This list presents program assistant salaries for various positions.

   Type of Program Assistant	Description	Hourly rate
   Program Assistant	Social and human service assistants provide client services, including support for families, in a wide variety of fields, such as psychology, rehabilitation, and social work. They assist other workers, such as social workers, and they help clients find benefits or community services.	$12-21
   Assistance Coordinator	An assistant coordinator is a person who offers operational and clerical support to the senior coordinators. The duties and responsibilities of assistant coordinators include communication with employers or clients, a delegation of tasks to team members, and the collaboration with finance teams and fund allocation... Show more	$13-26
   Program Coordinator	Program coordinators are mid-level employees who are assigned to work on a program of a specific department. They handle the communications between their department and any other department that they may need to collaborate with... Show more	$14-30

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Patients
   • Customer Service
   • Data Entry
   • HR
   • Excellent Interpersonal
   • Data Collection
   • CPR
   • PowerPoint
   • Word Processing
   • Immunization
   • Provides Administrative Support
   • Office Equipment
   • Administrative Assistance
   • Child Care

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Lead classes in anatomy/physiology, medical terminology, transcription.
   • Manage oversight of budget/finance, personnel and continuous program improvement.
   • Assist in achieving and maintaining DoD certification and national accreditation where applicable.
   • Instruct students in C++ and Java programming, robot design and construction.
   • Introduce students to various computer pro- gramming languages (HTML, CSS, JavaScript).
   • Present information about RSVP to community organizations.

   More program assistant duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the program assistant job description is a good way to get more applicants. A program assistant salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

   For example, the average salary for a program assistant in Georgia may be lower than in Connecticut, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level program assistant. Additionally, a program assistant with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average program assistant salary

   $35,193yearly

   $16.92 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level program assistant salary

   $27,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 19, 2026

   Average program assistant salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	District of Columbia	$48,184	$23
   2	California	$40,302	$19
   3	New York	$38,405	$18
   4	Colorado	$37,601	$18
   5	New Jersey	$36,626	$18
   6	Wisconsin	$36,217	$17
   7	Massachusetts	$35,354	$17
   8	Oregon	$35,343	$17
   9	Washington	$35,305	$17
   10	Minnesota	$34,876	$17
   11	Ohio	$34,627	$17
   12	North Carolina	$34,522	$17
   13	Illinois	$34,211	$16
   14	Texas	$34,097	$16
   15	Maryland	$33,567	$16
   16	Pennsylvania	$33,354	$16
   17	Arizona	$33,080	$16
   18	New Hampshire	$33,023	$16
   19	Florida	$33,008	$16
   20	Hawaii	$32,865	$16

   Average program assistant salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	The Aspen Institute	$59,258	$28.49	7
   2	Champlain College	$57,670	$27.73
   3	Brigham and Women's Hospital	$56,554	$27.19	34
   4	University of Massachusetts Boston	$55,912	$26.88	9
   5	Long Beach City College	$55,211	$26.54
   6	Social Science Research Council	$55,012	$26.45
   7	Zoetis	$54,018	$25.97	1
   8	Medical University of South Carolina	$53,219	$25.59	30
   9	University of Connecticut	$52,970	$25.47	6
   10	Rocky Mountain Institute	$52,771	$25.37
   11	Columbia University in the City of New York	$52,358	$25.17	14
   12	Vital Voices	$52,307	$25.15
   13	NRDC	$52,157	$25.08
   14	National Football League	$51,516	$24.77
   15	Kean University	$51,324	$24.68	2
   16	Seattle Cancer Care Alliance	$50,908	$24.48
   17	Loyola University Maryland	$50,300	$24.18	2
   18	Atlantic Council	$50,288	$24.18	6
   19	American Society of Civil Engineers	$50,281	$24.17
   20	Regis College	$50,164	$24.12	6

4. Writing a program assistant job description

   A program 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. To help get you started, here's an example of a program assistant job description:

   Program assistant job description example

   Concord housing non-profit is in need of a temporary program coordinator to cover a leave of absence.
   Duties Include: Respond to calls and emails, providing high quality customer service by responding promptly, accurately, and professionally to all inquiries and requests for assistance. • Assist with planning, reservations, and internal and external meetings and events. Create and distribute agendas and complete meeting minutes. • Assist with preparation, distribution, and filing of correspondence, notices, invitations, reports, files, etc. • Responsible for vendor management and scheduling, including invoice management and payments. • Assist with program/client/tenant file audits to ensure program regulatory compliance. • Prepare scheduled and ad-hoc reports and validate for accuracy. • Complete monthly expense reports and credit card reconciliation for supervisor or as assigned. • Provide administrative support to supervisor and assigned team. • May serve on internal committees as needed. • Other administrative duties as assigned Screening prospective participants for eligibility of services. • Assist with making and documenting client, tenant, landlord contact lists. • Maintain vendor service provider lists including maintenance vendors, housing availability and prospective landlords, and caseload lists for programs. • Acting as a liaison to internal and external service resources, including communication and correspondence with referring agencies, landlords, vendors, and service partners. • Provide coordination of outside vendors, purchases, deliveries, etc… • Create and manage landlord set up, tracking leases and inspections, ensuring accurate monthly payments, etc
   Experience in the non profit housing industry is ideal. The hours for this role are Monday-Friday 8:30am-5:00pm. This role is 100% onsite. Bilingual in Spanish is a plus, nut not required.
   Apply today if interested. - Excellent communication skills (written and verbal)
   - Strong familiarity with Yardi
   - Administrative Assistance experience
   - Yardi Property Management experience preferred
   - Command of Transitional Housing
   - Nonprofit Organizations experience
   - At least 1 year of Administrative Assistant experience preferred
   - Ability to use the internet for research
   - Accomplished computer skills are a must. This includes word processing, spreadsheets and presentation software, as well as databases and customer database systems

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find program assistants 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 program assistant job on Zippia to find and recruit program assistant candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting program assistants 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 program assistant

   Once you've selected the best program assistant candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing 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.

   To prepare for the new employee's start date, you can create an onboarding schedule and complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9 forms, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Human Resources should also ensure that a new employee file is 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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How much does it cost to hire a program assistant?