The Hidden Cost of Depending on Indeed for ABA Staffing

For many ABA providers, hiring starts with a familiar routine: an RBT position opens, the job gets posted on Indeed, applications come in, and the recruiting team begins screening candidates.

There is nothing inherently wrong with using job boards. Platforms like Indeed can provide access to a large pool of job seekers and remain an important part of many recruiting strategies.

The problem begins when Indeed becomes the recruiting strategy instead of one part of it.

For ABA organizations struggling to hire enough Registered Behavior Technicians® (RBT®), repeatedly paying to compete for the same pool of existing candidates can become expensive. The true cost extends beyond job advertising. Unfilled positions can mean delayed services, unused clinical capacity, additional pressure on existing employees, and missed opportunities for growth.

For growing ABA providers, it may be time to rethink the traditional approach to staffing.

The Real Cost of Unfilled RBT Positions for ABA Providers

The cost of recruiting an RBT is not limited to what an organization spends advertising the position.

Consider what happens while that position remains open. A provider may have families waiting for services but insufficient staff to accept additional cases. BCBAs may have capacity to supervise additional clients but not enough technicians to deliver the required direct services. Recruiters and clinical leaders may spend hours interviewing candidates who never accept an offer or never make it through onboarding.

There can also be indirect costs associated with:

• Recruiter and HR time
• Job advertising
• Repeated interviews
• Delayed client starts
• Reduced clinical capacity
• Overtime or additional workload for existing staff
• Employee burnout
• Turnover caused by staffing shortages
• Repeating the entire hiring process when a new employee leaves

A vacancy that appears to be a recruiting problem can quickly become an operational problem.

Why ABA Providers Are Competing for the Same RBT Candidates

One of the limitations of relying heavily on Indeed is simple: your competitors are there too.

When an experienced RBT searches for a position, they may encounter openings from multiple ABA providers within the same geographic area. Those organizations may be competing for the same candidate using similar job titles, compensation ranges, schedules, and benefits.

Increasing job board spending may improve visibility, but it does not necessarily increase the number of qualified RBTs available in the market.

This creates a fundamental problem for the industry.

If ten ABA organizations are competing for 100 existing RBTs, better recruiting can help one organization capture a larger percentage of those candidates. It does not create the 101st RBT.

That is why workforce development needs to become part of the conversation.

How ABA Providers Can Recruit Future RBTs

Instead of exclusively asking, "Where can we find more RBTs?", ABA organizations can ask a different question:

"Where can we find people who could become great RBTs?"

That dramatically expands the potential candidate pool.

Future RBTs may already be working as:

• Behavior technicians who have not yet earned the RBT credential
• Paraprofessionals
• Teacher assistants
• Preschool and childcare professionals
• Direct support professionals
• Psychology students
• Education students
• Social services professionals
• Individuals looking to transition into behavioral healthcare

Many of these candidates may never search Indeed for "Registered Behavior Technician" because they do not yet know that the career exists.

An ABA organization that reaches these individuals first has an opportunity to introduce them to the profession, provide a pathway into the field, and develop its own pipeline of qualified candidates.

RBT Training vs. Constantly Recruiting Certified Candidates

This is where training can become a recruiting investment rather than simply an onboarding requirement.

Instead of paying repeatedly to advertise for already-certified RBTs, an organization can allocate part of its recruitment budget toward helping promising candidates complete the education needed to begin pursuing the credential.

A structured pipeline might look like this:

This does not eliminate the need for recruiting. It changes what the organization is recruiting for.

Rather than limiting the candidate pool to people who already possess the credential, providers can recruit for qualities that are more difficult to teach, such as professionalism, reliability, empathy, communication skills, and genuine interest in helping others.

The technical foundation can then be developed through quality training and supervision.

Use 40-Hour RBT Training to Build Your ABA Workforce

The required 40-hour RBT training presents ABA organizations with an opportunity.

Offering access to training can make an entry-level ABA position more attractive to candidates who are interested in the field but have not completed the certification process.

Instead of saying:

"RBT certification required."

An organization may be able to build recruiting pathways that communicate:

"Interested in a career in ABA? We'll help you build the skills you need to get started."

That is a fundamentally different employment proposition.

At Online ABA Training, we help ABA organizations provide structured online RBT training to multiple learners without requiring clinical leaders to recreate the same foundational education for every new employee.

Organizations can purchase training in bulk at a lower cost per learner, making it more practical to incorporate education into larger recruiting and onboarding programs.

How Standardized RBT Training Can Improve ABA Onboarding

Hiring quickly solves only part of the staffing problem. New employees also need to be prepared to perform their roles effectively.

When every supervisor is responsible for independently teaching foundational concepts to new staff, onboarding can become inconsistent and time-consuming.

One BCBA may explain a concept differently from another. One location may have an excellent onboarding process while another struggles.

Structured online training provides a consistent educational foundation across candidates.

Clinical supervisors can then spend more of their time doing what requires their expertise: observing performance, providing feedback, developing clinical skills, and supporting the application of behavioral principles in practice.

Why Hiring More RBTs Alone Won’t Solve Employee Turnover

There is another hidden cost to depending heavily on job boards: they can make it easier to treat turnover as a recruiting problem.

When an RBT leaves, the instinct is often to post another opening.

But if employees consistently leave because of poor supervision, limited development opportunities, scheduling issues, burnout, or a lack of career progression, recruiting more aggressively does not address the underlying problem.

A sustainable ABA staffing strategy must consider both acquisition and retention.

Professional development can contribute to that strategy.

Organizations that invest in training send an important message to employees: you are not simply here to fill therapy hours. We want you to become better at what you do.

That investment can extend beyond initial RBT training into continuing education, supervisor development, and pathways toward advanced careers in behavior analysis.

Measure the True Cost of Recruiting and Hiring an RBT

ABA organizations should also reconsider how recruiting performance is measured.

A low cost per applicant can look impressive while producing poor business results.

Instead, agencies should consider metrics such as:

Cost Per Qualified RBT Candidate

How much did the organization spend to generate someone who actually meets its hiring criteria?

Cost Per RBT Hire

What is the total recruiting investment required to produce an accepted offer?

Time to Client Assignment

How long does it take a new employee to progress from candidate to being prepared for clinical work?

90-Day and 12-Month RBT Retention

Are the people being recruited actually staying?

Cost Per Successful RBT

When advertising, recruiter time, onboarding, training, turnover, and replacement costs are considered together, what does it actually cost to build one successful RBT?

That final number may tell a very different story than the cost displayed inside a recruiting dashboard.

Build an ABA Recruiting Strategy Beyond Indeed

The goal is not to stop using Indeed.

Job boards can remain valuable for reaching active job seekers, particularly experienced professionals who already understand ABA and know what positions they want.

But a resilient recruiting strategy should have multiple sources of talent.

That may include:

• Indeed and other job boards
• Employee referral programs
• Social media recruiting
• College and university partnerships
• Local community outreach
• Career-focused content and SEO
• Internship programs
• RBT training pathways
• Internal career advancement
• Former employee and candidate networks

Over time, these channels can create something much more valuable than another batch of applicants.

They can create a talent pipeline.

Build a Sustainable RBT Talent Pipeline for Your ABA Organization

Demand for ABA professionals is unlikely to be solved simply by writing better job advertisements.

As the field grows, providers will need to become more intentional about creating the workforce they need.

That means reaching people before they become RBTs, providing accessible pathways into the profession, investing in quality training, supporting employees after they are hired, and creating opportunities for them to grow.

Online ABA Training can help organizations build the education component of that strategy.

Our online training programs allow ABA providers to offer consistent, flexible education to new and existing team members. For organizations training multiple employees, bulk purchasing provides more favorable per-course pricing, making it easier to scale professional development as your workforce grows.

Indeed can help you find your next RBT.

A strong training and talent development strategy can help you build your next 100.