Phlebotomist Job Description Template
A phlebotomist draws blood for tests, research and donation, and does it on people who are nervous, dehydrated, in a hurry, or all three. The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median at $21.75 an hour and projects about 18,000 openings a year against 143,900 existing jobs. The posting that fills fastest is the one that answers the two questions every applicant already has: do I need to be certified before you will look at me, and who pays for it.
What a phlebotomist does
A phlebotomist draws blood and keeps the sample and the paperwork attached to the right person. The BLS duty list is short and unglamorous and every line of it is a place the job goes wrong: draw blood from patients or donors, verify identity, label the collected blood, label sterile containers for other samples and instruct patients on collection, enter sample information into a database, assemble and dispose of needles and tubes, and keep the work area sanitary. Almost all of the risk in the role sits in the second and fourth items rather than the needle.
The other half of the job is people. The BLS lists the qualities as communication, compassion, attention to detail, dexterity, interpersonal skill and physical stamina, and the first sentence of its duty list is about explaining the work to relax someone who is frightened. A candidate who is technically fine and cannot do that will not last in a draw station, so it belongs in the posting as a stated requirement rather than a nice-to-have.
The occupation is small but moving quickly: 143,900 jobs in 2025, projected to grow 7% through 2035 — an increase of 9,800 positions — with about 18,000 openings a year. Pay follows the setting more than the title. May 2025 medians run $48,030 in outpatient care centers, $46,670 in medical and diagnostic laboratories, $44,500 in offices of physicians, $44,220 in hospitals and $39,930 in all other ambulatory healthcare services. That is an $8,100 spread across settings for a job candidates read as identical.
Phlebotomist job description template
Copy this, replace everything in brackets, and delete any line you cannot honestly stand behind. The bracketed items are the ones candidates actually read — leaving them as brackets is worse than leaving them out.
Job title
Phlebotomist
Summary
[Employer] is hiring phlebotomists for our [hospital / lab / draw station / donor center] in [city]. You will draw, label and process samples on a [set shift] with [X] draws in a typical day. Pay is [$XX.XX–$XX.XX an hour]. [Certification required before start] / [we pay for your certification and you can start while you complete it].
Responsibilities
- Draw blood by venipuncture and capillary stick on [adults / pediatric / geriatric / donor] patients
- Verify patient identity against [two identifiers] before every draw, without exception
- Label tubes at the bedside and confirm the order, tube type and draw sequence
- Instruct patients on collecting other specimens and label sterile containers
- Enter and reconcile sample information in [LIS or EMR system]
- Prepare, centrifuge and store specimens for transport to [lab]
- Stock the draw area, maintain equipment and dispose of sharps to protocol
- Explain the procedure and settle patients who are anxious or have difficult veins
Requirements
- 18 or older and legally authorized to work
- High school diploma or equivalent
- Completion of a phlebotomy program [required before start / we will pay for it]
- [State training, license or certification requirement, if your state has one]
- Pass a background check and [required health screening and immunizations]
- Able to stand for a [X]-hour shift and work at pace during peak draw windows
Preferred
- Current certification [CPT, PBT or equivalent]
- Experience with [pediatric / geriatric / oncology / donor] draws
- Experience with [LIS or EMR system]
- Prior work in a [hospital / reference lab / plasma center] setting
- Second language spoken by our patient population: [language]
Schedule and pay
- [Shift and days, stated exactly — not flexible schedule]
- [Weekend and holiday rotation, and how often it comes round]
- [On-call or early-morning inpatient draw expectations]
- [Shift differential of $X.XX an hour for nights or weekends]
- [Full-time / part-time / PRN and the minimum hours]
Benefits
- Health, dental and vision from day [1 / 30 / 60]
- Paid time off that accrues from your first shift
- [401(k) with X% match]
- [Paid certification and renewal]; [tuition support toward MLT or nursing]
- [Referral bonus of $X for a phlebotomist who stays 90 days]
Certification, state rules and the six things to settle before posting
Most of what governs this role is decided by your state and by whether you hire trained or train yourself, not by the job title. These are the six things to settle before the posting goes live.
| Requirement | What to know |
|---|---|
| Education | BLS: phlebotomists typically enter with a postsecondary nondegree award from a phlebotomy program at a community college, vocational or technical school, usually under a year. That is the norm, not a legal floor — decide whether you will hire and train, and say which in the ad. |
| State requirements | BLS states that states may require phlebotomists to complete an accredited training program, hold a license or certification, or meet other requirements. Whether that applies to you is a state question, and the answer belongs in the first three lines of the posting. |
| Certification | Some employers prefer certified phlebotomists even where the state does not require it. If you prefer it, say preferred. If you require it, say required and name which certification you accept, because candidates hold several. |
| Who pays | The single highest-yield line in a phlebotomy ad. A candidate told they will need certification, and not told who pays or when they can start, applies to the employer that answered it. Answer it. |
| Physical demands and dexterity | Standing for a full shift, fine motor work and steady hands under time pressure. Name the shift length and the typical draw volume rather than writing must be able to stand for long periods. |
| Background and health screening | Background checks, immunization records and health screening are standard in clinical settings and vary by employer and state. Name them in the ad so nobody withdraws in week two. |
How to customize it for your setting
Hospitals
Your median is $44,220 — fourth of the five settings BLS reports — so pay is rarely your advantage. Schedule stability, a real training path toward MLT or nursing, and the size of the team are. Inpatient early-morning draw rounds are the thing candidates most often did not expect, so put the start time in the ad rather than in the offer.
Independent labs and draw stations
At $46,670 the medical and diagnostic laboratory median is the second-highest published. If you are at or above it, the number goes in the first line. Single-cover draw stations should say so plainly: some candidates want the autonomy and the rest will leave in a month if they find out after they start.
Outpatient and physician offices
Outpatient care centers are the highest-paid setting at $48,030 and physician offices the middle at $44,500, but the real draw is the hours — weekday, daytime, predictable. That is worth more than a dollar an hour to a candidate leaving hospital shift work, and almost nobody puts it in the ad.
Blood donation and plasma centers
The work is volume, repetition and donor comfort rather than diagnostic variety, and the pool is different: people who want a clinical foot in the door without a hospital badge. Write for that person. Naming the training you provide converts better here than any wage line, because most of your applicants are entering the field.
What it costs to reach phlebotomists on social
Our 2026 Social Job Advertising Benchmark does not publish a phlebotomy role family, and we would rather say that than quote a neighboring number as though it were this one. The nearest published family is allied health and imaging: a median of $54.37 per applicant across 23 campaigns, a middle half of $10.27 to $106.51, a blended $25.49, a 10% apply rate and a 1.01% click-through rate. That family is weighted toward imaging and other degree-credentialed roles, so its median overstates phlebotomy and its lower quartile is the more honest anchor.
The sector line is the better planning number. Across 553 healthcare and senior living campaigns the median was $15.42 per applicant, the middle half $7.89 to $39.61 and the blended figure $11.47, with a 16% apply rate. Phlebotomy sits at the entry end of that range rather than the clinical end, which is the useful thing to tell a finance team before they benchmark you against a nursing campaign. Cost per applicant is not cost per hire, and in a credentialed role the gap between the two is decided by how fast you answer the certification question.
The hiring side of this role — what a clinical campaign costs, which ad formats work in healthcare and how phlebotomy compares with nursing and aide roles — is covered on our healthcare staffing costs, healthcare job ad templates and RN, LPN and CNA recruiting cost pages.
Writing the ad version
The description above is a document. The ad is forty words that have to survive a thumb moving at speed, and the certification question has to be one of them: “Phlebotomist, [town], [shift], $XX.XX an hour — certification paid, start while you finish it.” Pay, shift, location and the answer to the thing every applicant is silently wondering.
The apply rate in credentialed healthcare families runs around 10%, well below the frontline roles on this site, and the drop happens between the click and the form rather than in the feed. Our candidate conversion rate guide covers where that leaks, and fifteen worked ad examples are in our help wanted ad examples library.
Frequently asked questions
What does a phlebotomist do?
A phlebotomist draws blood for tests, research or donation. The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists the duties as drawing blood from patients or donors, explaining the work to relax people who are nervous, verifying the patient’s or donor’s identity, labeling the collected blood, labeling sterile containers for other samples and instructing patients on collection, entering sample information into a database, assembling and disposing of needles and tubes, and keeping the work area clean. Most of the risk in the job sits in identity verification and labeling rather than in the draw itself.
How much does a phlebotomist make?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median at $21.75 an hour, or $45,230 a year, from May 2025 data on a page last modified August 27, 2026. Setting matters more than title: the May 2025 medians run $48,030 in outpatient care centers, $46,670 in medical and diagnostic laboratories, $44,500 in offices of physicians, $44,220 in hospitals and $39,930 in all other ambulatory healthcare services — an $8,100 spread for what a candidate reads as the same job.
Do you need to be certified to work as a phlebotomist?
It depends on where you are. Phlebotomists typically enter the occupation with a postsecondary nondegree award from a phlebotomy program, and the BLS notes that states may require phlebotomists to complete an accredited training program, hold a license or certification, or meet other requirements. Some employers prefer certified candidates even where the state does not require it. Whichever applies to you, the posting should say whether certification is required before starting and who pays for it — that one line moves application rates more than the wage does.
Is there a shortage of phlebotomists?
The occupation is projected to grow 7% between 2025 and 2035, an increase of 9,800 positions, with about 18,000 openings a year against 143,900 existing jobs. That is much faster than the average across all occupations, but the openings figure is small in absolute terms, so the constraint is usually local rather than national. If a draw station has been open sixty days, the problem is more often reach and the certification question than a national shortage.
Other job description templates
See all job description templates — free, editable templates for frontline, trades, healthcare and warehouse roles.
Hiring phlebotomists?
The job description is the document; the ad is the thing that gets read. We write it, run it where clinical staff are actually scrolling, and report what each applicant cost — cost per applicant, not cost per hire.
Pay, employment, outlook, duties, education and certification requirements: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook, Phlebotomists (last modified August 27, 2026; 2025 employment and May 2025 wage data, including medians by industry), read August 29, 2026. Cost-per-applicant figures: Boostpoint 2026 Social Job Advertising Benchmark — allied health and imaging role family, 23 campaigns, and the healthcare and senior living sector, 553 campaigns; advertising costs only. Cost per applicant is not cost per hire. Last updated August 2026.