How to Apply to UCLA Health

9 min read Last updated April 20, 2026 3 open positions
Blake Crosley
Blake Crosley Researched using publicly available information, hiring data, and ATS analysis.

Key Takeaways

  • UCLA Health uses Workday as its applicant tracking system through the University of California's shared HR platform, so resumes must be ATS-friendly and keyword-aligned with the job posting.
  • Apply directly through uclahealthcareers.org rather than third-party aggregators to ensure your application lands in the official UC Workday pipeline with full requisition tracking.
  • Master the CICARE service framework before any interview, because it is the explicit lens used to evaluate behavioral answers across clinical, research, and administrative roles.
  • California licensure, primary-source-verified certifications, and Epic EHR experience are non-negotiable for most clinical roles and should be displayed prominently on your resume.
  • Expect panel interviews, especially for clinical positions, and prepare STAR-format answers that highlight teamwork in academic medical settings, error disclosure, and de-escalation.
  • Compensation, benefits, and retirement (UCRP pension, 403(b), 457(b)) follow University of California structures, which are generally competitive and unusually transparent for healthcare.
  • Onboarding is rigorous and multi-week, including occupational health clearance, background checks, and Epic training, so plan a four-to-six-week runway between offer and start date.
  • UCLA Health values long-term career growth and invests heavily in nurse residency, leadership pipelines, and tuition support, making it well suited to candidates seeking a career home rather than a short-term role.
  • Highlight academic medical center fit, research participation, and DEI/community engagement to stand out from candidates with only community-hospital backgrounds.

About UCLA Health

UCLA Health is one of the most prestigious academic medical centers in the United States, integrating clinical care, biomedical research, and medical education under the umbrella of the University of California, Los Angeles. With roughly 37,000 employees across its hospitals, clinics, and David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA Health operates four hospitals on two campuses and more than 280 community clinics throughout Southern California, making it one of the largest healthcare employers in the Los Angeles region. The system is anchored by Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Westwood, which has been consistently ranked among the top hospitals in the nation by U.S. News & World Report and is regularly named the best hospital in California and the Western United States. Other major facilities include UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center, UCLA Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital, and UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital, each of which is recognized for specialty excellence in fields ranging from cardiology and oncology to neurology, transplantation, and pediatric care. As an academic medical center, UCLA Health blends bedside care with cutting-edge translational research, and many clinical roles intersect with the David Geffen School of Medicine's teaching and research mission. Employees frequently participate in clinical trials, mentor medical residents and students, and collaborate with principal investigators on NIH-funded studies. The organization's mission, summarized in its CICARE framework (Connect, Introduce, Communicate, Ask, Respond, Exit), emphasizes a deeply patient-centered, service-oriented culture that touches every role from frontline clinical staff to administrative and research positions. UCLA Health also occupies a unique position as part of the broader University of California system, which means that benefits, retirement, and many HR policies follow UC-wide structures, including the UC Retirement Plan (UCRP) pension and a robust portfolio of medical, dental, and vision options. Compensation is generally competitive within the Los Angeles healthcare market and is published transparently for many positions through the UC pay scales, which adds a layer of accountability uncommon in private health systems. For job seekers, UCLA Health represents an opportunity to work at the intersection of world-class clinical care, academic prestige, and a values-driven culture, with meaningful career mobility across hospitals, clinics, the medical school, and the broader UC research ecosystem. Hiring spans an extraordinarily wide range of career families: registered nurses across med-surg, ICU, ED, OR, transplant, oncology, NICU, and behavioral health, along with advanced practice providers, pharmacists, respiratory therapists, imaging technologists, lab scientists, social workers, case managers, clinical research coordinators, biostatisticians, IT and Epic analysts, revenue-cycle and managed-care professionals, facilities and EVS staff, and a sizable corporate function covering finance, HR, marketing, compliance, and information security. Volume hiring tends to concentrate in clinical service lines tied to UCLA Health's nationally ranked specialties, and many roles offer internal mobility across the health system once an employee has completed their initial commitment.

Application Process

  1. 1
    Search and apply for open positions through the UCLA Health careers portal at uc

    Search and apply for open positions through the UCLA Health careers portal at uclahealthcareers.org, which routes candidates into UCLA's Workday-based applicant tracking system used across the University of California.

  2. 2
    Create a Workday candidate profile, upload a tailored resume, and complete the s

    Create a Workday candidate profile, upload a tailored resume, and complete the supplemental questionnaire that captures licensure, certifications (such as RN license, BLS, ACLS), and specific clinical or technical experience required for the role.

  3. 3
    Recruiters typically perform an initial screen within one to three weeks for cli

    Recruiters typically perform an initial screen within one to three weeks for clinical and high-priority roles, often starting with a phone interview to verify credentials, salary expectations, and availability for shift work.

  4. 4
    Qualified candidates advance to interviews with the hiring manager and panel int

    Qualified candidates advance to interviews with the hiring manager and panel interviews that may include charge nurses, unit directors, physicians, or peer staff depending on the department, with strong emphasis on behavioral and CICARE service-culture questions.

  5. 5
    For clinical roles, expect a skills validation step (such as a medication calcul

    For clinical roles, expect a skills validation step (such as a medication calculation exam, EHR proficiency check on Epic, or scenario-based clinical judgment questions) and possible shadowing or unit tour.

  6. 6
    After a verbal offer, you will complete background checks, drug screening, occup

    After a verbal offer, you will complete background checks, drug screening, occupational health clearance (including TB and immunization verification), and credential primary-source verification through UCLA's onboarding team, which typically takes two to four weeks.

  7. 7
    New hires complete a multi-day general orientation followed by department-specif

    New hires complete a multi-day general orientation followed by department-specific onboarding and Epic EHR training before starting in their unit, with nurse residency programs available for new graduate RNs.

Resume Tips for UCLA Health

recommended

Mirror exact phrasing from the UCLA Health job description, especially clinical

Mirror exact phrasing from the UCLA Health job description, especially clinical specialties, certifications, and Epic EHR experience, because the Workday parser scores resumes against the requisition's structured requirements.

recommended

List active California licensure (RN, LVN, RT, PT, etc

List active California licensure (RN, LVN, RT, PT, etc.) and certifications (BLS, ACLS, PALS, NRP, CCRN, OCN) near the top of the resume with issuing body and expiration date, since recruiters filter aggressively on credential validity.

recommended

Quantify clinical impact with concrete metrics such as patient acuity ratios, HC

Quantify clinical impact with concrete metrics such as patient acuity ratios, HCAHPS score improvements, CAUTI/CLABSI reduction percentages, throughput gains, or research enrollment numbers rather than vague duty statements.

recommended

Highlight academic medical center experience, teaching responsibilities, precept

Highlight academic medical center experience, teaching responsibilities, precepting, research participation, or quality improvement projects, because UCLA Health values candidates who thrive in a teaching hospital environment.

recommended

For non-clinical roles, emphasize healthcare domain knowledge (HIPAA, revenue cy

For non-clinical roles, emphasize healthcare domain knowledge (HIPAA, revenue cycle, value-based care, CMS regulations) and any UC system or public-sector experience, since UCLA operates under University of California governance.

recommended

Use a clean, single-column, ATS-friendly format with standard section headers (E

Use a clean, single-column, ATS-friendly format with standard section headers (Experience, Education, Licenses & Certifications, Skills) and avoid graphics, tables, or text boxes that Workday's parser struggles to read.

recommended

Include a brief professional summary tailored to the specific UCLA Health unit o

Include a brief professional summary tailored to the specific UCLA Health unit or department, naming the service line (e.g., Cardiothoracic ICU, Neuro-Oncology, Mattel Children's NICU) when possible to demonstrate intentional fit.

recommended

Show commitment to patient-centered care and DEI by referencing community health

Show commitment to patient-centered care and DEI by referencing community health work, volunteer experience, language skills, or health equity initiatives, which align with UCLA Health's institutional values.

ATS System: Workday

UCLA Health uses Workday as its applicant tracking system, deployed through the University of California's shared HR platform. All requisitions, candidate profiles, recruiter screens, interview scheduling, and offer workflows are managed in Workday, and the candidate-facing portal is accessed at uclahealthcareers.org. Workday's resume parser extracts structured data into named fields, so resumes that use clean single-column layouts, standard section headers, and exact keyword alignment with the job posting score significantly higher than visually styled or graphic-heavy formats.

  • Use a single-column, ATS-friendly resume with standard section headers (Experience, Education, Licenses & Certifications, Skills) so Workday's parser maps fields correctly.
  • Mirror exact terminology from the job posting, including specialty names, certifications, software (Epic), and required years of experience, since Workday scores resumes against requisition keywords.
  • Complete every field of the Workday candidate profile, including the manual work history entries, even if your resume already contains the same information, because recruiters filter using the structured profile data.
  • List active California licenses and certifications with issuing body and expiration date in a dedicated section near the top of the resume.
  • Save and reuse your Workday profile across UC system applications, since UCLA Health, UCSF, UC Davis, and UC Irvine Health all share the UC Workday tenant for many functions.
  • Apply early in the requisition's open window, since Workday timestamps applications and recruiters often review in submission order for high-volume clinical reqs.

Complete Workday Resume Guide →

Interview Culture

UCLA Health interviews are structured, behavioral, and deeply rooted in the organization's CICARE service framework, which stands for Connect, Introduce, Communicate, Ask, Respond, and Exit.

Candidates should expect questions that explicitly probe how they would apply each of these elements in patient interactions, and seasoned interviewers will often listen for the specific language and sequence rather than just the spirit of the answer. For clinical positions, the typical interview loop begins with a recruiter phone screen focused on licensure, scheduling flexibility, and basic fit, followed by a hiring manager interview (often the unit director or assistant director), and culminates in a peer panel interview with charge nurses and frontline staff. Panel interviews are common and intentional: UCLA Health believes peer input is critical to predicting success on a unit, so candidates should be prepared to engage warmly with three to six interviewers at once, make eye contact across the panel, and address questions to the asker while including the room. Behavioral questions follow the STAR format (Situation, Task, Action, Result) and tend to focus on conflict resolution with physicians or family members, error disclosure and just-culture scenarios, escalation in deteriorating patients, handling diversity and language barriers, and adapting to academic medicine's teaching environment. For research, administrative, and technology roles, expect a mix of competency-based interviews and case discussions, often with stakeholders from both the health system and the David Geffen School of Medicine. Across all roles, interviewers evaluate cultural alignment with UCLA Health's stated values of compassion, respect, excellence, discovery, integrity, and teamwork, and they look for candidates who articulate why an academic medical center specifically (as opposed to a community hospital) appeals to them. Dress is professional business attire, even for clinical interviews, and candidates are encouraged to bring a printed copy of their resume, license, and certifications. Decisions can take two to six weeks depending on the role's urgency and panel scheduling, with HR-driven offers, formal background and occupational health clearance, and a structured onboarding pipeline that includes Epic training and unit-based preceptorship.

What UCLA Health Looks For

  • Demonstrated commitment to patient-centered, compassionate care that aligns with the CICARE service model and UCLA Health's published values of compassion, respect, excellence, discovery, integrity, and teamwork.
  • Active and unencumbered California licensure and the specific certifications named in the job posting, with no gaps, lapses, or pending disciplinary actions on the state board record.
  • Experience in or genuine enthusiasm for an academic medical center environment, including comfort with medical residents, students, research protocols, and the higher acuity typical of a quaternary referral hospital.
  • Strong interpersonal skills for high-stakes, multidisciplinary teams, especially the ability to communicate respectfully with attending physicians, fellows, residents, advanced practice providers, and ancillary staff.
  • Evidence of clinical excellence and quality improvement mindset, such as participation in unit councils, shared governance, evidence-based practice projects, or measurable contributions to safety and outcomes.
  • Cultural humility and demonstrated ability to serve a diverse patient population, including non-English speakers and historically underserved communities across Los Angeles County.
  • Resilience, professionalism, and adaptability for a high-volume, high-acuity environment that includes Level I trauma, transplant, and complex oncology populations.
  • Long-term career orientation, since UCLA Health invests heavily in onboarding, residency, and continuing education and prefers candidates who want to grow within the UC system over many years.

Frequently Asked Questions

What ATS does UCLA Health use for job applications?
UCLA Health uses Workday as its applicant tracking system, accessed through the University of California's shared HR platform via uclahealthcareers.org. All applications, candidate profiles, recruiter communications, and offer workflows route through Workday, so resumes should be formatted for Workday's parser (single column, standard headers, no graphics or tables).
Where should I apply for UCLA Health jobs?
Apply directly at uclahealthcareers.org, which is the official UCLA Health careers portal. Avoid third-party job boards as the source of truth, since the Workday requisition system tracks applications, internal transfers, and recruiter dispositions through the UC portal. Some UCLA roles also appear on the broader UC system careers site.
How long does the UCLA Health hiring process take?
From application to start date, the process typically takes six to twelve weeks for clinical roles. Recruiter screens happen within one to three weeks, interviews and panel rounds add another two to four weeks, and post-offer background checks, drug screening, occupational health clearance, and Epic training onboarding usually consume an additional four to six weeks.
Do I need California licensure to apply for clinical roles?
Yes, an active California Board of Registered Nursing or other relevant California state license is required for nearly all direct-care clinical roles by your start date. UCLA Health will sometimes consider candidates with licenses pending if they are actively in the endorsement process, but a California license is required before patient contact begins.
What is CICARE and why does it matter in interviews?
CICARE stands for Connect, Introduce, Communicate, Ask, Respond, Exit. It is UCLA Health's standardized framework for every patient and family interaction. Interviewers explicitly probe CICARE in behavioral questions, so candidates should be able to describe how they would apply each step in a patient encounter or de-escalation scenario.
What benefits does UCLA Health offer?
Because UCLA Health is part of the University of California, employees receive UC-system benefits including the UC Retirement Plan (UCRP) pension, 403(b) and 457(b) supplemental retirement, comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans, generous PTO, tuition reduction for employees and dependents at UC campuses, and continuing education support. Benefits are unusually rich and stable compared to private health systems.
Does UCLA Health hire new graduate nurses?
Yes, UCLA Health runs a structured New Graduate RN Residency Program at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and Santa Monica that recruits BSN graduates twice a year (typically winter and summer cohorts). Competition is intense, and candidates are evaluated on clinical rotations, GPA, references, leadership experience, and cultural alignment with UCLA Health's values.
Is Epic experience required for UCLA Health clinical jobs?
UCLA Health uses Epic as its electronic health record across hospitals and clinics. Prior Epic experience is strongly preferred and often listed as a requirement for experienced hires, but new hires without Epic complete formal Epic training during onboarding before going live in their unit. Highlighting Epic certification or extensive Epic use on your resume is a meaningful differentiator.
What is the work culture like at UCLA Health?
UCLA Health combines a high-acuity academic medical center culture with a strong service ethic. Expect higher complexity than community hospitals, frequent interaction with medical residents and fellows, robust shared governance for nurses, active research participation, and a deeply diverse patient and staff population. Many employees describe long careers and strong unit cohesion, especially within specialty service lines.
How transparent is UCLA Health pay?
Because UCLA Health is part of the University of California, salary ranges for most positions follow published UC pay scales and are listed on each Workday job posting. The UC system also publishes annual employee compensation data publicly, making UCLA Health one of the more transparent large healthcare employers in the country.

Open Positions

UCLA Health currently has 3 open positions.

Check Your Resume Before Applying → View 3 open positions at UCLA Health

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