How to hire anesthesiologists

Job description template

Copy it, fill in the brackets, and remove anything that does not fit your job. Keep only must-haves you would really turn someone away for.

[Job title] at [Company name]
[City, State] · [Full-time / Part-time] · [Pay range]

About the role
[Two or three sentences about your team, the work and why it matters.]

What you will do
• Administer anesthetic or sedation during medical procedures, using local, intravenous, spinal, or caudal methods.
• Coordinate administration of anesthetics with surgeons during operation.
• Coordinate and direct work of nurses, medical technicians, and other health care providers.
• Decide when patients have recovered or stabilized enough to be sent to another room or ward or to be sent home following outpatient surgery.
• Examine patient, obtain medical history, and use diagnostic tests to determine risk during surgical, obstetrical, and other medical procedures.
• Monitor patient before, during, and after anesthesia and counteract adverse reactions or complications.
• Position patient on operating table to maximize patient comfort and surgical accessibility.
• Record type and amount of anesthesia and patient condition throughout procedure.

What you bring
• [Required license, certification or years of experience, if any]
• [Education, only if you truly need it. Typical to start in this job: Doctoral or professional degree]
• Strong critical thinking, monitoring, reading comprehension, active listening, science and speaking skills
• Working knowledge of medicine and dentistry, English Language, biology and psychology
• [Anything else you would really turn someone away for]

Pay and benefits
[Pay range]. For reference, the U.S. median for this job is $188.22 an hour ($391,490 a year).
[Benefits, schedule and anything else candidates should know.]

How to apply
[Apply on JAI Bot. Every applicant hears back.]

Copy the template Check your finished job post

Interview questions for anesthesiologists

Ask every candidate the same questions, in the same order, and write down what they say. Questions about past work show what someone has actually done.

1. Tell me about a time you had to administer anesthetic or sedation during medical procedures, using local, intravenous, spinal, or caudal methods. What did you do, and how did it turn out?
2. Tell me about a time you had to coordinate administration of anesthetics with surgeons during operation. What did you do, and how did it turn out?
3. Tell me about a time you had to coordinate and direct work of nurses, medical technicians, and other health care providers. What did you do, and how did it turn out?
4. Tell me about a time you had to decide when patients have recovered or stabilized enough to be sent to another room or ward or to be sent home following outpatient surgery. What did you do, and how did it turn out?
5. Describe a decision at work where the obvious answer was wrong. How did you work out the better choice?
6. How do you keep track of your own work quality during a busy shift or week? Give an example of catching a problem early.
7. Tell me about written instructions, a policy or a manual you had to follow closely. How did you make sure you followed it correctly?
8. Why this job, and why now? What would make you stay here for the long term?

Good answers name a real situation, what the person did themselves and what happened. Avoid questions about age, family plans, religion, health, national origin or anything else unrelated to the job.

What anesthesiologists do

• Administer anesthetic or sedation during medical procedures, using local, intravenous, spinal, or caudal methods.
• Coordinate administration of anesthetics with surgeons during operation.
• Coordinate and direct work of nurses, medical technicians, and other health care providers.
• Decide when patients have recovered or stabilized enough to be sent to another room or ward or to be sent home following outpatient surgery.
• Examine patient, obtain medical history, and use diagnostic tests to determine risk during surgical, obstetrical, and other medical procedures.
• Monitor patient before, during, and after anesthesia and counteract adverse reactions or complications.
• Position patient on operating table to maximize patient comfort and surgical accessibility.
• Record type and amount of anesthesia and patient condition throughout procedure.

Skills that matter most

Critical ThinkingMonitoringReading ComprehensionActive ListeningScienceSpeakingMedicine and DentistryEnglish LanguageBiologyPsychology

Education, experience and outlook for anesthesiologists

• Typical education to start: Doctoral or professional degree (BLS)
• Related work experience most have: 4 to 6 years (O*NET)
• Training on the job: Internship/residency (BLS)
• Job outlook: +3.6% over ten years, about as fast as average · about 1,100 openings a year (BLS)

What to pay anesthesiologists

Pay depends a lot on where the job is. Highest and lowest median yearly pay by state:

See anesthesiologists pay in every state

Related hiring guides

• Pediatric Surgeons
• Orthopedic Surgeons, Except Pediatric
• Cardiologists
• Nurse Anesthetists
• Physician Assistants
• Emergency Medicine Physicians
• General Internal Medicine Physicians
• Obstetricians and Gynecologists
• Nurse Practitioners
• Paramedics

Job duties and skills: O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license; O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. JAI Bot has modified this information; USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. Pay: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS, May 2025. Interview questions and the job description template: JAI Bot, based on the duties and skills above.