How to hire a speech and language specialist

How to hire a speech and language specialist, step by step

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

What does a speech and language specialist do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring a speech and language specialist, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or 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 speech and language 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 speech and language specialist that fits the bill.

   This list presents speech and language specialist salaries for various positions.

   Type of Speech And Language Specialist	Description	Hourly rate
   Speech And Language Specialist	Speech-language pathologists (sometimes called speech therapists) assess, diagnose, treat, and help to prevent communication and swallowing disorders in patients. Speech, language, and swallowing disorders result from a variety of causes, such as a stroke, brain injury, hearing loss, developmental delay, Parkinson’s disease, a cleft palate or autism.	$20-43
   Student Clinician	A Student Clinician is a healthcare practitioner who works as caregiver of a patient in a hospital or clinic. They integrate knowledge obtained in courses into the clinical practicum assignments.	$19-40
   Graduate Student Clinician	Graduate student clinicians can be a nurse practitioner, pharmacist, or doctor whose primary job is to work with patients and assist patients in managing their medical condition or illness. They perform varied duties and responsibilities that include maintaining a good relationship with patients, discussing the treatment progress to patients, and documenting patients' medical history... Show more	$19-40

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • SLP
   • IEP
   • Autism
   • Asha
   • Therapy Sessions
   • Group Therapy
   • Auditory
   • Language Disorders
   • School-Age Children
   • Communication Disorders
   • Language Development
   • K-12
   • Language Evaluations
   • Public Schools

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage diverse caseload from identification through IEP process.
   • Produce IEP and function as a member of the child study team in order to produce a specialize IEP for students.
   • Assist speech language pathology staff in providing speech/language therapy services for clients with communications disorders.
   • Participate in evaluating the concerns and developing specific speech and language treatment plans for children with communication difficulties.
   • Perform pediatric evaluations for speech-language, hearing screenings, adaptive behavior and early developmental assessments as single discipline and team member.
   • Utilize Kaufman treatment kit for apraxia to improve functional communication.

   More speech and language specialist duties

3. Make a budget

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

   Average speech and language specialist salary

   $62,320yearly

   $29.96 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level speech and language specialist salary

   $43,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 20, 2025

   Average speech and language specialist salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$82,704	$40
   2	California	$82,273	$40
   3	California	$82,264	$40
   4	California	$82,227	$40
   5	California	$82,072	$39
   6	California	$82,036	$39
   7	California	$82,033	$39
   8	California	$81,975	$39
   9	California	$81,804	$39
   10	California	$80,476	$39
   11	California	$79,495	$38
   12	California	$79,304	$38
   13	California	$78,620	$38
   14	California	$78,207	$38
   15	California	$78,185	$38
   16	California	$77,637	$37
   17	California	$77,619	$37
   18	California	$77,606	$37
   19	California	$77,596	$37
   20	California	$77,440	$37

   Average speech and language specialist salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Tenet Healthcare	$91,073	$43.79	35
   2	Roper St. Francis Healthcare	$84,441	$40.60
   3	AccentCare	$81,769	$39.31	23
   4	Hackensack Meridian Health	$81,193	$39.04	31
   5	Froedtert Hospital	$77,613	$37.31	2
   6	Bilingual Therapies	$71,602	$34.42
   7	University of Scranton	$71,543	$34.40	2
   8	Baylor Scott & White Health	$71,458	$34.35	19
   9	Willamette Education Service District	$71,045	$34.16
   10	El Centro	$70,046	$33.68
   11	Cumberland Therapy Services, LLC	$68,344	$32.86
   12	HealthTrust	$68,253	$32.81	7
   13	Piedmont Healthcare	$68,154	$32.77	10
   14	Lawndale Elementary School District	$67,512	$32.46
   15	Menifee Union School District	$67,124	$32.27
   16	Campbell Union High School District	$67,014	$32.22	3
   17	Alvord Unified School District	$66,708	$32.07
   18	South Orange-Maplewood School District	$64,604	$31.06
   19	MANALAPAN-ENGLISHTOWN REGIONAL SCHOOLS	$63,564	$30.56	1
   20	Soquel Union Elementary School District	$63,386	$30.47

4. Writing a speech and language specialist job description

   A speech and language 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. Below, you can find an example of a speech and language specialist job description:

   Speech and language specialist job description example

   How have you impacted someone's life today? At Hackensack Meridian Health our teams are focused on changing the lives of our patients by providing the highest level of care each and every day. From our hospitals, rehab centers and occupational health teams to our long-term care centers and at-home care capabilities, our complete spectrum of services will allow you to apply your skills in multiple settings while building your career, all within New Jersey's premier healthcare system.
   
   Shore Rehabilitation Institute is a 40 bed Acute Rehabilitation Hospital, part of the Hackensack Meridian Health System. We offer comprehensive inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation to individuals to regain quality of life after disability due to a disease or injury. Our emphasis is on maximizing functional independence in order to return patients to the community. You will be part of an interdisciplinary team collaborating to provide individualized quality intervention to a varied diagnostic population consisting of Stroke, Brain injury, Spinal Cord Injury, Guillian-Barre, Amputee, Cardiac post- surgical, pulmonary, complex orthopedics, and the medically complex. Shore Rehabilitation is currently Joint Commission and CARF certified, with Brain Injury and Stroke CARF specialty certifications.
   
   Responsibilities include inpatient and outpatient evaluation/re-evaluations, therapeutic intervention and discharge planning. Therapists provide clinical coverage to our OP program as needed. There is a strong emphasis on customer service and quality care.
   
   The Speech Pathologist is responsible for the provision of speech therapy services including but not limited to evaluation and treatment of an assigned case load of patients.
   Responsibilities
   
   A day in the life of a Speech Pathologist at Hackensack Meridian Health includes:
   
   * Supports the Mission, Values, Philosophy of the HMH network.
   * Adheres to HMH Organizational competencies and Standards of Behavior
   * Evaluation and Treatment of an assigned caseload of patients.
   * Maintain documentation standards
   * Participation in the Interdisciplinary Team process
   * Assist in carrying out the performance improvement plans of the facility/department.
   * Participation in continuing education programs.
   * Support the goals and objectives of the department.
   * Participation in the process of Performance Management
   * Provides supervision and direction to SLP CFY, SLP students, therapy technicians and volunteers.
   * Other duties and/or projects as assigned.
   
   Qualifications
   
   * New Jersey Speech Pathologist License.
   * Graduate of an accredited speech language pathology program or equivalent required
   * Minimum of two years of clinical experience preferred
   * Advance Certifications preferred
   
   If you feel that the above description speaks directly to your strengths and capabilities, then please apply today!

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find speech and language specialists 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 speech and language specialists they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level speech and language specialists 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.

   To find speech and language specialist 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 healthcarejobsite, health jobs nationwide, hospitalcareers, medreps.com.
   • Post your job on free job posting websites.

6. Interview candidates

   To successfully recruit speech and language specialists, 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 speech and language specialist

   Once you've decided on a perfect speech and language specialist candidate, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, it should include benefits and perks available to the employee. Qualified candidates may be considered for other positions, so make sure your offer is competitive. Candidates may wish to negotiate. Once you've settled on the details, formalize your agreement with a contract.

   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.

   To prepare for the new speech and language specialist first day, you should share an onboarding schedule with them that covers their first period on the job. You should also quickly complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources must ensure a new employee file is created for internal record keeping.

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 speech and language specialist?