Caregiver Job DescriptionDuties, scope, pay, and a template you can post today
Most caregiver job descriptions read like they were written to satisfy a compliance folder rather than to fill a shift. They hide the pay, blur the physical work, and end with "other duties as assigned." Then the agency wonders why three quarters of its caregivers are gone within a year. This guide gives you the duties list, the scope boundaries by role tier, the wage and screening language that matters, and a full template to copy.
The market your job posting competes in
4.3M
Home health and personal care aide jobs in 2024, the largest single occupation in the U.S.
$34,900
Median annual pay, about $16.78 an hour (May 2024)
75%
Median caregiver turnover at home care agencies in 2024
765,800
Projected openings every year through 2034
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (May 2024 and 2024 to 2034 projections) and the Activated Insights 2025 Benchmarking Report
Start with the size of the thing. Home health and personal care aides held about 4.3 million jobs in 2024, which makes it the largest single occupation in the country, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Median pay was $34,900 a year in May 2024, roughly $16.78 an hour. BLS projects 17 percent growth through 2034 and about 765,800 openings a year, most of them replacements for people leaving the work.
The churn number tells the real story. The Activated Insights 2025 Benchmarking Report put median caregiver turnover at 75 percent for 2024. That is the best figure since 2021 and it still means three of every four caregivers leave in a year. Agencies in the bottom quartile run past 125 percent, which is the same shift changing hands more than once in twelve months.
My honest view: the job description is where a lot of that turnover starts. A caregiver who accepts a posting that said "light personal care" and arrives to a 190-pound two-person transfer is going to quit, and they should. Accurate job descriptions cost you a few applications up front and save you the replacement cost later. If you want the general mechanics first, read our guide to writing job descriptions and the piece on job descriptions versus job postings, which are two different documents doing two different jobs.
Step 1
Decide which caregiver you are actually hiring
"Caregiver" is a category, not a job. Four different roles hide under it, and they carry different training requirements, different pay bands, and different legal scopes. Posting the wrong tier is how agencies end up interviewing companion caregivers for cases that need hands-on personal care, or paying certified aide rates for homemaking work.
The distinctions below hold nationally in broad strokes, but the exact titles and scope limits are set by your state. New York, California, and Florida all draw the lines differently. Check your state licensing board before you publish, especially if you bill Medicaid or run a Medicare-certified branch.
Pick the tier before you write a word
Companion caregiver
No state certification in most states
- Companionship and conversation
- Meal prep and light housekeeping
- Errands and appointment transport
- Medication reminders, not administration
Scope limit: No hands-on personal care
Personal care aide
Agency training, state registration in some states
- Everything a companion does
- Bathing, dressing, grooming
- Toileting and incontinence care
- Transfers and mobility assistance
Scope limit: No clinical or skilled tasks
Home health aide
State-approved training, 75-hour federal minimum for Medicare-certified agencies
- Everything a PCA does
- Vital signs where permitted
- Range-of-motion and prescribed exercises
- Documented care plan tasks
Scope limit: Works under nurse supervision
Certified nursing assistant
State nurse aide registry certification
- Everything an HHA does
- Broader clinical support scope
- Facility and home settings
- Charting to clinical standards
Scope limit: Scope set by state nurse practice act
Titles and scope vary by state. Confirm yours against your state licensing board before publishing.
Step 2
Caregiver duties and responsibilities, written honestly
The duties section is where most templates go soft. They list "assist with activities of daily living" and move on, which tells a candidate nothing about whether they can do this specific job in this specific house. Break it into what the work actually looks like on a Tuesday morning.
Personal care
- Assist with bathing, showering, grooming, oral care, and dressing
- Support toileting, incontinence care, and catheter or ostomy hygiene where permitted by scope
- Assist with transfers, walking, repositioning, and use of a gait belt, walker, or mechanical lift
- Provide medication reminders and document what the client took, without administering medication
Home and daily living
- Plan and prepare meals that follow the client dietary plan, and assist with feeding when needed
- Light housekeeping in the areas the client uses: laundry, dishes, bed changes, bathroom cleanup
- Grocery shopping, errands, and prescription pickup
- Drive the client to medical appointments and social outings using an insured vehicle
Observation and reporting
- Observe and report changes in appetite, mood, mobility, skin condition, or cognition
- Document care delivered in the agency app before the end of each shift
- Follow the written care plan and flag anything that falls outside it to the supervising nurse
- Respond to falls and emergencies per protocol, then call the on-call line
Two things to cut. Drop "other duties as assigned" unless your counsel insists on it, because caregivers read that line as "we will ask you to do whatever we want," and given how often that turns out to be true, they are not wrong. Drop the companionship paragraph that describes emotional bonding in flowery terms. Caregivers know the job includes companionship. What they want to know is whether the client has dementia, whether there is a dog, and whether anyone else is in the house.
Then add the physical requirements as essential functions. Say the caregiver must be able to assist with transfers of a client weighing up to 200 pounds using a gait belt, stand and walk for the majority of an eight-hour shift, and lift up to 25 pounds. Specific language helps candidates self-select and gives you a consistent job-related standard, which is what the EEOC expects from selection criteria.
The six blocks of a caregiver job description that converts
Title and tier
Caregiver, PCA, or HHA. Pick one and stay consistent across the posting.
Pay and shift
Hourly range, differentials, guaranteed hours, and the actual shift pattern.
Duties
Eight to twelve plain-language bullets. No filler verbs.
Physical requirements
Stated as essential functions with real weights and frequencies.
Requirements and screening
Certifications, driving record, background check, TB or immunization records.
Reporting and support
Who they call at 2am, and what backup exists when a client declines fast.
Step 3
Pay, hours, and the wage rules agencies keep getting wrong
Publish the range. I know the objection: existing caregivers will see it and ask questions. They already know, because they compare notes in the parking lot and on Indeed. The $34,900 national median is a floor for conversation, not a target. In dense metros, agencies pay $19 to $24 an hour for personal care work, with premiums for overnight shifts, dementia experience, hospice comfort, and Hoyer lift competence.
Be equally straight about hours. Guaranteed weekly hours beat "flexible scheduling" every time, because caregivers are trying to assemble a livable income out of shifts. If the case is 20 hours and might grow, say that. If it is split shifts with a four-hour gap, say that too. A caregiver who takes the job knowing the split stays. One who finds out on day three does not. Our note on pay transparency in hiring covers the state-by-state posting rules that may already require this of you.
Now the part that is genuinely messy in 2026. The 2013 Home Care Final Rule extended federal minimum wage and overtime protection to home care workers employed by third-party agencies, ending the old companionship services exemption for agency employees. In July 2025 the Department of Labor proposed rescinding that rule and issued Field Assistance Bulletin 2025-4 directing investigators to stop enforcing it. As of this writing the 2013 rule has not been formally rescinded, so the regulation stands while federal enforcement does not.
None of that touches state law. New York, California, Washington, Massachusetts, Illinois and others impose their own wage, overtime, and travel-time obligations on home care employers, and those obligations do not move when federal enforcement policy does. The Department of Labor direct care FAQ is the primary source, and PHI tracks state-level policy for the direct care workforce. Talk to employment counsel before you write pay policy into a posting. Do not copy overtime language from a template you found online, including this one.
Copy this
Caregiver job description template
Replace every bracket. If you cannot fill a bracket, that is a sign the case has not been scoped properly and the posting will produce mismatched candidates. Fix the intake, then post.
Job title
Caregiver / Personal Care Aide, [City, State]
Pay and schedule
$[X] to $[Y] per hour based on experience and certification. $[Z] overnight differential. [Number] guaranteed hours per week, [days and times]. Mileage reimbursed at the current IRS rate for client transport.
About the role
You will support [one client / a small rotating caseload] in their home in [neighborhood]. The client is [age range] and needs help with [primary needs, for example mobility, bathing, meal prep, and dementia support]. You will work with [family members present / a live-in spouse / no one else in the home] and report to [role]. [Pets in the home: yes or no.] [Smoking household: yes or no.]
What you will do
Assist with bathing, dressing, grooming, and toileting. Help with transfers and mobility using [gait belt / walker / Hoyer lift]. Prepare meals following the care plan. Handle light housekeeping in the areas the client uses. Provide medication reminders and document them. Drive the client to appointments. Observe and report changes in condition to the supervising nurse. Log care in [app name] before the end of each shift.
Physical requirements
Assist with transfers of a client weighing up to [X] pounds. Lift up to [Y] pounds. Stand, walk, bend, and kneel for the majority of a [length] shift. Respond to a fall and follow the emergency protocol.
What we require
[State certification or training requirement, if any]. [Number] year(s) of paid caregiving experience or equivalent family caregiving experience. Valid driver license, insured vehicle, and a clean motor vehicle record. Ability to pass a criminal background check and [state registry] screening. Current TB screening and [immunization requirements]. Reliable phone for scheduling and documentation.
What we provide
Paid orientation and [number] hours of paid annual training. On-call nurse support 24/7. [Benefits: health coverage eligibility threshold, PTO accrual, retirement]. [Referral bonus amount]. A named coordinator who answers the phone.
How to apply
Apply in [number] minutes at [link]. We respond to every applicant within [timeframe] and interview within [timeframe].
That last block matters more than it looks. Response time is a competitive weapon in home care hiring, because caregivers apply to several agencies in one sitting and take the first credible offer. If your process takes six days to send a first message, you are hiring whoever the faster agencies rejected. Our guides on reducing time to hire and candidate experience get into the mechanics.
What pulls applications versus what gets scrolled past
Specific enough to trust
- $19 to $22 per hour based on experience, plus $2 overnight differential
- Tuesday through Saturday, 7am to 3pm, one client, same house every shift
- Two-person transfer with a Hoyer lift. Training provided on the first shift.
- Mileage reimbursed at the IRS rate for client transport
- On-call nurse reachable 24/7 for any change in client condition
Vague enough to skip
- Competitive pay based on experience
- Flexible scheduling available
- Must be able to handle a fast-paced environment
- Other duties as assigned
- Join our family and make a difference every day
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Screening language that belongs in the posting
Caregiver screening is heavier than most hourly hiring and lighter than clinical hiring, and the posting should say so plainly. Most states require a criminal background check for anyone providing in-home care. Many require a check against the state nurse aide registry and adult or elder abuse registries. Medicare-certified agencies must screen against the OIG exclusion list. If the caregiver drives clients, run a motor vehicle record check, and say in the posting that you will.
Put the screening steps in the job description rather than surprising people at offer stage. Candidates who cannot clear a check will self-select out, which saves you the two weeks you would have spent on them. Candidates who can will read a specific screening list as a sign that the agency is run properly. Our guides on pre-employment background checks and what background checks cost cover the sequencing and the price.
Then interview with structure. The same questions in the same order, scored against a rubric, for every caregiver. This matters as much for a $19 an hour role as it does for an executive hire, arguably more, because the volume is higher and inconsistent screening at volume is where bias and bad hires both creep in. Use a simple scorecard and a tight phone screen, and read our structured interview guide if you are building the process from scratch.
The bigger problem
A better job description is a retention tool
Seventy-five percent median turnover is not a recruiting problem you can hire your way out of. At that rate an agency with 60 caregivers is replacing 45 people a year, and every replacement carries sourcing cost, screening cost, orientation hours, and the client relationship damage that comes with a new face in the house.
A meaningful share of those exits happen in the first 90 days, and a meaningful share of those are expectation mismatches created at the posting. The caregiver thought it was 30 hours and got 12. They thought it was companionship and got incontinence care. They thought a nurse would pick up the phone and nobody did. Every one of those is a sentence you could have written accurately in the job description and chose not to.
The agencies that hold onto caregivers tend to do three unglamorous things well: they tell the truth in the posting, they respond to applicants within hours, and they build referral loops with the caregivers they already have. That last one is the highest-yield channel in home care by a distance. A well-run employee referral program costs less per hire than any job board and produces people who stay longer, because the referring caregiver has already told them what the work is actually like.
Tooling
Where software helps and where it does not
Home care hiring runs at volume with thin coordinator capacity, which is exactly the shape of problem software is good at. Applications parsed and scored against case requirements the moment they land. Certification expiry dates tracked without a spreadsheet. Text-first outreach, because caregivers answer texts and ignore email. Interview scheduling that does not take eight messages. That is the boring half of the job and the half that scales, and an ATS built for high-volume hiring pays for itself in coordinator hours alone.
What software cannot do is judge whether this caregiver will be right for this client. Fit in home care is specific: the client with early dementia who needs patience, the family that hovers, the house with stairs and no rail. That call belongs to the coordinator who has met both sides. Use automation to get the shortlist to them faster, not to replace the judgment at the end.
If you are evaluating systems, our roundup of the best ATS for healthcare covers the credential-tracking side, and the ATS options with built-in text messaging matter more in this market than in almost any other. For adjacent clinical roles, the same principles apply in our guide on how to hire nurses.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the main duties and responsibilities of a caregiver?
A caregiver helps a client with the activities of daily living: bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, mobility and transfers, meal preparation, feeding, light housekeeping, laundry, medication reminders, transportation to appointments, and companionship. Caregivers also observe and report changes in a client's condition to the agency or family. The exact list depends on the role tier. A companion caregiver handles homemaking and company. A personal care aide adds hands-on physical care. A certified home health aide adds limited clinical tasks under a nurse's supervision.
What should a caregiver job description include?
Six things: the job title and role tier, the pay range and shift pattern, a duties list written in plain language, the physical requirements stated as essential functions, the required certifications and screening steps, and the reporting line. Job descriptions that skip pay and shift details get fewer applications and more no-shows, because caregivers are comparing four postings at once and filtering out the vague ones.
What is the difference between a caregiver, a home health aide, and a CNA?
Scope of practice. A companion caregiver or personal care aide handles non-medical support and usually needs no state certification, though many states require agency training and registration. A home health aide completes state-approved training, typically 75 hours of federal minimum instruction for Medicare-certified agencies, and can perform limited health-related tasks under nurse supervision. A certified nursing assistant is licensed by the state nurse aide registry and works with a broader clinical scope, most often in facilities rather than private homes.
How much should I pay a caregiver?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics put the median wage for home health and personal care aides at $34,900 a year in May 2024, roughly $16.78 an hour. That is the national midpoint, not your market rate. In high-cost metros, agencies routinely pay $19 to $24 an hour for personal care and more for certified aides, overnight coverage, and dementia or hospice experience. Post the range. Withholding it costs you applications to the agency down the road that publishes theirs.
Do caregivers get overtime pay?
It depends on federal rulemaking that is still unsettled and on your state law. The 2013 Home Care Final Rule extended federal minimum wage and overtime protection to home care workers employed by third-party agencies. In July 2025 the Department of Labor proposed rescinding that rule and issued Field Assistance Bulletin 2025-4 telling investigators to stop enforcing it. The 2013 rule has not been formally rescinded. Separately, many states including New York, California, Washington, Massachusetts, and Illinois have their own wage and hour rules that apply regardless of the federal position. Confirm your obligations with employment counsel before you write a pay policy into a job description.
What background checks are required for caregivers?
Most states require a criminal background check for anyone providing in-home care, and many require a check against the state nurse aide registry and adult or elder abuse registries. Medicare-certified agencies must also screen against the OIG exclusion list. Beyond the legal minimum, agencies commonly run a motor vehicle record check when the caregiver transports clients, verify references from prior care work, and confirm TB screening or immunization records. Build the sequence into your process so nothing gets skipped when a case needs coverage tomorrow.
Should a caregiver job description list physical requirements?
Yes, and state them as essential functions of the job rather than as a wish list. Transfers, lifting, standing for long stretches, and assisting a client who has fallen are real parts of the work. Writing them down clearly helps candidates self-select accurately and supports a consistent, job-related standard under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Be specific about weight and frequency instead of writing that the role is physically demanding.
Resources & Further Reading
Related Guides
- How to Write Job Descriptions
The structure that works across every role, not just care work
- Best ATS for Healthcare Hiring
Systems built for credentials, registries, and volume
- How to Hire Nurses
License verification and speed in a tight clinical market
- Pre-Employment Background Checks
Sequencing registry, criminal, and driving record checks
External Sources
- BLS: Home Health and Personal Care Aides
Pay, employment size, and 2024 to 2034 projections
- DOL: Domestic Service Final Rule FAQ
Federal wage and hour position for home care employers
- Activated Insights Benchmarking Report
Annual caregiver turnover and retention benchmarks
- PHI: Direct Care Workforce Research
State-level policy and workforce data
