Caregiver job description template

What a caregiver does

Caregivers spend hours alone with clients in their homes, helping with bathing, meals, medication reminders, and company. Families trust them with someone they love, so the job description has to attract people who are reliable and kind, and screen out those who aren't ready for the work. Home care agencies also have specific wage and hour obligations that many smaller agencies get wrong, so we've included them.

Caregiver job description template

Copy the description, replace everything in [brackets], and cut any line that isn't true for your job. The duties and requirements are a starting point written by HR practitioners, not a legal standard, so edit them to match the real work.

Caregiver

Details
- Department: [Department]
- Reports to: [Manager title]
- Location: [City, State, or remote]
- Employment type: [Full-time, part-time, or seasonal]
- FLSA status: Nonexempt
- Pay range: [$X to $Y per hour]

About [Company]
[Two or three sentences about what your company does, who it serves, and why people like working here.]

Job summary
We're looking for a caregiver to help our clients live safely and comfortably at home, with personal care, daily living support, and genuine companionship.

What you'll do
- Help clients with bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, and mobility.
- Prepare meals and help with eating according to dietary needs.
- Give medication reminders as allowed by state rules and the care plan.
- Do light housekeeping, laundry, and errands.
- Provide companionship and encourage activities the client enjoys.
- Observe and report changes in the client's health or behavior to the care coordinator.
- Record visit notes and clock in and out with the visit verification system.
- Follow the client's care plan and safety procedures.

What you'll need
- Completion of training required for home care aides in [State].
- Valid driver's license, reliable transportation, and auto insurance if driving clients.
- Ability to pass a background check as required by state law.
- CPR and first aid certification, or willingness to obtain it.

Nice to have
- Home health aide certification.
- Experience with dementia or memory care.
- Experience with Hoyer lifts or transfer equipment.

Skills
Compassion and patience, Reliability, Safe transfers, Observation, Communication with families, Problem solving on your own.

Physical demands and work environment
Client homes. Requires standing, bending, lifting and transferring clients, and driving between visits.

Pay and benefits
[$X to $Y per hour], based on experience and location. [List benefits, such as health insurance, retirement plan match, paid time off, and training.]

Equal opportunity
[Company] is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other status protected by law. If you need a reasonable accommodation to apply or interview, contact [name] at [email or phone].

How to customize it for your job

• Explain how scheduling works and how many hours are guaranteed.
• Say whether you pay for travel time and mileage between clients.
• Describe the support caregivers get, such as an on-call coordinator.
• Be honest about the physical demands.

Then check it against the HRTally job description standard, our 10-point checklist, and run it through the inclusive language swap list. Both take about five minutes.

How much to pay a caregiver

Half of US home health and personal care aides earned more than $17.21 an hour in May 2025, and half earned less, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That national figure is a starting point, not a pay range. Pay for the same job can differ by 30 percent or more between metro areas, so check the BLS occupation profile for state and metro data before you set your range.

For hourly roles, the legal floor matters as much as the market rate. Check the current rate where the job is based in our minimum wage by state table, and the state's overtime and break rules in our state labor law library.

To convert between hourly and annual pay, use our salary to hourly calculator. If you hire in a state or city with a pay transparency law, the range must appear in the posting itself. Our pay transparency laws guide lists where, and our guide to salary bands explains how to set ranges you can defend.

Exempt status, licenses, and legal notes

FLSA status: Nonexempt (overtime eligible). Job titles don't decide overtime eligibility. Duties and pay do. Our guide to exempt vs non-exempt employees walks through each test, and the overtime calculator shows what a nonexempt employee is owed.

Since 2015, the Department of Labor's Home Care Rule has required third-party employers, such as home care agencies, to pay home care workers at least minimum wage and overtime, including for live-in and companionship work. Travel time between client visits during the workday is generally paid work time. States set their own training, background check, and electronic visit verification requirements, especially for Medicaid-funded services.

This is general information for US employers, not legal advice. Laws change and vary by state and city, so confirm the current rules or talk to employment counsel before you rely on them.

Interview questions to ask

Ask every candidate the same core questions and score answers against the same criteria. Structured interviews are fairer and predict job performance better than open conversation.

1. Tell me about a time a client refused care. What did you do?
2. How do you keep yourself and a client safe during a transfer?
3. What would you do if you arrived and the client seemed confused or unwell?
4. How do you build trust with a client's family?

When you're ready to schedule, use our interview invitation email template. For a full hiring process, read the recruitment process guide.

Frequently asked questions