How to hire a health coach

How to hire a health coach, step by step

Here's a step-by-step health coach hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a health coach job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new health coach
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a health coach do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring a health coach, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A health coach's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, health coaches from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   This list shows salaries for various types of health coaches.

   Type of Health Coach	Description	Hourly rate
   Health Coach	Health educators teach people about behaviors that promote wellness. They develop and implement strategies to improve the health of individuals and communities... Show more	$12-26
   Community Educator	Community Educators are responsible for organizing and improving access to training and education opportunities throughout a local community. Their duties include forming relationships with community groups, discovering local interests, develop service plans with education providers, and increase learning channels such as through classes, tutorials, and mentorship programs... Show more	$12-31
   Certified Diabetes Educator	A certified diabetes educator primarily works with patients diagnosed with prediabetes and diabetes to promote and educate them about necessary lifestyle changes and disease management strategies. As a certified diabetes educator, it is their responsibility to help patients understand their condition and how it will affect them, serve as a mentor in different self-care practices, suggest lifestyle and disease management plans, teach them about the different medication procedures and dietary needs, and coordinate other services when necessary.	$19-37

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Customer Service
   • Patients
   • Optimal Health
   • Disease Management
   • Ongoing Support
   • Nutrition Education
   • Social Work
   • Mental Health
   • Community Resources
   • Health Promotion
   • Chronic Disease
   • Weight Management
   • Diabetes
   • BMI

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Participate in workshops and offer lectures on various health topics, aim toward prevention and management of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
   • Motivate staff to participate in lunch time yoga and strength training exercises as well as cooking demos and office nutrition trivia.
   • Promote, educate and assist individuals in health management including diabetes management, nutrition, stress management and tobacco cessation.
   • Obtain CPR certification before the summer program begin.
   • Maintain and control all hippa-relate patient documentation via EMR.
   • Perform all job duties in compliance with HIPAA guidelines and company confidentiality policies.

   More health coach duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your health coach job description is a great way to entice the best and brightest candidates. A health coach salary can vary based on several factors:

   • Location. For example, health coaches' average salary in florida is 43% less than in alaska.
   • Seniority. Entry-level health coaches earn 53% less than senior-level health coaches.
   • Certifications. A health coach with a few certifications under their belt will likely demand a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for a prestigious company or an exciting start-up can make a huge difference in a health coach's salary.

   Average health coach salary

   $38,671yearly

   $18.59 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level health coach salary

   $26,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 16, 2025

   Average health coach salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$52,028	$25
   2	Connecticut	$46,304	$22
   3	Maryland	$45,999	$22
   4	Oregon	$44,130	$21
   5	Virginia	$43,837	$21
   6	Washington	$43,173	$21
   7	Hawaii	$41,848	$20
   8	North Dakota	$41,634	$20
   9	Wyoming	$41,235	$20
   10	New York	$40,741	$20
   11	Minnesota	$40,431	$19
   12	Pennsylvania	$39,524	$19
   13	Colorado	$39,259	$19
   14	Idaho	$39,057	$19
   15	Nevada	$38,477	$19
   16	Maine	$38,463	$18
   17	Oklahoma	$38,112	$18
   18	Massachusetts	$38,065	$18
   19	Iowa	$37,345	$18
   20	Montana	$37,300	$18

   Average health coach salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Massachusetts General Hospital	$55,071	$26.48
   2	Mount Sinai Health System	$54,970	$26.43	67
   3	Boston Medical Center	$54,659	$26.28	8
   4	Brigham and Women's Hospital	$54,637	$26.27	14
   5	Stanford University	$53,753	$25.84	4
   6	University of California-Berkeley	$51,564	$24.79	2
   7	Maimonides Medical Center	$51,502	$24.76	8
   8	UMass Memorial Health	$51,398	$24.71	3
   9	Cooley Dickinson Hospital	$49,641	$23.87
   10	CyberCoders	$48,901	$23.51
   11	Kaiser Permanente	$48,518	$23.33	45
   12	Virta Health	$48,382	$23.26
   13	CHKD Thrift Store	$47,560	$22.87
   14	Augusta Health	$46,654	$22.43	6
   15	Aetna	$46,522	$22.37
   16	Americares	$45,962	$22.10
   17	Chumash Casino Resort	$45,776	$22.01
   18	Cooper University Health Care	$45,740	$21.99
   19	Multnomah Education Service District	$45,420	$21.84
   20	Trustmark Insurance Co	$45,389	$21.82	15

4. Writing a health coach job description

   A health coach job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. Below, you can find an example of a health coach job description:

   Health coach job description example

   The Recovery Coach (RC) will be an integral part of a new collaboration between the HOPE Clinic and MGH community health centers (Charlestown, Revere, and Chelsea) to provide substance use disorder care to pregnant and post-partum women. The HOPE Clinic is a co-located, multidisciplinary clinical program caring for pregnant, postpartum, and parenting women with SUD, their partners, and their infants from conception of pregnancy through early childhood. The Coach will provide peer recovery support services to pregnant and new moms with SUD at MGH community health centers as an extension of HOPE Clinic services and will assist them in achieving sustained recovery as defined by each individual patient. This position will facilitate patient access to recovery-oriented substance use disorder treatment, resources, and community recovery groups. The RC will bridge the segregated treatment system into a more holistic care model through providing support across multiple systems and frameworks of care. This position will maintain ongoing patient support regardless of relapse and will serve as a motivator, ally, role model, sounding board, and advocate for patients with substance use disorders. The RC should possess thorough understanding of community culture to address the barriers to successful recovery, use human experience language, and provide links to community resources and treatment options.
   * High school diploma or GED required
   * Demonstrates ability to maintain 2 years of sustained and uninterrupted recovery at time of hire required; 3-5 years of sustained and uninterrupted recovery preferred.
   * Successful completion of a CCAR approved Recovery Coach Academy before hire, or the successful completion of a CCAR approved Recovery Coach Academy within 4 months of hire.
   * Certified Addiction Recovery Coach (CARC) certification required within first 12 months of employment
   * Familiarity with basic parenting skills required
   * Experience teaching parenting skills preferred
   * Experience working with patients with SUD during and after pregnancy preferred
   * Familiarity local resources for moms and their babies preferred
   * Strong advocacy skills along with knowledge of community-based services, resources, and local recovery community
   * Demonstrated understanding of the multiple pathways approach to recovery from SUD and willingness to embrace a patient-centered, patient-driven approach that recognizes an individual's preferences and autonomy. Recovery by any means possible.
   * Demonstrated understanding of the efficacy of Medication for Addiction Treatment (MAT) as one of the multiple pathways to recovery
   * Excels at problem-solving, time management with the ability to multi-task; organized, efficient and process directed
   * Ability to maintain effective working relationships to include effective boundaries with patients/families and staff
   * Excellent interpersonal, written and verbal communication skills
   * Effective use of the Internet and Microsoft Office programs such as Word and Outlook
   * Bilingual candidates encouraged to apply

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right health coach for your business:

   • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your health coach job on Zippia to find and recruit health coach candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting health coaches requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   Remember to include a few questions that allow candidates to expand on their strengths in their own words. Asking about their unique skills might reveal things you'd miss otherwise. At this point, good candidates can move on to the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new health coach

   Once you have selected a candidate for the health coach position, it is time to create an offer letter. In addition to salary, the offer letter should include details about benefits and perks that are available to the employee. Ensuring your offer is competitive is vital, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and it is important to be open to discussion and reach a mutually beneficial agreement. After the offer has been accepted, it is a good idea to formalize the agreement with a contract.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   To prepare for the new health coach first day, you should share an onboarding schedule with them that covers their first period on the job. You should also quickly complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources must ensure a new employee file is created for internal record keeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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How much does it cost to hire a health coach?