How to hire a speech/language therapist

How to hire a speech/language therapist, step by step

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

What does a speech/language therapist do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your speech/language therapist 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 speech/language therapist 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 speech/language therapist 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/language therapist that fits the bill.

   The following list breaks down different types of speech/language therapists and their corresponding salaries.

   Type of Speech/Language Therapist	Description	Hourly rate
   Speech/Language Therapist	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.	$23-44
   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
   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

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Patients
   • Rehabilitation
   • SLP
   • Home Health
   • Autism
   • IEPs
   • Medicaid
   • Communication Disorders
   • Language Evaluations
   • Speech-Language Therapy
   • Diagnosis
   • Early Intervention
   • Language Development
   • Group Therapy

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Provide speech therapy and child development services to children with autism and/or severe social and emotional delays.
   • Work with children and teenagers with autism, learning difficulties, mental challenges, ADHD, and speech and language disorders
   • Provide treatment for students diagnose with learning disabilities who demonstrate processing difficulties in various receptive and expressive language areas.
   • Detail goal and objective writing and Medicaid billing
   • Participate in IEP meetings for implementing new individualize goals.
   • Maintain consistent and accurate therapy session data to bill Medicaid.

   More speech/language therapist duties

3. Make a budget

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

   Average speech/language therapist salary

   $67,378yearly

   $32.39 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level speech/language therapist salary

   $48,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 21, 2025

   Average speech/language therapist salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$88,840	$43
   2	Virginia	$82,435	$40
   3	Missouri	$79,021	$38
   4	Pennsylvania	$73,470	$35
   5	North Carolina	$70,336	$34
   6	Florida	$69,994	$34
   7	New York	$67,846	$33
   8	South Carolina	$67,565	$32
   9	Arizona	$66,553	$32
   10	Kansas	$66,235	$32
   11	Georgia	$64,457	$31
   12	Michigan	$63,505	$31

   Average speech/language therapist salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Aya Healthcare	$93,807	$45.10	1
   2	Hackensack Meridian Health	$81,500	$39.18	30
   3	Houston Healthcare	$80,476	$38.69	1
   4	Froedtert Hospital	$79,450	$38.20	3
   5	AccentCare	$78,563	$37.77	23
   6	Homecare	$78,054	$37.53
   7	Sun-Mar	$78,015	$37.51
   8	Nashua Center	$77,739	$37.37
   9	Soliant	$77,686	$37.35
   10	Hca Hospital Services Of San Diego	$77,610	$37.31
   11	MaineGeneral Health	$77,314	$37.17	1
   12	Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center	$76,198	$36.63	1
   13	Constellation Health Services	$75,608	$36.35	2
   14	Acadia Healthcare	$74,466	$35.80	67
   15	The Research Foundation for SUNY	$73,496	$35.33
   16	THRIVE	$72,991	$35.09	3
   17	Beth Israel Lahey Health	$72,991	$35.09	9
   18	VIVA Pediatrics	$72,063	$34.65	14
   19	At Home Healthcare	$70,323	$33.81	63
   20	HealthTrust	$69,942	$33.63	7

4. Writing a speech/language therapist job description

   A good speech/language therapist 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 speech/language therapist job description:

   Speech/language therapist job description example

   • Responsible for maintaining a productive schedule, with an average of 6.5 out of 8 hours per day scheduled for direct clinical care. Informs supervisor of openings and/or cancellations in their daily schedule
   • Performs other duties such as billing for all services rendered on the day delivered, maintaining a clean work environment, and serving on departmental committees and in program development efforts as appropriate
   • Participates in the continuous improvement of the quality of services delivered through the department by participating in measuring critical functions, and participating in teams to improve work processes
   • Follows appropriate safety and infection control measures pertaining to patient care, equipment and the general working environment.
   • Promptly reports any problems to their immediate supervisor.
   • Actively participates in departmental meetings, in-services and continuing education programs.

   Delegation to and Supervision of Students

   • Supervises interns at the request of the supervisor after completing one year of clinical experience

   Licensure:

   • Licensed or eligible in the state of Illinois

   
   Education/Experience Required:

   • Masters degree in speech from an accredited school of speech pathology
   • Meets the annual requirement for stroke education (2 hours per year) for ST's working with adults with stroke

   
   Knowledge, Skills & Abilities Required:

   • Good interpersonal skills and communication

   
   Physical Requirements and Working Conditions:

   • Required to work approximately 1 weekend per month or evenings depending on area of assignment.
   • Lifts 20 to 50 pounds occasionally and/or 10 to 25 pounds frequently and/or up to 10 pounds constantly.
   • Speaks English clearly, intelligibly and fluently.
   • Ability to discriminate subtle differences in speech sounds.
   • This requirement supersedes any previous lifting requirement effective 08/01/2014. Ability to lift up to 35 pounds without assistance.
   • For patient lifts of over 35 pounds, or when patient is unable to assist with the lift, patient handling equipment is expected to be used, with at least one other associate, when available. Unique patient lifting/movement situations will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

   
   This job description indicates the general nature and level of work expected of the incumbent. It is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities required of the incumbent. Incumbent may be required to perform other related duties.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right speech/language therapist for your business:

   • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your speech/language therapist job on Zippia to find and recruit speech/language therapist candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites such as healthcarejobsite, health jobs nationwide, hospitalcareers, medreps.com.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   During your first interview to recruit speech/language therapists, engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. During the following interview, you'll be able to go into more detail about the company, the position, and the responsibilities.

   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 speech/language therapist

   Once you've found the speech/language therapist 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.

   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.

   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 speech/language therapist?