You post an opening for a Registered Behavior Technician (RBT) on a Monday. By Friday you have a dozen applications. Two of those people have ABA experience, and both are already talking to three other practices. The other ten have worked in daycares, restaurants and summer camps, so your first instinct is to set them aside.
In most cases, that instinct costs you good people. If you want to hire RBTs who stay, screen for the person before the resume. You can teach the technical side of the job, and you mostly can't teach the temperament. So hiring well comes down to the signs you listen for in an interview, and the ones that should slow you down.
Key Takeaways
- Screen for the person first: Warmth, patience, curiosity and a willingness to be coached are hard to teach, while data collection and terminology can be trained after the hire.
- Look past ABA experience: Good technicians often come from childcare, classrooms, caregiving and other jobs where people stay calm when things get unpredictable.
- Listen to how candidates talk about children: Someone who wonders why a behavior is happening is a safer hire than someone who talks about making a child comply.
- Get help running the practice: BCBAs who own their practice can partner with Alpaca Health for payroll and insurance billing, so more of the week goes to clients and to supervising the team.
Green flags and red flags to tick off during your next RBT interview.
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Why is it so hard to hire RBTs?
Supply looks healthy on paper. The Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) counted 260,174 certified RBTs as of July 1, 2026, which is about three for every Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA). The trouble is that technicians often don't stay. In a 2015 survey of behavior technicians, 38% said they'd likely leave their job. How happy they were with supervision, pay and training was tied to that plan.
Each time a technician leaves, it costs you. Recruiting, hiring and training a new employee can cost as much as 200% of a year's salary. That's before you count the family whose sessions stop while you look for someone new. A review of technician turnover research found that frequent turnover can hurt organizations, staff and patients. Its authors named hiring as one of the places to act.
So a lot of turnover 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 with every other practice for the same small pool. You're also passing over people who would've been great at the job.
What does someone need to become an RBT?
The certification asks for less than most job posts do. The BACB's RBT Handbook says an applicant has to be at least 18 and have a high school-level education. They have to pass a criminal background check and an abuse registry check. Then they finish a 40-hour training and pass a skills check, called a competency assessment, before the exam. The training can come from an employer, a university or an online program.
Past ABA experience isn't on that list, so your pool is much wider than the people who already hold the credential. It also means the credential only tells you so much. It shows that someone finished the training and passed the exam. It can't show how they'll act when a session falls apart in the first ten minutes.
The BACB describes an RBT as someone who works under the direction and close supervision of a supervisor. That supervisor is responsible for all of the work the RBT does. If you're new to hiring, it helps to read what an RBT does day to day and how the two roles differ. You answer for everything your technician does in a session, so put coachability above every other trait.
Where to find good RBT candidates
Good candidates often come from work that looks nothing like ABA on a resume. The jobs below ask for the same temperament.
- Childcare: People who've worked in daycares, as nannies or as camp counselors are used to long days with young children.
- Schools: Tutors, paraprofessionals and classroom aides have already worked one-on-one with children who need extra support.
- Family caregiving: Someone who has cared for a sibling or relative with a disability often knows this work from the inside.
- High-stress jobs: Service industry, healthcare support, crisis and shelter work all build the same muscle, which is staying regulated when the situation isn't.
- Future BCBAs: Candidates working toward BCBA certification are your best long-term bet, and offering to support their supervised fieldwork hours is one of the strongest retention tools you have.
When you write the job post, say plainly that you train new technicians. That way these people know the role is open to them.
Green flags to look for in an RBT interview
Green flags are small, and most of them show up in the way a candidate tells a story. You'll hear them when someone describes a child they've cared for. You'll hear them again when you push back on an answer, and in the questions they ask you at the end.
With the child
- Real warmth: They smile, their body language is open, and they light up more when describing one specific child than when talking about kids in general.
- Patience: They're comfortable with silence and slow progress, and they describe waiting for a child without hurrying them along.
- Empathy: They talk about how the child might be feeling as well as what the child did, and they assume there's a reason behind the behavior.
- Adaptability: They offer more than one idea, and when you add a complication in the middle of a scenario they change course and don't repeat their first answer.
- Following the child's lead: They describe joining a child's play and making the activity fun, with no urge to direct every moment.
How they think
- Why before what: Their first instinct is to wonder what's driving a behavior before they decide what to do about it.
- The environment: They mention what happened right before, along with noise, hunger, sleep, task difficulty or who else was in the room.
- Curiosity: They ask you about the child, the team, the training and the plan of care, so their questions cover the work as well as pay and hours.
- Comfort with not knowing: They'll say they aren't sure, tell you what they'd try first, and skip the bluff.
How they take direction
- Open to feedback: They can name a specific time they were corrected and what they changed afterward.
- Seeks feedback out: They ask how they'll be evaluated, how often they'll meet with a supervisor and whether someone will observe a session.
- Adjusts under pushback: When you challenge an answer, they think it through out loud and don't simply restate it.
- Respects the plan of care: They treat the plan as non-negotiable and never as a starting suggestion to adapt.
This last group goes beyond personal taste. The RBT Ethics Code says technicians must follow their supervisor's direction and act on feedback to do better. So a candidate who bristles when you correct them is showing you how supervision will go.
What does a reliable RBT candidate look like?
You can often tell before the interview starts. A strong candidate is on time or early and asks about start times and travel. They treat being late as something that affects a family's whole day. They describe telling someone before a problem grows, and they can give an example of fixing something without being told to.
They also answer questions about diapers and toileting plainly. They treat a family's language, food, routines and rules as things to learn and work with, and they ask before they assume. When a talk with a parent gets hard, they'd bring you in before trying to handle it alone. They can explain a technical idea in words a parent would follow. And they have a reason for being in the field that goes past this one job.
Red flags worth slowing down for
One red flag is a reason to ask a follow-up question before you make an offer. Several together are a reason to pass.
- Compliance or punishment language: Phrases like "make them," "don't let them get away with it" or "they need consequences" suggest every plan is about getting the child to comply.
- Labels: They call a child bad, manipulative, defiant or spoiled.
- Resisting feedback: They defend before they consider, have a ready answer for everything and can't name a time they were wrong.
- Reacting without analyzing: They jump straight to a response with no curiosity about the cause, and every behavior is the same kind of problem to them.
- Big reactions: They raise their voice while describing a scenario, get visibly rattled in the interview or meet escalation with escalation.
- Discomfort with the physical side: A long pause, a nervous laugh or "would someone else handle that?" follows when you mention drooling, toileting accidents, food smearing, spitting or biting.
- Scripted answers: Everything is polished and generic, and they answer the question they prepared for even when you asked a different one.
- Treating a family's practices as obstacles: They describe a household's language, food, routines or parenting as something to correct, and they assume their own norms are the default.
- No warmth about children: Their affect is flat on the questions about kids, and their energy shows up only for pay, schedule or hours.
Give the language flags the most weight. The way a candidate talks about a child in an interview is close to how they'll treat one in a session, and protecting client dignity starts with who you hire.
How to hire RBTs with a better interview
A standard interview rewards answers people have practiced. Your aim is to get candidates off their script early and see what they do next.
Reach out before the interview
Send a short email or a friendly text saying you're excited to meet them and talk about the role. A personal note may be the difference between a candidate showing up and staying home. It's also their first look at the kind of supervisor you'll be.
Ask the unexpected question
Once they're relaxed, ask plainly: "Are you comfortable changing a diaper, or toilet training an older child?" Then watch the half second before they reply, because the pause tells you more than the answer does. A good sign is a plain answer with no long silence, nervous laugh or joke to deflect.
Ask about the future
Ask where they want to be in three years. If the candidate is working toward BCBA certification, say out loud that you can support their supervision hours. Many technicians are looking for that kind of fieldwork placement, and it's the best tool you have to keep them.
Be transparent about feedback
Tell them plainly that the role runs on feedback. Tell them that following the BCBA's plan of care is required, whatever they'd prefer to do. Then ask how they handle criticism, and listen for a real example.
Green flags and red flags to tick off during your next RBT interview.
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How to keep the RBTs you hire
A good hire can still leave if the job around them is thin. The turnover review by Novack and Dixon points to five things a practice can change. They are hours, training, supervision, pay and job demands, and each one is tied to burnout or plans to leave.
Supervision is the one you control most. According to the RBT Handbook, a technician needs ongoing supervision for at least 5% of the hours they spend providing services each month. That includes at least two real-time contacts, and you have to watch them work in at least one. Treat those numbers as the floor, because technicians who came from outside ABA will need more of your time in their first months. If you screened for coachability, that time will pay off.
Plan how that will work before your second or third hire, since supervision that scales looks different from watching one technician yourself. Teach note writing early too, because clear session notes are a part of the job most new technicians have never done. Steady hours belong on the same list. They depend on how well the rest of the business runs, and a guide to managing an ABA practice can help with that.
How Alpaca Health helps BCBAs build a team
BCBAs who run a practice with Alpaca Health hire their own technicians and stay in charge of who joins the team. Alpaca Health handles payroll, so your staff get paid correctly and on time. It takes on insurance billing and credentialing as well. That leaves more of your week for the parts of hiring nobody else can do for you, like sitting in on a new technician's first sessions and giving feedback after. If you know an RBT who's looking for work, you can send them the RBT careers page, which lists open roles with BCBA-owned practices. If you're ready to see how that would work for your practice, book a demo today.
Frequently asked questions about hiring RBTs
Can you hire someone with no ABA experience as an RBT?
Yes. The BACB's eligibility rules don't ask for prior experience. The person has to be at least 18, have a high school-level education and pass background checks. They also finish the 40-hour training, a skills check and the exam. Many strong technicians come from childcare, classrooms and caregiving.
What should you ask in an RBT interview?
Ask the candidate to walk through a scenario with a child, then add a twist halfway to see if they adapt. Ask plainly about diapers and toileting. Ask where they want to be in three years, and ask about a time they were corrected and what they changed.
What are the biggest red flags when hiring an RBT?
Weigh three things most: talk about making a child comply, labels like "manipulative" or "spoiled," and getting defensive about feedback. Clear discomfort with toileting accidents or being spat on is a close second, because those are part of the work on a normal day.
How much supervision does a new RBT need?
The RBT Handbook sets the minimum at 5% of the hours they spend providing services each month. That includes at least two real-time contacts, and you watch them work with a client in at least one. New technicians often need more than the minimum. If the business side of your practice eats the time you'd spend supervising, you can talk to an advisor at Alpaca Health about taking it off your plate.
How do you keep RBTs from leaving?
Fair pay, steady hours, good training and useful supervision are the things a practice can change. Technicians who want to become BCBAs are more likely to stay with a practice that supports their supervision hours.
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