How to hire a specialist

How to hire a specialist, step by step

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

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

What does a specialist do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

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

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

   Here's a comparison of specialist salaries for various roles:

   Type of Specialist	Description	Hourly rate
   Specialist	Computer support specialists provide help and advice to people and organizations using computer software or equipment. Some, called computer network support specialists, support information technology (IT) employees within their organization... Show more	$15-50

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Patients
   • Customer Service
   • Work Ethic
   • Patient Care
   • Exceptional Client
   • Troubleshoot
   • Product Knowledge
   • PowerPoint
   • HR
   • Mental Health
   • POS
   • Apple
   • Sales Floor
   • Windows

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Create, manage, and assist users with SharePoint sites.
   • Manage an on-site IRB and company good clinical practice (GCP) inspection.
   • Manage SharePoint sites by creating, editing, and customizing company sites, libraries and security.
   • Manage the building of accounts, assigning of static IP's, and scheduling of business class installations.
   • Convert servers from UNIX to Linux, all hardware diagnostics and repair including printers/plotters/desktops etc.
   • Follow safety procedures such as maintenance of all equipment (Telxon scanners, terminals and ladders).

   More specialist duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your specialist job description is a great way to entice the best and brightest candidates. A specialist salary can vary based on several factors:

   • Location. For example, specialists' average salary in maine is 47% less than in new jersey.
   • Seniority. Entry-level specialists earn 69% less than senior-level specialists.
   • Certifications. A specialist with a few certifications under their belt will likely demand a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for a prestigious company or an exciting start-up can make a huge difference in a specialist's salary.

   Average specialist salary

   $58,013yearly

   $27.89 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level specialist salary

   $32,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 18, 2026

   Average specialist salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	New Jersey	$73,692	$35
   2	New York	$72,662	$35
   3	District of Columbia	$69,935	$34
   4	California	$68,663	$33
   5	Pennsylvania	$65,879	$32
   6	Texas	$64,886	$31
   7	Massachusetts	$62,221	$30
   8	Virginia	$62,022	$30
   9	Illinois	$59,759	$29
   10	North Carolina	$58,632	$28
   11	Maryland	$55,221	$27
   12	Hawaii	$53,265	$26
   13	Georgia	$52,012	$25
   14	Nevada	$49,917	$24
   15	Ohio	$49,165	$24
   16	Arizona	$49,074	$24
   17	Washington	$48,690	$23
   18	Minnesota	$47,570	$23
   19	Mississippi	$47,470	$23
   20	Wisconsin	$47,006	$23

   Average specialist salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	The Citadel	$154,587	$74.32	10
   2	McKinsey & Company Inc	$152,793	$73.46	88
   3	Morgan Lewis	$149,201	$71.73	6
   4	Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati	$141,444	$68.00	4
   5	BP America Inc	$136,019	$65.39	5
   6	Chevron	$132,370	$63.64	18
   7	Meta	$130,773	$62.87	170
   8	PayPal	$129,315	$62.17	21
   9	Google	$128,223	$61.65	71
   10	NVIDIA	$127,958	$61.52	11
   11	Boston Consulting Group	$125,847	$60.50	10
   12	Publicis Sapient	$125,669	$60.42	1
   13	Exxon Mobil	$125,519	$60.35	11
   14	Microsoft	$124,717	$59.96	41
   15	AstraZeneca	$124,694	$59.95	66
   16	Venable	$122,978	$59.12
   17	Bristol-Myers Squibb	$122,285	$58.79	423
   18	RAND	$121,348	$58.34	2
   19	Cloudflare	$119,659	$57.53	17
   20	CITGO Petroleum	$119,531	$57.47

4. Writing a specialist job description

   A specialist 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 specialist job description:

   Specialist job description example

   Our Winning Family Starts With You! Check out these great benefits!
   

   • Flexible schedules to help you balance other life commitments (school, childcare, family care, etc.)
   • Free Employee Meal! (limited menu)
   • Weekly pay
   • Anniversary pay
   • Paid Sick Leave (1 hour for every 30 hours worked, begin accruing upon hire)
   • Paid Family and Medical Leave (up to 2 weeks after 1 year of service)
   • Medical/dental insurance
   • Ongoing training to build critical skills for current and future roles
   • Discounts on cellphones, travel, electronics & much more!
   • 401(k) savings plan (Company match after 1 year of service)
   • Management career advancement opportunities (50%+ of our managers are promoted from hourly positions!)

   
   And much more! Because at Olive Garden, We're All Family Here!
   
   One key to our success is the high standards we set for ourselves and each other. That includes placing the health and safety of our team members and guests as a top priority. We are committed to the highest safety and sanitation practices, including ensuring team member wellness and maintaining clean restaurants.
   
   As a To Go Specialist, you recognize that people's lives are busy, and guests safely picking up food to-go has become even more important. To Go Specialists ensure we deliver convenience without compromising quality or safety. Guests may choose to pick up their food in the restaurant or curbside in their car, either way, you are excited to serve them! Our To Go Specialists thrive on making loyal guests by displaying a strong sense of urgency, extensive menu knowledge (always ready to make a recommendation!), and ensuring all orders are on-time and accurate.
   
   We'd love to welcome you home as the newest member of the Family!
   
   #MyOliveGardenFam

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find the right specialist 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 specialists they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit specialists 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.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your specialist job on Zippia to find and attract quality specialist candidates.
   • Use niche websites such as dice, engineering.com, stack overflow, it job pro.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting specialists 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.

   While interviews are great, you will only sometimes learn enough from a conversation with a specialist applicant. In those cases, having candidates complete a test project can go a long way in figuring out who's the most likely to succeed in the role. If you aren't a technical person and don't know how to design an appropriate test, you can ask someone else on the team to create it or take a look at these websites to get a few ideas:

   • TestDome
   • CodeSignal
   • Testlify
   • BarRaiser
   • Coderbyte

   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 specialist

   Once you have selected a candidate for the specialist position, it is time to create an offer letter. In addition to salary, the offer letter should include details about benefits and perks that are available to the employee. Ensuring your offer is competitive is vital, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and it is important to be open to discussion and reach a mutually beneficial agreement. After the offer has been accepted, it is a good idea to formalize the agreement with a contract.

   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 specialist. 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 specialist?