Tips and Tricks for RBT Hiring

What to look for, what to walk away from, and how to spot a great technician who has never heard of ABA.

Why this matters

RBT turnover is one of the most expensive problems a practice has, and a lot of it starts at the screening stage. Candidates who already have ABA experience on paper are scarce and in high demand. If that's your filter, you're competing for a small pool and passing over people who would have been excellent.

The technical parts of the job are trainable. You can teach data collection, terminology, and the plan of care. What you can't quickly teach is warmth, patience, curiosity about why a behavior is happening, and a willingness to be coached. Those qualities show up in people who have never heard of ABA.

Train the ABA. Hire the disposition.

Where promising candidates come from

• Childcare, daycare, nannying, camp counseling

• Tutoring, paraprofessional work, classroom aide roles

• Caregiving for a family member or sibling with a disability

• Any high-stress, unpredictable environment — service industry, healthcare support, crisis or shelter work. It builds the same muscle: staying regulated when the situation isn't.

• Candidates working toward BCBA certification. These are your best long-term bet — offering to support their supervision hours is one of the strongest retention tools you have.

Green flags

With the child

• Genuine warmth and enthusiasm — smiles, open body language, upbeat and energetic while answering, varied facial expression. Can give specific examples of working with a child, rather than saying they "just enjoy working with children" in general.

• Patience — comfortable with silence and slow progress. Doesn't rush to fill a pause in the interview. Describes waiting for a child rather than moving them along.

• Compassion and empathy — talks about how the child might be feeling, not just what the child did. Assumes there's a reason behind the behavior.

• Creativity and adaptability — offers more than one idea. Says "or I could try…" unprompted. Pivots when you add a complication mid-scenario instead of restating the first answer.

• Lets the child lead — describes following the child's interest, joining their play, making the activity fun, rather than directing every moment.

How they think

• Asks why before what — first instinct is to wonder what's driving the behavior, not what to do about it.

• Considers the environment — mentions what happened right before, noise, hunger, sleep, task difficulty, who else was in the room.

• Curious — asks you questions about the child, the team, the training, the plan of care. Questions are about the work, not only about pay and hours.

• Comfortable not knowing — says "I'm not sure, but here's what I'd try" instead of bluffing.

How they take direction

• Open to feedback — can name a specific time they were corrected and what they changed as a result.

• Actively seeks feedback — asks how they'll be evaluated, how often they'll meet with a supervisor, whether someone will observe a session.

• Adjusts rather than defends — when you push back on an answer, they think about it out loud instead of restating it.

• Accepts the plan of care as non-negotiable — doesn't treat it as a starting suggestion they'd adapt.

Professionalism and reliability

• Punctual — on time or early to the interview. Asks about start times and travel. Treats lateness as something that affects the family's whole day, not just the schedule.

• Proactive communicator — describes telling someone before something becomes a problem.

• Initiative and independence — can give an example of solving something without being told to.

• Comfortable with the physical realities of the job — lifting children, sitting and standing regularly, changing diapers, toilet training older children, feeding. Answers questions about all of this plainly, without a long pause, a nervous laugh, or a joke to deflect.

• Adapts to the household — treats a family's language, food, routines, and rules as information to work with rather than obstacles to manage. Asks instead of assuming.

• Knows when to escalate — would bring the BCBA into a hard parent conversation rather than handling it alone.

• Translates ABA into plain language — can explain something technical to you in words a parent would follow.

• Long-term intent — has a reason for being in the field that extends past this job.

Red flags

• Compliance or punishment language — "make them," "don't let them get away with it," "they need consequences," "hold them to it." Every plan is about getting the child to comply.

• Uses labels — calls a child bad, manipulative, defiant, or spoiled.

• Resists feedback — defends instead of considering. Has a ready answer for everything. Can't name a time they were wrong about something.

• Reacts instead of analyzing — jumps straight to a response with no curiosity about the cause. Treats every behavior as the same kind of problem.

• Big reactions — raises their voice while describing a scenario, gets visibly rattled or irritated in the interview, meets escalation with escalation.

• Discomfort with the physical side — long pause, nervous laugh, visible recoil, or "would someone else handle that?" when you ask about drooling, toileting accidents, food smearing, spitting, or biting.

• Scripted answers — polished and generic, same cadence regardless of the question. Answers the question they prepared for rather than the one you asked.

• Treats a family's practices as obstacles — describes a household's language, food, routines, or parenting as something to work around, correct, or push past. Assumes their own norms are the default.

• No real warmth about children — flat affect on the kid questions, with energy appearing only for pay, schedule, or hours.

Techniques to help surface a good candidate

1. Reach out before the interview

Either with the candidate email template from the guided interview resource, or a friendly text saying you're excited to meet them and talk about the opportunity. A personal note may be the difference between a candidate showing up to the interview and not.

2. Ask the unexpected question

The pause tells you more than the answer.

"Are you comfortable changing a diaper, or toilet training an older child?" Ask it plainly, once they're relaxed, and watch what happens in the half-second before they reply.

3. Ask about the future

"Where do you want to be in three years?" If they're pursuing BCBA certification, say out loud that you can support their supervision hours. It's the strongest retention lever you have.

4. Be transparent about feedback

Tell them plainly that this role is feedback-driven, and that following the BCBA's plan of care is a regulatory requirement rather than a preference. Then ask how they handle criticism.