How to hire an experienced cosmetic injector

Most clinics come to me after the same experience. They put an ad up, got a pile of applications, and very few of them were from experienced injectors. That isn't bad luck. The injectors you want are already working, usually busy, and mostly not reading job ads.

So the job is reaching the few good injectors who would move for the right role, and getting to them before someone else does. Here is how I'd approach it.

Know where experienced injectors actually are

Job boards have got noticeably worse for quality. I rarely advertise now. The good injectors I place come through my network, direct approaches and referrals, because the people with a full book and a good reputation don't need to look.

If you're recruiting yourself, the same applies on a smaller scale. Ask your own team and your suppliers who they rate. Clinical trainers and brand reps see a lot of injectors at work and often know who is unsettled. A personal approach to one right person beats an ad that reaches a hundred wrong ones.

Decide what experienced actually means for your clinic

Most cosmetic nurses I place have at least two years in aesthetic practice. In tighter markets I'll consider a strong nurse with less, and I tell the clinic exactly what they're getting and why. Years alone don't tell you much, though. What matters is whether their experience matches your work.

Be specific about the treatment mix, the devices and products you use, and the patient volume. An injector who has spent three years doing natural, consult-led work may not suit a fast, high-volume clinic, and the reverse is just as true. If you want someone who brings their own patients with them, say so up front, because that changes both who is interested and what they'll expect to earn.

Check registration properly

Every nurse you hire should be checked on the Ahpra public register before an offer goes out. Look at the registration type and any conditions, undertakings or notations, not just whether their name comes up.

Under Ahpra's guidelines from September 2025, a registered nurse needs at least a year of full-time equivalent practice in general or specialist nursing before moving into cosmetic work, and enrolled nurses can only do some cosmetic procedures, under a registered nurse's supervision. Worth knowing if you're weighing up someone newer to aesthetics.

Then check the aesthetics experience itself. Ask what they inject, how often, which areas and which products, and speak to a referee who has actually seen their work. A qualification tells you they can inject. A good reference tells you whether patients come back.

Screen for fit, not just skill

Before you interview, be clear on four things and talk about them openly: how you pay and what you expect in return, whether the clinic is natural-results led or volume driven, the pace and patient load, and who they report to and can ask when a case is unusual. Those four are where most of my placements are won or lost, and the fit section on our For Clinics page goes through why.

Be realistic about pay

As a rough guide, injectors sit somewhere around $35 to $60 an hour, with commission on top, typically somewhere between 5 and 15 percent depending on the clinic. Where someone lands in that range depends on experience, location and whether they bring a patient book.

If your offer sits below the market, expect the search to take longer and the shortlist to be thinner. Our aesthetics salary guide, linked below, sets out current ranges by role and city if you want to sense-check before you go to market.

How long it realistically takes

Most of the roles I work on fill in two to four weeks. The ones that drag usually have one of a few things in common: a location that is hard to recruit into, requirements that are tighter than the role really needs, pay that is below market, or a hiring process that moves too slowly. Good candidates don't wait around, so have your interview times ready and decide quickly once you've met the right person.

When to bring in a specialist

If you've had an ad up for a few weeks without the right person applying, the ad probably isn't the problem. That's usually the point where a specialist earns their fee, because the job becomes finding the people who aren't looking.

We work exclusively, one search at a time for one clinic, with a commitment on both sides. It's the only way to run a proper search rather than a race against three other agencies. Every placement carries a three-month replacement guarantee, and it's worth knowing both of those before you get in touch.

Common questions