How to hire a representative

How to hire a representative, step by step

Here's a step-by-step representative hiring guide:

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

What does a representative do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the representative you need to hire. Certain representative roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A representative's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, representatives 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 representatives and their corresponding salaries.

   Type of Representative	Description	Hourly rate
   Representative	Customer service representatives interact with customers to handle complaints, process orders, and provide information about an organization’s products and services.	$11-26
   Customer Relations Representative	A customer relations representative is responsible for providing the highest customer service by interacting with customers to respond to their inquiries and concerns, process their requests, and resolve their complaints. Customer relations representatives assist the customers with their needs by offering products and services according to their requirements and budget limitations... Show more	$13-24
   Customer Service Representative	Customer service representatives are the first point of contact of the customers, acting as the frontiers of the company and help in driving customer loyalty and retention by leaving a great impression and resolving all of their concerns. They accommodate customer queries by providing useful and comprehensive information about any products or services... Show more	$12-19

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Cleanliness
   • Patients
   • Customer Issues
   • Customer Service
   • Data Entry
   • Outbound Calls
   • Credit Card
   • Product Knowledge
   • Sales Floor
   • Quality Standards
   • Life Insurance
   • Windows
   • Inbound Calls
   • HR

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage fitting rooms and recover the department, while providing exceptional customer service and offering rewards and POS options.
   • Manage physical portfolio with necessary derivatives to mitigate risk within company guidelines.
   • Conduct telephone sales and interviews, compile and enter information into database, manage documents and insure customer satisfaction.
   • Review EOB denials, appeals and/or rebilling as appropriate.
   • Certify of all requirements, policies, and procedures, including MSB.
   • Take inbound phone calls from member and providers explaining the EOB denial and payments

   More representative duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the representative job description is a good way to get more applicants. A representative 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 representative in South Carolina may be lower than in New York, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level representative. Additionally, a representative with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average representative salary

   $36,023yearly

   $17.32 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level representative salary

   $23,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 19, 2025

   Average representative salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	District of Columbia	$63,166	$30
   2	New York	$56,478	$27
   3	Massachusetts	$51,222	$25
   4	Connecticut	$49,586	$24
   5	Pennsylvania	$47,949	$23
   6	Illinois	$43,433	$21
   7	Virginia	$43,320	$21
   8	Maine	$43,185	$21
   9	Minnesota	$42,141	$20
   10	North Carolina	$40,711	$20
   11	California	$40,603	$20
   12	Michigan	$40,532	$19
   13	Washington	$39,840	$19
   14	Ohio	$38,558	$19
   15	Indiana	$36,544	$18
   16	Colorado	$35,874	$17
   17	Oregon	$35,311	$17
   18	Missouri	$35,221	$17
   19	Texas	$33,831	$16
   20	Arizona	$33,231	$16

   Average representative salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Google	$86,664	$41.67	74
   2	IBM	$84,773	$40.76	12
   3	Infosys Public Service	$83,894	$40.33	12
   4	UGI	$82,940	$39.88	65
   5	Deloitte	$79,804	$38.37	9
   6	Barclays	$78,487	$37.73
   7	CDM Smith	$77,590	$37.30	146
   8	Eli Lilly and Company	$76,913	$36.98	4
   9	Earthjustice	$72,870	$35.03	4
   10	T.Y. Lin International	$72,113	$34.67
   11	Santander Bank	$70,285	$33.79
   12	Cyient	$69,853	$33.58
   13	Hill International	$69,233	$33.29	2
   14	Alliant Energy	$67,574	$32.49	1
   15	Bloomberg	$67,248	$32.33	18
   16	Battelle	$64,520	$31.02	1
   17	Guidehouse	$62,476	$30.04	68
   18	Fluor Corporation	$60,069	$28.88	2
   19	NETSCOUT	$59,677	$28.69	1
   20	PROLIM	$59,168	$28.45

4. Writing a representative job description

   A good representative job description should include a few things:

   • Summary of the role
   • List of responsibilities
   • Required skills and experience

   Including a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager is also appreciated by candidates. Here's an example of a representative job description:

   Representative job description example

   You could be the one who changes everything for our 26 million members as a clinical professional on our Medical Management/Health Services team. Centene is a diversified, national organization offering competitive benefits including a fresh perspective on workplace flexibility.
   
   Position Purpose: The Intake Representative I enters specific data/information from physicians' requests into a medical management authorization system, achieving required production quota/quality standards.
   
   • Validates patient and medical provider demographic information including correct selection of a medical provider by specialty for healthcare service.
   
   • Determines whether patients are eligible to receive health care benefits under the insurance program by determining the patients' status/eligibility the Primary Care Manager (doctor) type, and the appropriate referral/authorization path.
   
   • Contacts medical provider offices by telephone, and makes confirmation calls to patients for all urgent requests. Uses sound judgment in making decisions in order to keep the referral/authorization process moving forward in accordance with contractual timeliness standards.
   
   • Follows step-by-step instructions, including redirecting patients into the provider network for care, as required by contractual standards.
   
   • Formulates brief sentences/paragraphs from referral/authorization orders and prepares correspondence in business letter format to provide clinical information to servicing providers.
   
   • Generates letters and reviews to validate that they are going to the correct providers/patients, and that the provider/patient demographics and reason(s) for services to be rendered are correct.
   
   • Accounts accurately for personal production via a production report that includes outcome data such as closed transactions, duplicative transactions and requests.
   
   • Meets goals and produces results through tracking performance, improving work processes, and prioritizing work and tasks.
   
   • Achieves successful solutions by reviewing situations and ensuring a full understanding before taking steps to resolve. Key components of this responsibility are objectively identifying problems, recognizing patterns, and determining solutions.
   
   • Works as a team member; cooperates, assists and collaborates with co-workers to achieve goals and department success, and takes personal responsibility for achieving outstanding customer service.
   
   Education/Experience: High School diploma or equivalent; college course work preferred. Six months experience in a production/data entry environment performing alpha and numeric data entry in a healthcare related organization such as managed care, claims/billing, health insurance, customer service, call center, or claims office preferred.
   License/Certification: Medically based trade school diploma/certification, desired.
   
   Our Comprehensive Benefits Package: Flexible work solutions including remote options, hybrid work schedules and dress flexibility, Competitive pay, Paid time off including holidays, Health insurance coverage for you and your dependents, 401(k) and stock purchase plans, Tuition reimbursement and best-in-class training and development.
   
   Centene is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity, and values the ways in which we are different. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or other characteristic protected by applicable law.
   
   **TITLE:** Intake Representative I
   
   **LOCATION:** Rancho Cordova, California
   
   **REQNUMBER:** 1359797

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find representatives 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 representatives they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level representatives 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 representative job on Zippia to find and recruit representative candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting representatives 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.

   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 representative

   Once you've selected the best representative 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 important to follow up with applicants who do not get the job with an email letting them know that the position is filled.

   After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new representative. 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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How much does it cost to hire a representative?