Health coaches help people achieve their health and fitness goals by counseling, motivating, and working with them. Whether it's adopting a healthier lifestyle or achieving ambitious fitness goals, health coaches can help. Two of their main tools are nutrition and exercise.
When you hire a health coach, he/she or she may start by talking about your life and habits. They identify what your goals are and why you might not be meeting them. They also strive to understand what you might have done in the past and how it turned out. Health coaches often take on the role of personal trainer, even though the two careers require different certifications.
You can become a health coach by completing the ACE Health Coach Certification course. This will include reviewing the course material, passing the final exam, and getting licensed.
How to Become a Health Coach
What is a Health Coach
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a Health Coach. For example, did you know that they make an average of $22.6 an hour? That's $46,998 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 11% and produce 14,100 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Health Coach Do
There are certain skills that many Health Coaches have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed Instructional skills, Interpersonal skills and Writing skills.
How To Become a Health Coach
If you're interested in becoming a Health Coach, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 63.8% of Health Coaches have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 15.6% of Health Coaches have master's degrees. Even though most Health Coaches have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a Health Coach. When we researched the most common majors for a Health Coach, we found that they most commonly earn Bachelor's Degree degrees or Master's Degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on Health Coach resumes include Associate Degree degrees or Diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a Health Coach. In fact, many Health Coach jobs require experience in a role such as Staff Nurse. Meanwhile, many Health Coaches also have previous career experience in roles such as Registered Nurse or Internship.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the right jobs to get there.
And if you’re looking for a job, here are the five top employers hiring now:
Health Coach Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a Health Coach can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as Case Manager, progress to a title such as Clinical Supervisor and then eventually end up with the title Clinical Director.
Health Coach Jobs You Might Like
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Health Coach
Calculate your salary
Use Zippia's Salary Calculator to see how your pay matches up.
12 Health Coach Resume Examples
Build a professional health coach resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 12+ resume templates to create your health coach resume.
 |
Andrea Miller Health Coach |
 |
 |
Donald Ward Health Coach Experience Health Coach2016 - Present Boys & Girls Club•Muncie, IN
Community Health Educator2014 - 2016 Meridian Health•Muncie, IN
Community Health Educator2011 - 2014 Meridian Health•Muncie, IN
Skills BMICommunity Health WorkersLarge GroupsCommunity Health AssessmentCustomer ServicePublic HealthHealth InformationPersonal HealthSubstance AbuseTreatment Plans Education Master's Degree Kinesiology2010 - 2011 Ball State University•Muncie, IN Bachelor's Degree Kinesiology2007 - 2010 Ball State University•Muncie, IN |
 |
Learn How To Write a Health Coach Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Health Coach resumes and compiled some information about how to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Health Coach Resume Examples And TemplatesAnd if you’re looking for a job, here are the five top employers hiring now:
Choose From 10+ Customizable Health Coach Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Health Coach templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Health Coach resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Find the best Health Coach job for you
Health Coach Jobs You Might Like
- High Paying Health Coach Jobs - $73K and Up
- Work From Home Health Coach Jobs
- Entry Level Health Coach Jobs
- Part Time Health Coach Jobs
- Actively Hiring
- No Degree Health Coach Jobs
Top Colleges for Health Coachs
1. University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN • Private
2. University of Florida
Gainesville, FL • Private
3. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
4. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC • Private
5. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
6. Texas A&M University
College Station, TX • Private
7. University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX • Private
8. Northeastern University
Boston, MA • Private
9. San Diego State University
San Diego, CA • Private
10. University of Washington
Seattle, WA • Private
Find the best Health Coach job for you
Health Coach Jobs You Might Like
- High Paying Health Coach Jobs - $73K and Up
- Work From Home Health Coach Jobs
- Entry Level Health Coach Jobs
- Part Time Health Coach Jobs
- Actively Hiring
- No Degree Health Coach Jobs
Online Courses For Health Coach That You May Like
Health Coaching in Holistic Wellness Accredited Health Coaching Certification Health Coaching Directory Level 2 Grads...
Become a Vegan Nutrition Certified Health Coach, Learn Vegan Cooking, Embrace a Holistic Approach to Food...
Keto Nutrition Certified Health Coach Specialized in the Ketogenic Diet, Ketosis (Keto) and Intermittent Fasting...
Top Skills For a Health Coach
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 13.9% of Health Coaches listed Customer Service on their resume, but soft skills such as Instructional skills and Interpersonal skills are important as well.
Best States For a Health Coach
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a Health Coach. The best states for people in this position are Maryland, Connecticut, California, and West Virginia. Health Coaches make the most in Maryland with an average salary of $61,383. Whereas in Connecticut and California, they would average $59,303 and $58,932, respectively. While Health Coaches would only make an average of $58,426 in West Virginia, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Indiana
$53,850
Avg. Salary
2. District of Columbia
$69,356
Avg. Salary
3. Ohio
$53,079
Avg. Salary
How Do Health Coach Rate Their Jobs?
Top Health Coach Employers
We've made finding a great employer to work for easy by doing the hard work for you. We looked into employers that employ Health Coaches and discovered their number of Health Coach opportunities and average salary. Through our research, we concluded that Humana was the best, especially with an average salary of $44,168. Herbalife Nutrition follows up with an average salary of $52,885, and then comes Health Dialog with an average of $58,107. In addition, we know most people would rather work from home. So instead of having to change careers, we identified the best employers for remote work as a Health Coach. The employers include CVS Health, Cigna, and Aetna
Health Coach Videos
Becoming a Health Coach FAQs
Are health coaches legit?
Yes, health coaches can be legit. There are specialized educational programs available to become a health coach, but there are no requirements for being a health coach.
Anyone can be a health coach because no organization has established requirements for health coaches. Some people without any formal education or certifications can say they are health coaches, which could potentially cause serious problems. Although health coaches can be legit, many may not be.
However, legit health coaches have gone through the proper training and educational experiences to be health coaches. Many qualified coaches will have no problem with working with your doctor and may even request it to provide the best-specialized care for you.
Qualified health coaches will also have no problem with sharing their experiences and education to ensure that they are, in fact, qualified to be health coaches.
Do you need a degree to become a health coach?
No, you do not need a degree to become a health coach. There is no requirement to become a health coach, but many places of employment will most likely require certification or formal education.
If you work as a freelance health coach, there are no educational or experience requirements.
If working for a company, there will most likely be experience and or educational requirements. Many gyms or wellness centers will at least require certification. Having certification and or an associate's or bachelor's degree will give an advantage in the wellness field.
Having adequate educational experience can provide a form of credibility as a health coach, whether working freelance or for a company or business.
How do you become a certified health coach?
You need to complete an approved training program before taking the Health & Wellness Coach Certifying Examination. To become a certified health coach, you have to meet the eligibility criteria before taking the Health & Wellness Coach Certifying Examination.
There is a multitude of approved programs that vary in course length and density. Finding a program that works for you depends on your desired health coaching specialty and how much education you are seeking.
What is a health care coach?
A health care coach is a personal guide to a healthier lifestyle. This healthier lifestyle could include your diet and or physical activities, as well as supplemental health habits.
Health care coaches usually deal with a few specific areas that affect your health and wellness:
Smoking
Stress
Nutrition
Sleep
Physical activity
Time management
Health care coaches help you discover what methods work for you and your lifestyle. They provide the knowledge and tools needed to help you figure out what those methods are.
Health care coaches not only provide the standard knowledge of how much you should exercise and how much you should be eating, but they also provide psychological tools.
Health care coaches help you think differently about yourself and certain health and wellness-related habits. A health care coach is also someone that can hold you accountable for your actions during coaching, which can help clients feel as if they are not doing something on their own.