How to hire a Preceptor

How to hire a preceptor, step by step

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

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

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the preceptor you need to hire. Certain preceptor 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 preceptor's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, preceptors 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.

   This list presents preceptor salaries for various positions.

   Type Of Preceptor	Description	Hourly Rate
   Preceptor	Registered nurses (RNs) provide and coordinate patient care, educate patients and the public about various health conditions, and provide advice and emotional support to patients and their family members.	$25-84
   Clinical Research Nurse	A clinical research nurse is responsible for conducting research studies on various health conditions, illness treatments, and healthcare methodologies, analyzing existing scientific research to make new reports. Clinical research nurses also communicate with other health professionals and health organizations for their insights and recommendations for a specific medical study, ensuring to report their findings to doctors and medical researchers for further validation and clinical trials... Show More	$21-39
   Home Health Nurse	A home health nurse is responsible for assisting patients usually in their households, strictly monitoring their health conditions and treatment plans for fast recovery. Home health nurses work with the patients' attending physicians and other health professionals to develop healthcare plans and administer timely medications... Show More	$23-47

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common Skills:

   • Patients
   • Direct Patient Care
   • CPR
   • Preceptorship
   • IV
   • Surgery
   • Epic
   • Primary Care
   • Medication Administration
   • Internal Medicine
   • Mental Health
   • Discharge Planning
   • Catheter
   • Vital Signs

   Check All Skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Provide continuous telemetry monitoring and managing multiple patients with multiple high-risk medical conditions, utilizing interdisciplinary collaboration.
   • Perform blood draws and specimen collection on patients for phlebotomy Preceptorship course.
   • Monitor patients on EKG, are able to detect abnormal rhythms.
   • Provide emotional support with patients before pending surgery, and provide advocacy by calling doctor to answer the pt's questions.
   • Observe students during surgery, gather supplies need for surgical procedures and set up.
   • Assist with ADL's, medications, blood transfusions, chemotherapy infusions, education, admissions, discharges, and charting.

   More Preceptor duties

3. Make a budget

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

   • Location. For example, preceptors' average salary in maine is 58% less than in alaska.
   • Seniority. Entry-level preceptors 70% less than senior-level preceptors.
   • Certifications. A preceptor 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 preceptor's salary.

   Average preceptor salary

   $96,558yearly

   $46.42 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level preceptor salary

   $52,000 yearly salary

   Updated March 29, 2025

   Average preceptor salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate
   1	New York	$141,938	$68
   2	Alaska	$132,292	$64
   3	Pennsylvania	$113,185	$54
   4	Oregon	$104,749	$50
   5	Virginia	$101,412	$49
   6	Maryland	$100,083	$48
   7	West Virginia	$95,693	$46
   8	Michigan	$90,453	$43
   9	Massachusetts	$90,269	$43
   10	Texas	$89,740	$43
   11	North Carolina	$89,362	$43
   12	Georgia	$89,188	$43
   13	Wisconsin	$84,639	$41
   14	Florida	$80,803	$39
   15	Illinois	$79,459	$38
   16	Missouri	$76,796	$37
   17	South Carolina	$66,200	$32

   Average preceptor salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average Salary	Hourly Rate	Job Openings
   1	Carilion Clinic	$167,877	$80.71	44
   2	Our Lady Of Lourdes Hospital	$160,996	$77.40
   3	Harvard University	$139,365	$67.00	1
   4	Northside Hospital	$134,263	$64.55	250
   5	Lancaster General Health	$129,095	$62.06	2
   6	Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science	$128,989	$62.01
   7	Blessing Hospital Emergency Room	$125,086	$60.14	29
   8	Lakeland Regional Health	$117,773	$56.62
   9	ICONMA	$115,692	$55.62
   10	OpTech	$107,728	$51.79
   11	New York University	$104,441	$50.21
   12	The University of Chicago	$101,286	$48.70	29
   13	Rochester Regional Health	$97,778	$47.01	6
   14	Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine	$97,286	$46.77	9
   15	Trinity Health	$95,675	$46.00	1,714
   16	DLH	$92,860	$44.64
   17	G-TECH	$88,917	$42.75
   18	Fresenius Medical Care North America Holdings Limited Partnership	$88,132	$42.37	1,606
   19	Humana	$87,993	$42.30	166
   20	Amedisys	$80,818	$38.85	111

4. Writing a Preceptor Job Description

   A good preceptor 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 preceptor job description:

   Preceptor job description example

   Trinity Health Mid Atlantic, Nazareth Physician Services is looking a Preceptor Physician for our Internal Medicine Residency Program at Nazareth Hospital in Philadelphia, PA.
   
   * Precept Internal Medicine residents in the outpatient healthcare center setting, supervising them with their panel of patients.
   
   * Ensure the clinic meets all requirements for maintaining ACGME accreditation, assuring that residents receive strong training in outpatient medicine.
   
   * Oversee, develop and ensure the quality of didactic and clinical education in the outpatient healthcare center.
   
   * Work with the Internal Medicine Program Director, office manager and/or DIO in providing clinical, operational, patient experience, and staff experience goals of the outpatient office.
   
   * Work with the Internal Medicine Program Director, office manager and/or DIO to develop office work flow and policies when and if the program operationalize a residency healthcare center.
   
   * Work with office manager to provide residents with performance data on chronic disease management and preventative health care. Oversee resident-developed action plans for addressing quality care gaps.
   
   * Instruct Residents in and monitor appropriate use of Evaluation and Management Documentation as per CMS guidelines.
   * Provide each resident with timely feedback and evaluation.
   
   * Oversee quality improvement projects in the healthcare center.
   
   * Develop system to provide coverage of urgent problems experienced by patients on the panel of a resident who is not readily available.
   
   * Participate in Clinical Competency Committee meetings to evaluate residents on an as needed basis.
   
   * Participate in any residency related events, such as graduation, holiday parties or orientation, as needed.
   
   * Maintain an individual panel of patients at the outpatient office as appropriate.
   
   * Provide adult patients with acute and chronic disease care and management.
   
   * Provide annual preventive care services.
   
   * Ensure that all patient's illnesses are managed per the standard of care, meeting all quality metrics.
   
   * Timely completion of any medical forms required and not limited to insurance or disability issues.
   
   * Timely and appropriate referrals to specialty care.
   
   * Triage patients and refer for emergency care as needed.
   
   * Complete appropriate documentation of management plans and evaluation in a timely manner.
   
   * (preferred, not mandatory) Be privileged in and provide oversight for outpatient procedures required by the American Board of Internal Medicine and/or IM residency program (i.e. venipuncture, PAP/endocervical culture).
   
   * Provide adult patients with acute and chronic disease care and management
   
   * Provide annual preventive care services
   
   * Ensure that all patient's illnesses are managed per the standard of care, meeting all quality metrics
   
   * Timely and appropriate referrals to specialty care
   
   * Triage patients and refer for emergency care as needed
   
   * Complete appropriate documentation of management plans and evaluation in a timely manner
   
   * Timely completion of any medical forms required and not limited to insurance or disability issues
   
   * Evaluate quality metrics of patient panel and help to put in place office work flow to help meet quality metrics
   
   Trinity Health's Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
   
   Trinity Health employs about 133,000 colleagues at dozens of hospitals and hundreds of health centers in 22 states. Because we serve diverse populations, our colleagues are trained to recognize the cultural beliefs, values, traditions, language preferences, and health practices of the communities that we serve and to apply that knowledge to produce positive health outcomes. We also recognize that each of us has a different way of thinking and perceiving our world and that these differences often lead to innovative solutions.
   
   Trinity Health's dedication to diversity includes a unified workforce (through training and education, recruitment, retention and development), commitment and accountability, communication, community partnerships, and supplier diversity.

   Copy This Example

   

5. Post your job

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

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting preceptors 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.

   Remember to include a few questions that allow candidates to expand on their strengths in their own words. Asking about their unique skills might reveal things you'd miss otherwise. At this point, good candidates 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 preceptor

   Once you've found the preceptor 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 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 preceptor. 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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