Top 9 Tips for Hiring High Quality Behavior Therapists (and 1 Bonus Tip for Recruiting BCBAs)

Dan Dube

Experienced CEO in the ABA/Healthcare and Cloud Software industries

May 11, 2023

ABA Business Owners: Are you struggling with finding quality candidates who have a genuine interest in working with people with disabilities? Is Indeed not working well for you? 

See my list of tips that we have used over the last decade to improve the quality of our staff hires.

#9: Competitive pay

Okay, I started with the most obvious, but it’s important to have a reality check. The days of hiring BTs for $16/hour are over. People can get $18-20/hour to work in retail, and they won’t have to deal with biting, aggression, or toileting accidents. In some metropolitan markets, entry-level BT candidates are being offered $26-30/hour. The important thing is to be very aware of your reimbursement rates from payors, what your “loaded cost” per billable hour is, and your profit margin goals. Consider tiered pay rates (higher pay for working with clients with higher level of need) and pay for performance bonuses.

#8: Colleges

Another obvious one (I promise, the list gets more “out of the box” as we go on!). Colleges are full of promising young people who are looking for life experience in a field they are passionate about. I especially like to recruit college students majoring in “early childhood education” or “psychology”. Here are some tips for getting the most success out of college recruiting:

• Attend college job fairs, and offer “on the spot” interviews. Staff your booth with at least one BT who is in the same age group as the students! (Nobody wanted to talk to the creepy old guy standing alone at a table, but when I brought a younger staff member with me, they flocked.) And bring candy and giveaways!
• Build relationships with the heads of the career office, early education department, and psychology department. Offer to do full days of on-site interviews at the college.
• Offer paid internships if you can! In 2017, we recruited 8 college students from a local college to do paid internships. 2 of these people have gone on to become BCBAs, and one of them is now a regional clinical director!
• Sign up for Handshake. Handshake is the #1 way college students find jobs.
• Offer to do a guest lecture.

#7: Open house/ In-person hiring event

Sponsor an open house hiring event at your clinic (if you have one) or at a public place (hotel conference room, library) if you don’t. Advertise it over all social media (pay to boost an ad for a defined target audience), post it on your website, and post it in public places, like grocery store bulletin boards. We once hired 10 people in 1 day using this approach!

#6: Strengthen your interview skills.

You need to be able to assess whether this candidate is just looking for a paycheck, or may have a true interest in the field. Experience is not always necessary! One of our best hires ever came from working in a retail job. One of our WORST hires was someone who had already finished all of their coursework and needed hours to sit for a BCBA exam.

#5: Discuss your “WHY”!

WHY does your agency exist and WHY do they want to work with you? WHY would they choose you over other agencies that might pay more? If they buy into your mission, vision and values (and you actually act them out), people WILL follow you.

#4: Identify what motivates your staff.

Money is great, but it isn't always the primary motivator. Consider regular staff feedback surveys. Understand what motivates people on your team. Sometimes, they just need to see your face and interact with you. We used to have a platform called Kudos, where staff could give each other shoutouts with points that could be redeemed for gift cards. It was great to see the staff visibly supporting each other, and that builds a strong company culture!

#3: Recruit specifically for “Direct support” and “LNA/CNAs”

There is a whole category of amazing and talented professionals who are classified as “Direct Support” staff or “Licensed Nursing Assistant (LNA)/Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA).” These people typically work in nursing homes or with severely disabled adults. And the dirty secret is that these incredible people are shamefully underpaid. They are usually compassionate, patient, and not afraid to work with anyone! Their current pay is usually $5-10/hour LOWER than the typical BT rate of pay. If you recruit these people, they will come!

#2: Employee referrals

It makes sense that if you create an environment where people enjoy working, they will tell their friends. You should encourage this by offering an employee referral bonus. Give them a bonus for any written referrals for candidates that you hire and keep on the payroll for at least 90 days.

#1: Offer Full-time and benefits!

Many ABA companies (especially home-based providers) look for part-time staff to support after school hours. If you only look for part-time, expect to see a revolving door of staff who will leave at the first opportunity to get a full-time job elsewhere (many times, after you’ve invested in training them and given them experience). Make the smart choice and hire full-time with benefits. How do you find and utilize them for 30-40 hours a week? Here’s a hint: move to a block schedule (future post coming on that topic).

BONUS TIP for Hiring BCBAs:

Everyone uses Indeed to recruit BCBAs, and what happens? It usually ends up in a bidding war, and freshly minted BCBAs with no actual experience are being paid $80-100K/year or more! I went in a different direction and used LinkedIn Recruiter Lite. Get a free trial for 30 days and see for yourself. The Lite version will scour your network for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degree connections (this works better if you already have a lot of LinkedIn connections). A couple years ago, I hired 5 BCBAs in a 3-month period with this approach.

Any more ideas? Reply with more feedback! I'd love to hear it.

Follow me for more tips!