How to hire a respiratory technician

How to hire a respiratory technician, step by step

Here's a step-by-step respiratory technician hiring guide:

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

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the respiratory technician you need to hire. Certain respiratory technician 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

   Hiring the perfect respiratory technician 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.

   This list presents respiratory technician salaries for various positions.

   Type of Respiratory Technician	Description	Hourly rate
   Respiratory Technician		$11-27
   Emergency Medical Technician	Emergency medical technicians or EMTs are skilled medical professionals who act as first responders to injured or sick patients. They apply first aid or do emergency medical procedures upon arriving at the area where the emergency happened... Show more	$12-28
   Respiratory Care Practitioner	A Respiratory Care Practitioner assesses and treats patients with pulmonary diseases. They diagnose lung and breathing disorders and recommend treatment methods.	$14-47

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Patients
   • Respiratory Care
   • CPR
   • EKG
   • Life Support
   • Nebulizer
   • Resuscitation
   • Patient Education
   • Ventilation
   • Aerosol Therapy
   • Critical Care
   • Oxygen Tanks
   • Oxygen Therapy
   • EEG

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Provide aerosol therapy, bronchial hygiene, ventilator setup, CPR, and any other career relate requirements.
   • Fit patient for CPAP mask, educate on equipment.
   • Complete EKG's, treadmill heart testing and asthma testing.
   • Set the CPAP machine for each individual and fit him or her with proper masks.
   • Administer respiratory medications, CPR, and therapeutic processes, in an ethical, orderly fashion.
   • Provide respiratory assistance with ventilation and medication.

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your respiratory technician job description is one of the best ways to attract top talent. A respiratory technician can vary based on:

   • Location. For example, respiratory technicians' average salary in arkansas is 36% less than in washington.
   • Seniority. Entry-level respiratory technicians 59% less than senior-level respiratory technicians.
   • Certifications. A respiratory technician with certifications usually earns a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for an established firm or a new start-up company can make a big difference in a respiratory technician's salary.

   Average respiratory technician salary

   $37,757yearly

   $18.15 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level respiratory technician salary

   $24,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 24, 2026

4. Writing a respiratory technician job description

   A job description for a respiratory technician 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 respiratory technician job description:

   Respiratory technician job description example

   If you are an existing employee of South Shore Health then please apply through the internal career site.
   
   Facility:
   LOC0001 - 55 Fogg Road55 Fogg
   Road
   Weymouth,
   MA 02190
   
   Department Name:
   SSH Respiratory Therapy
   
   Status:
   Part time
   
   Budgeted Hours:
   16
   
   Shift:
   Day (United States of America)
   
   Under the auspices of the South Shore Hospital Director of Respiratory Care and the direct supervision of a Massachusetts licensed respiratory therapist preceptor, the student/respiratory technician will perform duties permitted by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts's M.G.L. c. 112, §§ 23R through 23BB as defined in 261 CMR 2.06 - 2.08. The student must apply for and be granted a limited permit to practice respiratory therapy to be accepted as an employee of this program. At any time the limited license expires, is revoked or the student is no longer enrolled in his/her respiratory program prior to graduation, the employment will be revoked. The student will only be permitted to perform those services which have been successfully completed as part of the curriculum of his/her respiratory therapy program. South Shore Hospital may however further limit the scope of practice that may be performed by the student. The student, in conjunction with the educational respiratory therapy program director, will be responsible for filing a Verification of Education form to the Board of Registration in Respiratory Care and updating this form as the student further completes his education. The student must keep a logbook of all services performed at South Shore Hospital and pass them in to the Respiratory Care Operations Manager each week. These logs will be retained in the student's departmental personnel file. The student's preceptor must verify all entries in the logbook. Duties That May Be Performed If Included In The Limited License: Equipment storage, assembly, disassembly and maintenance. Gas cylinder transport. Administration of oxygen. Administration of hand held nebulizer treatments. Instruction of incentive spirometers. Instruction of metered dose inhalers. Sputum inductions. Subsequent applications of CPAP and BiPAP. Blood Gas Analysis (verified by preceptor) Pulmonary Function Testing Ventilator application and maintenance. (only with direct observation by preceptor) Manual ventilation during CPR and transport. (only with direct observation by preceptor) Duties That May Not Be Performed Regardless of Licensure Inclusion: Ventilator application and maintenance. (without direct observation) Arterial punctures. Hemodynamic line draws. Nasotracheal suctioning
   BLS - Basic Life Support. Knowledge of oxygen therapy and limitations of the various devices. Good interpersonal skills. Understanding and basic ability to interpret blood gases. Understanding of aerosol therapy and the medications used. Successful completion of the first year instruction in Respiratory Care from an accredited institution.
   ACLS - Advanced Cardiac Life Support
   Weekends
   
   Responsibilities if Required:
   
   Education if Required:
   
   License/Registration/Certification Requirements:
   Basic Life Support (BLS) Certification - American Heart Association (AHA) (Including courses offered through SSH), Respiratory Care Limited Permit - Board of Respiratory Care (Massachusetts)

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

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

6. Interview candidates

   To successfully recruit respiratory technicians, 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.

   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 respiratory technician

   Once you've found the respiratory technician 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.

   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.

   After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new respiratory technician. 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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