How to hire nurse practitioners

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
• Analyze and interpret patients' histories, symptoms, physical findings, or diagnostic information to develop appropriate diagnoses.
• Develop treatment plans, based on scientific rationale, standards of care, and professional practice guidelines.
• Diagnose or treat chronic health care problems, such as high blood pressure and diabetes.
• Diagnose or treat complex, unstable, comorbid, episodic, or emergency conditions in collaboration with other health care providers as necessary.
• Maintain complete and detailed records of patients' health care plans and prognoses.
• Prescribe medication dosages, routes, and frequencies, based on such patient characteristics as age and gender.
• Prescribe medications based on efficacy, safety, and cost as legally authorized.
• Provide patients with information needed to promote health, reduce risk factors, or prevent disease or disability.

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: Master's degree]
• Strong active listening, critical thinking, reading comprehension, active learning, monitoring 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 $63.61 an hour ($132,300 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 nurse practitioners

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 analyze and interpret patients' histories, symptoms, physical findings, or diagnostic information to develop appropriate diagnoses. What did you do, and how did it turn out?
2. Tell me about a time you had to develop treatment plans, based on scientific rationale, standards of care, and professional practice guidelines. What did you do, and how did it turn out?
3. Tell me about a time you had to diagnose or treat chronic health care problems, such as high blood pressure and diabetes. What did you do, and how did it turn out?
4. Tell me about a time you had to diagnose or treat complex, unstable, comorbid, episodic, or emergency conditions in collaboration with other health care providers as necessary. What did you do, and how did it turn out?
5. Tell me about a time you had to understand a request or problem that was explained poorly. How did you make sure you got it right?
6. Describe a decision at work where the obvious answer was wrong. How did you work out the better choice?
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 nurse practitioners do

• Analyze and interpret patients' histories, symptoms, physical findings, or diagnostic information to develop appropriate diagnoses.
• Develop treatment plans, based on scientific rationale, standards of care, and professional practice guidelines.
• Diagnose or treat chronic health care problems, such as high blood pressure and diabetes.
• Diagnose or treat complex, unstable, comorbid, episodic, or emergency conditions in collaboration with other health care providers as necessary.
• Maintain complete and detailed records of patients' health care plans and prognoses.
• Prescribe medication dosages, routes, and frequencies, based on such patient characteristics as age and gender.
• Prescribe medications based on efficacy, safety, and cost as legally authorized.
• Provide patients with information needed to promote health, reduce risk factors, or prevent disease or disability.

Skills that matter most

Active ListeningCritical ThinkingReading ComprehensionActive LearningMonitoringSpeakingMedicine and DentistryEnglish LanguageBiologyPsychology

Education, experience and outlook for nurse practitioners

• Typical education to start: Master's degree (BLS)
• Related work experience most have: 1 to 2 years (O*NET)
• Job outlook: +41% over ten years, much faster than average · about 29,400 openings a year (BLS)

What to pay nurse practitioners

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

See nurse practitioners pay in every state

Related hiring guides

• Registered Nurses
• Family Medicine Physicians
• Emergency Medicine Physicians
• Nurse Midwives
• General Internal Medicine Physicians
• Physician Assistants
• Obstetricians and Gynecologists
• Pediatricians, General
• Paramedics
• Pediatric Surgeons

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.