Audiologist: What is the cost of hiring?

Why hire an audiologist?

An audiologist is an onsite medical professional who can assess patients through hearing and speech tests, and analyze the findings. Other contributions of a great audiologist are:

• Ability to offer hearing services
• Providing expert knowledge in hearing devices
• Developing personalized hearing treatment plans
• Educating patients on ways to prevent hearing loss
• Dispensing hearing aids

Deciding between a full-time vs contract audiologist

Before writing an audiologist job description or interviewing candidates, it’s important to decide if you need a full-time, part-time or contract audiologist (and what your budget will allow).

Most audiologists work on a full-time basis, but contract or part-time audiologists may be the right fit if you only need an audiologist for a few hours per week or on a temporary basis. Audiologists who work on a contract-basis often travel between different facilities to provide services.

What are the different types of audiologists?

When hiring an audiologist, it’s important to understand the specific kind of audiologist you need for your business. Here are some of the most common types of audiologists to help you find one that meets your needs:

• Audiology assistant: Performs tasks as assigned by supervising audiologists. To qualify for this role, audiology assistants must take and pass an audiology assistant certification exam.
• Dispensing audiologist: Diagnoses and treats hearing loss like a regular audiologist but also prescribes hearing aids. Must typically take and pass a state hearing aid dispensing exam.
• Hearing instrument specialist: Usually works with patients who have already been diagnosed with a hearing problem. Serves as a specialist in correct assistive hearing devices. Typically requires less education than an audiologist (e.g., high school or two-year degree plus a license). 
• Pediatric audiologist: Tests and provides treatment for hearing loss or balance problems in babies, toddlers, children and teens.

Where to find audiologists

To find the right audiologist for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

• Ask for referrals: Explore your personal and professional networks to see if they know anyone who would be a good fit for your audiologist role. 
• Tap into professional associations: There are many national, state and local audiology associations. With a membership, you can often access directories of members who match your hiring criteria, post to job boards and find events to attend. 
• Recruit at medical schools and residency programs: If you’re open to hiring a newly graduated audiologist, consider participating in med school job fairs or contacting the job placement department.
• Post your job online: Try posting your audiologist job on Indeed to find and attract quality audiologist candidates.

Skills to look for in a great audiologist

A great audiologist candidate will have the following skills, attributes and work experience that reflects:

• Doctoral degree in audiology (AudD)
• Audiology license
• Ability to multitask
• Professional bedside manner
• Strong organization skills
• Compassion toward patients
• Ability to work well under pressure

Writing an audiologist job description

A thoughtful description is important in finding qualified audiologist candidates. An audiologist job description includes a compelling summary of the role, a detailed list of duties and responsibilities and the required and preferred skills for the position.

When writing your audiologist job description, consider including some or all of the following keywords to improve the visibility of your job posting. These are the most popular search terms leading to clicks on audiologist jobs, according to Indeed data:

• audiologist
• audiology
• hearing aid specialist
• pediatric audiologist
• audiologists
• medical
• hearing aid
• hearing instrument specialist
• audiology remote

Interviewing audiologist candidates

After reviewing the resumes of your top audiologist applicants, schedule interviews to learn more about them. Strong candidates for audiologist positions will be confident answering questions regarding:

• Their most recent experience in the field
• Their personal philosophy on patient care
• How they manage stress
• Patient interactions
• Audiology exam process

Need help coming up with interview questions? See our list of audiologist interview questions for examples (with sample answers).