Life Coach Job Description Templates for Coaching and Wellness Practices
6 free templates for the practices that hire without an HR department: general life coach, health and wellness coach, executive coach, career coach, life skills coach, and youth coach. Download as DOCX.
Every other job description I have written for this library starts with something the law already decided. A nurse needs a license. A teacher needs a background check. A truck driver needs a CDL. Write the posting, name the credential, move on. Life coach is the first role where the answer to almost every question is that nobody decided, so you have to.
No state licenses life coaches. There is no board, no protected title, no required training, and no scope defined by statute. The federal wage survey does not even have an occupation for it. That freedom is why coaching businesses grow fast, and it is also why a coaching job description carries more weight than most: it is the only place the boundaries of the role get written down.
At FirstHR we build hiring templates for owner-operated businesses, and coaching practices are close to the extreme case. The six below cover a private practice life coach, a health and wellness coach, an executive coach, a career coach, a life skills coach in social services, and a youth or academic coach, each with the scope and classification language the generic versions leave out.
TL;DR
A life coach job description has to define what no license defines: the credential bar, the caseload, the documentation standard, the scope of practice, and the classification. Coaching is unregulated in every state, non-exempt hourly is the safe FLSA default, and the contractor shortcut is the most expensive mistake in the industry. Six templates below, downloadable as DOCX.
An Unregulated Role You Have to Define
Life coaching is not a licensed occupation in any state, which means no external body sets the training, the scope, or the standard of care. Your job description is the definition. Whatever it leaves unstated stays undefined, including the parts that create liability.
That is a real difference from every adjacent role. A counselor answers to a state board, a dietitian answers to a licensure statute, a trainer answers to a certifying body most employers insist on. A coach answers to whatever you wrote down, and if you wrote down nothing, the answer is decided later by whoever is unhappy.
Private coaching practice
You define everything
No license, no board, no scope set by statute. You choose the credential bar, the session structure, the pay model, and the boundary with therapy. Every one of those decisions has to appear in the job description, because nothing external supplies them for you.
Health and wellness program
Scope of practice is the risk
Coaching next to clinical care brings board certification into play and puts you close to state rules on dietetics, nursing, and counseling. The posting has to state what the coach does not do as clearly as what they do.
Corporate or internal coaching
Sponsors and confidentiality
The client is the leader, the payer is the company, and the coach has to hold both without leaking either. Credential expectations run higher here, and so does pay, because the work sits next to learning and development.
Social services and youth programs
Licensing and funders rule
Life skills coaching in residential, recovery, disability, or youth settings is governed by state licensing, funder requirements, background checks, and mandated reporting. Those rules outrank anything you would otherwise prefer to write.
Match the Posting to the Setting, Not the Title
The word coach covers four different hiring problems. A private practice coach is a caseload and a scope question. A health and wellness coach is a scope-of-practice question with a clinical boundary. An executive coach is a credential and confidentiality question with higher pay attached. A life skills coach in a residential or youth program is a licensing, background check, and shift coverage question before it is anything else. Pick the template that matches the actual work, not the word the business likes to use.
What Belongs in a Life Coach Posting
A coaching job description does four jobs at once: it sells the practice, it filters unqualified applicants, it protects you legally, and it closes the candidate. Most coaching postings do only the first, which is why they attract a hundred applications and no fit. Here is the full inventory.
The parts candidates read first
Who your clients are, in one concrete sentence
Caseload size and session length
Delivery model: in person, video, or both
Whether the schedule is fixed or the coach builds it
The parts that filter applicants
Credential expectation, marked required or preferred
Years with your specific client type
Documentation standard and the system you use
Background check notice where clients are minors or vulnerable
The parts that protect you
A written scope-of-practice section
FLSA classification stated on the posting
Employee or contractor, decided honestly
Equal opportunity statement and essential functions
The parts that win the hire
Pay, or a good-faith range where the law requires one
Whether prep and documentation time is paid
Supervision, credential hours, and CEU budget
A named person to apply to and a real deadline
The most common omission is the caseload. Coaches want to know how many clients, how often, how long the sessions run, and whether documentation is a form or a paragraph, because those numbers decide whether the job is sustainable. Vagueness there reads as a practice that has not decided. Our guide to writing a job description covers the general structure in more depth, and the wider hiring template library has the adjacent roles.
6 Life Coach Job Description Templates to Download
Download all six as one file or copy them individually. Each follows the same structure: practice overview, position summary, key responsibilities, required qualifications, a scope-of-practice section where the role needs one, a classification and compliance note, an equal opportunity statement, and how to apply. The bracketed fields are the only parts you change.
Download All 6 Life Coach Job Description Templates
Life coach, health and wellness coach, executive coach, career coach, life skills coach, and youth coach. All in one download.
Life Coach
Private practice caseload
The general coaching role, with caseload, session structure, documentation, and a written scope-of-practice section you can post as is.
Health and Wellness Coach
Behavior change, near clinical
For wellness programs and clinic-adjacent coaching, with board certification, motivational interviewing, privacy handling, and the referral line.
Executive / Leadership Coach
Sponsored engagements
For firms and internal coaching functions: three-way contracting, assessments, sponsor reporting, and an honest note on why exempt is not automatic.
Career Coach
Search and placement
For career practices and workforce programs, with search plans, mock interviews, activity targets, and outcome reporting for a funder.
Life Skills Coach
Residential and community
For disability, recovery, and supportive housing programs, with shift coverage, service plans, incident reporting, and the overtime exposure spelled out.
Youth / Academic Coach
Students and executive function
For academic coaching and youth development, with parent communication, clearance before the first session, and contact rules for minors.
Template 1: Life Coach
The general private practice role, with caseload, session structure, documentation, and a written scope-of-practice section you can post as is.
Life Coach Job Description
LIFE COACH JOB DESCRIPTION
Practice: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Founder / Practice Owner / Lead Coach]
Employment type: [Full-time / Part-time] employee
FLSA status: Non-exempt (hourly, overtime-eligible) unless you can document an
exemption
Compensation: $_ per [hour / year]
ABOUT [PRACTICE NAME]
[Practice Name] is a [solo / boutique / group] coaching practice in [City, State]
working with [founders / career changers / new parents / people in transition].
Our standard engagement runs [number] sessions across [number] months. We are
hiring a coach to carry a caseload of [number] active clients.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Life Coach runs structured coaching engagements with assigned clients, sets
goals and accountability with each of them, documents every session, and keeps
the work inside our stated scope by referring out anything clinical.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Carry an active caseload of [number] clients at [frequency] sessions
•Run a structured intake: goals, baseline, obstacles, and a written plan
•Deliver [45 / 60] minute sessions [in person / by video] on a set schedule
•Document each session and track progress against the client's written goals
•Hold clients accountable between sessions and adjust the plan when it stalls
•Refer any client out to a licensed clinician when the need moves past coaching
•Keep client records confidential and stored only in our approved system
•Contribute to [group programs / workshops / written content] as scheduled
•Meet our published standards for [completion / retention / client feedback]
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Credential from an accredited coach training program / ICF ACC or PCC /
equivalent documented experience: set your bar and say which]
•[Number] years coaching [our client type] one-on-one
•Clear written communication and disciplined session documentation
•Comfort holding a boundary and referring out rather than treating
•Must clear a background check appropriate to our client population
•[Professional liability coverage carried by us / required from you]
SCOPE OF PRACTICE (read before posting)
Coaching is not therapy, counseling, medical care, financial advice, or legal
advice. This role does not diagnose, treat, or manage any physical or mental
health condition. The coach refers any client presenting a clinical need to a
licensed professional. Session and marketing language must not promise outcomes
we cannot support.
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
Life coaching is not a licensed occupation in any state, so there is no
credential that settles this question for you. Under the Fair Labor Standards
Act the learned professional exemption requires advanced knowledge in a field of
science or learning customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized
intellectual instruction, and coach training programs generally do not meet that
bar. Treat the role as non-exempt unless counsel tells you otherwise: pay hourly,
track hours, and pay overtime past forty in a week. If you set the schedule, the
rate, the method, and the client list, you have an employee, not an independent
contractor, whatever the agreement says. This is general information, not legal
advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Practice Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per [hour / year], [paid prep and documentation time],
[benefits summary]
To apply, email __ with your resume and a short note on how
you structure a first session.
Template 2: Health and Wellness Coach
For wellness programs and clinic-adjacent coaching, with board certification, motivational interviewing, privacy handling, and the referral line stated plainly. If the role is really running the program rather than delivering sessions, use the wellness coordinator templates instead.
Health and Wellness Coach Job Description
HEALTH AND WELLNESS COACH JOB DESCRIPTION
Employer: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Wellness Director / Clinic Manager / Program Lead]
For coaching firms and internal coaching functions: three-way contracting with the sponsor, assessments, reporting boundaries, and an honest note on why exempt status is not automatic. Where the work is group delivery rather than one-on-one, the corporate trainer templates fit better.
Executive / Leadership Coach Job Description
EXECUTIVE / LEADERSHIP COACH JOB DESCRIPTION
Employer: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Head of People / Head of Learning / Managing Partner]
Employment type: Full-time employee
FLSA status: [Exempt / Non-exempt: decide on duties and salary, see note]
Compensation: $_ per year
ABOUT THIS ROLE
[Employer Name] is a [coaching firm / consultancy / company building an internal
coaching function] in [City, State]. We are hiring an Executive Coach to work
with [senior leaders / new managers / partner-track staff] across [number]
engagements at a time.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Executive Coach designs and delivers one-on-one coaching engagements for
leaders, runs assessment and feedback processes, works with the sponsor on goals
and measurement, and keeps the confidentiality agreement intact on both sides.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Run [number] concurrent engagements of [number] months each
•Hold a three-way contracting conversation with the leader and their sponsor
•Administer and debrief [360 feedback / assessment tool] where we use one
•Set measurable development goals and review them at agreed checkpoints
•Deliver sessions on a fixed cadence and document them to our standard
•Report progress to the sponsor at the level the contract permits and no further
•Contribute to [group programs / manager training / internal frameworks]
•Maintain your own supervision, continuing education, and credential hours
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[ICF PCC or MCC / graduate coaching qualification / equivalent record: set the
bar and say whether it is required or preferred]
•[Number] years coaching leaders at [level], with references from sponsors
•Experience with [assessment tool] and with structured feedback processes
•Judgment about what stays in the room and what the sponsor gets to hear
•Must clear a background check and reference verification
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
Do not assume this role is exempt. An executive coach who mostly delivers
sessions is doing production work, not management, and the learned professional
exemption is hard to establish for coaching because there is no standard advanced
degree behind it. Where an exemption might apply, it still requires the salary
level and salary basis tests to be met. Many firms classify staff coaches as
non-exempt and treat that as the safe default. Contract coaches paid by the
engagement are a separate analysis: control over method, schedule, and pricing
drives the answer, not the label on the agreement. This is general information,
not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Employer Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per year, [bonus structure], [credential and supervision
budget], [benefits summary]
To apply, email __ with your resume and two sponsor
references.
Template 4: Career Coach
For career practices and workforce programs, with search plans, mock interviews, weekly activity targets, and outcome reporting for a funder. A school-based role is a different posting: see the guidance counselor templates.
Career Coach Job Description
CAREER COACH JOB DESCRIPTION
Employer: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Program Director / Center Manager / Practice Owner]
[Employer Name] provides career coaching to [career changers / recent graduates /
laid-off professionals / participants in a workforce program] in [City, State].
We are hiring a Career Coach to run [one-on-one / cohort] programs and to move
participants to a documented outcome.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Career Coach guides clients through a search: clarifying direction, building
the resume and profile, preparing for interviews, running the outreach plan, and
holding weekly accountability until the client lands.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Run intake, assess direction, and write a search plan with each client
•Review and rework resumes, cover letters, and online profiles
•Run mock interviews and give structured, specific feedback
•Teach networking and outreach, then hold clients to the weekly activity target
•Track applications, interviews, offers, and placements in [system]
•Keep [employer partners / alumni contacts] current where we maintain them
•Report on program outcomes for [funder / management] on [cadence]
•Refer clients to [financial, legal, or clinical support] when the need is not
a career need
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Bachelor's degree / career coaching credential / equivalent recruiting or HR
experience: set your bar]
•[Number] years in career coaching, recruiting, or [industry] hiring
•Working knowledge of how hiring decisions are actually made in [sector]
•Comfort with a documented outcome target and reporting against it
•Must clear a background check appropriate to our client population
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
Career coaching in a private practice or a workforce program is a non-exempt
hourly role in most cases. Career counselors employed by a school or college sit
in a different occupation and often a different pay band, and some states
regulate the title counselor even where they leave coach alone, so choose the
title deliberately. If your program is funded by a public grant, the funder
usually imposes its own qualification, documentation, and reporting requirements
on top of anything you write here. Read those before the posting goes live. This
is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Employer Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per [hour / year], [outcome bonus], [benefits summary]
To apply, email __ with your resume and one example of a
client search you moved from stuck to placed.
Template 5: Life Skills Coach
For disability, recovery, supportive housing, and transition programs, with shift coverage, service plans, incident reporting, and the overtime exposure spelled out rather than discovered later.
Life Skills Coach Job Description
LIFE SKILLS COACH JOB DESCRIPTION
Employer: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Program Manager / Residential Supervisor / Case Manager]
[Employer Name] supports [adults with disabilities / people in recovery /
transition-age youth / residents of supportive housing] in [City, State]. We are
hiring a Life Skills Coach to work alongside participants on the practical skills
that make independent living possible.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Life Skills Coach teaches and models daily living skills, supports
participants toward the goals in their service plan, documents progress, and
keeps the environment safe and dignified.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Coach participants on [budgeting, cooking, transportation, hygiene, scheduling,
job readiness] in real settings, not only in a classroom
•Support the goals written in each participant's service or care plan
•Document contacts, progress, and incidents in [system] every shift
•Transport participants to [appointments, work, community activities] where the
role requires it and the license permits
•De-escalate conflict using our approved training and report every incident
•Coordinate with [case managers, families, clinicians, guardians]
•Follow all confidentiality, abuse reporting, and rights protections
•Cover [shift pattern] including [evenings / weekends / holidays] as scheduled
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[High school diploma / associate degree / bachelor's in human services: set
your bar to match your funder and licensing requirements]
•[Number] years supporting [our population]
•[Valid driver's license and clean record where transport is required]
•CPR, First Aid, and [crisis prevention] certification or willingness to obtain
•Must clear the criminal background check, registry checks, and any
fingerprinting our state and funder require, before the first shift
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
This is a non-exempt hourly role with real overtime exposure, because shifts run
long and coverage gaps get filled by whoever is already there. Track hours
honestly and pay overtime past forty in a week. Sleep time, on-call time, and
travel between participants may count as hours worked depending on the
arrangement. State licensing, Medicaid waiver programs, and grant funders each
set their own background check, training, and documentation requirements for
direct support staff, and those requirements usually exceed anything in general
employment law. Staff in this role are mandated reporters in most states. This is
general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Employer Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per hour, [shift differential], [mileage
reimbursement], [benefits summary]
To apply, email __ with your resume and your availability.
Template 6: Youth / Academic Coach
For academic coaching and youth development, with parent communication, clearance before the first session, and written contact rules for working with minors.
[Employer Name] runs [an academic coaching service / a youth development program
/ a college access program] for students in grades [range] in [City, State]. We
are hiring a Youth Coach to work with students on executive function, study
systems, and the habits that hold a plan together.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Youth Coach meets with assigned students on a set schedule, builds planning
and study systems with them, tracks follow-through, and keeps parents and the
program informed about what is working.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Meet [number] students [weekly / twice weekly] for [30 / 45] minute sessions
•Build planning, time management, and study systems the student will actually use
•Track assignments, deadlines, and follow-through between sessions
•Communicate with [parents / teachers / the school] on the agreed cadence
•Document each session and flag any student who is slipping
•Support [college applications / test preparation / transition planning] where
the program includes it
•Follow all supervision, transportation, and communication rules for minors
•Report suspected abuse or neglect as a mandated reporter
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Bachelor's degree / current enrollment in a degree program / equivalent
experience with this age group: set your bar]
•[Number] years working with students in grades [range]
•Patience, structure, and the ability to explain a system three different ways
•Must clear a criminal background check and any fingerprinting our state
requires for staff working with minors, before the first session
•Reliable weekly availability during [after-school hours / weekends]
CLASSIFICATION AND COMPLIANCE NOTE
This is a non-exempt hourly role. A private coaching or tutoring business is
generally not an educational establishment for purposes of the teaching
exemption, so do not borrow it. Anyone working with minors triggers state
background check and, in many states, fingerprinting requirements, and school
staff and youth program staff are mandated reporters of suspected child abuse and
neglect. Run clearance before the first session, never after. Set a written rule
for one-on-one contact, transportation, and direct messaging with students, and
train every coach on it during onboarding. If you employ students under 18 as
coaches themselves, federal and state child labor rules apply to their hours.
This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Employer Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per hour, [paid prep time], [travel policy]
To apply, email __ with your resume and availability.
Employee or Contractor, Exempt or Not
Treat coaches as non-exempt hourly employees unless employment counsel tells you a specific role qualifies for an exemption. That is the conservative answer, and in a coaching practice it is usually also the correct one, because both of the tests that would change it are hard to satisfy.
The professional exemption is the one people reach for. It requires advanced knowledge in a field of science or learning customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction, as the Department of Labor explains in its fact sheet on the professional exemption. Coaching has no standard advanced degree behind it, so the duties test is a stretch even before the salary tests are considered. Our breakdown of exempt versus non-exempt classification works through the analysis.
Non-exempt is the safe default
The learned professional exemption requires advanced knowledge in a field of science or learning that is customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction. Coach training programs, however rigorous, are generally not a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction in the sense the regulation describes, and there is no standard degree that every coach holds. That makes the exemption hard to establish for a coaching role, and it is why most small practices classify coaches as non-exempt: hourly, hours tracked, overtime paid past forty in a week. Even where an exemption might arguably apply, it still requires the salary level and salary basis tests to be met, which a per-session pay model usually fails on its own. Decide before the posting goes up, and write the answer into it. This is general information, not legal advice.
The contractor shortcut is the expensive one
Paying coaches on a 1099 is the single most common structural mistake in this industry, and it is the one that produces back wages, taxes, and penalties years later. The Wage and Hour Division applies an economic reality analysis that asks whether the worker is genuinely in business for themselves or economically dependent on your practice. Control is the part small practices give away without noticing: you assign the clients, you set the session length, you set the rate the client pays, you require your intake form and your documentation system, and you tell the coach not to take your clients privately. Every one of those points toward employment. A coach who brings their own clients, sets their own rates, markets independently, and rents space from you is a different situation. Write down which one you are before you write the offer. This is general information, not legal advice.
Scope of practice belongs in the job description
Life coaching is not a licensed occupation in any state, which means no board defines the boundary for you and no license protects you when someone crosses it. What states do enforce is unlicensed practice of the licensed professions next door: psychology, counseling, social work, dietetics, and nursing. A coach who starts treating depression, managing an eating disorder, or writing a therapeutic nutrition plan has moved into territory that requires a license, and the exposure runs to the business, not only the individual. Handle it in writing rather than in conversation. State in the job description that the role does not diagnose, treat, or manage any health condition, name the referral process, require the coach to use it, and train on the boundary during onboarding rather than after the first difficult session. This is general information, not legal advice.
Credentials are a choice, not a requirement
Because the title is unregulated, anyone can call themselves a life coach, and your posting is the only quality filter in the process. The credentialing bodies that exist are voluntary: coaching credentials from accredited training organizations for general and executive coaching, and board certification for health and wellness coaching. None of them is legally required, and none of them is worthless either. The practical approach is to pick one bar, state it as required or preferred, and then screen on evidence rather than on the certificate: a live coaching demonstration with a real scenario tells you more in twenty minutes than any credential line on a resume. Where clients are minors, older adults, or people receiving services under a public program, the background check and training requirements attached to that funding are not optional, whatever you decide about credentials. This is general information, not legal advice.
The contractor question is the more expensive one. The Wage and Hour Division applies an economic reality analysis, set out in its fact sheet on the employment relationship, asking whether the worker is genuinely in business for themselves or economically dependent on your practice. Field Assistance Bulletin 2025-1, issued in May 2025, directed investigators back to that framework, and a proposed rule published in February 2026 would restore a five-factor version of the same test. The direction of travel does not change the practical point: control decides it. See our guides to worker misclassification and independent contractor status before you draft the agreement.
Signal in your practice
Points toward
What to do about it
You assign which clients the coach sees
Employee
Either accept employment or let coaches accept and decline clients freely
You set the rate the client pays
Employee
A genuine contractor sets their own price
You require your intake form and documentation system
Employee
Reasonable for an employer; a contractor uses their own method
The coach may not take your clients privately
Employee
Restrictive covenants are an employment feature
The coach markets independently and brings their own clients
Contractor
Document the independent book of business
The coach carries their own liability coverage and business entity
Contractor
Keep copies on file with renewal dates
Pay is per session with no minimum guarantee
Neutral on status
Fails the salary basis test, so an exemption is unlikely either way
The pay model deserves its own decision. Per-session pay is normal in coaching and perfectly legal for an hourly employee, as long as the total for the week divided by hours worked clears minimum wage and overtime is paid on top. What it will not do is support an exemption. If you are moving a coach from a per-session arrangement to a salary, our comparison of 1099 versus W-2 arrangements covers the mechanics of the change.
Scope of Practice and the Therapy Line
Write the scope of practice into the job description, not into a conversation. State that the role does not diagnose, treat, or manage any physical or mental health condition, name the referral process, and require the coach to use it. That paragraph is the single most valuable thing in a coaching posting.
The reason is asymmetric risk. Coaching itself is unregulated, but the licensed professions next to it are enforced hard against unlicensed practice: psychology, counseling, social work, dietetics, and nursing all have statutes that reach people practicing without a license. A coach who starts managing a client's depression or writing a therapeutic nutrition plan has crossed a line that exposes the business, not only the individual.
The Boundary Fails in the Session, Not in the Contract
Nobody sets out to practice therapy without a license. It happens because a client discloses something serious in month three of a coaching engagement and the coach, who genuinely cares, keeps going instead of referring out. That is a training problem and a systems problem, not a character problem. Give every coach a written referral list, a scripted way to raise it, and explicit permission to end an engagement. Then say in the posting that referring out is part of the job, so you hire people who read that as professionalism rather than as failure.
The same logic applies in reverse when you are hiring for genuinely clinical work. If the role involves treating a condition, you need a licensed clinician, and the posting should say so: our mental health counselor templates cover that side. Wellness coaching that sits alongside physical training has its own boundary, handled in the fitness trainer templates.
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There is no national median for a life coach, because the federal wage survey has no such occupation. The Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey publishes by occupation code, and coaching work is scattered across several adjacent categories depending on the setting rather than the title.
That is not a dead end. It means you benchmark against the category your role actually resembles: a life skills coach in a residential program sits near social and human service assistants, an executive coach delivering inside a company sits near training and development specialists, and a general private practice coach sits closest to the counselors catch-all.
No BLS Occupation for Life Coach, So Benchmark to the Nearest
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), the closest catch-all category, counselors of all other types, had a national median annual wage of $50,860, with the tenth percentile at $36,240, the twenty-fifth at $43,680, the seventy-fifth at $66,520, and the ninetieth at $91,940. The survey publishes no occupation titled life coach (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS national estimates).
Nearest BLS occupation
National median (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
When it is the right benchmark
Social and human service assistants
$45,930 per year
Life skills coaching in residential, recovery, or disability services
Self-enrichment teachers
$46,800 per year
Group workshops and enrichment programs billed by the class
Closest catch-all for general private practice coaching
Mental health counselors
$59,350 per year
The licensed role your coaches refer out to, not a benchmark for them
Health education specialists
$64,070 per year
Health and wellness coaching in a clinical or public health setting
Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors
$64,330 per year
Career coaching inside a school, college, or workforce program
Training and development specialists
$69,280 per year
Executive and leadership coaching delivered inside a company
Fitness and wellness coordinators
$69,770 per year
Running a corporate wellness or coaching program rather than delivering it
Adjust from there for your metro area, which moves these numbers more than the occupation choice does in most cases. Then publish a good-faith range wherever pay transparency laws require one, and decide explicitly whether preparation, documentation, and travel time is paid, because coaches compare offers on that line more than on the headline rate.
Screening Language Coaching Postings Need
Two sentences belong in any coaching posting where clients are minors, older adults, or people receiving services under a public program: one stating that employment is contingent on a criminal background check and any fingerprinting the state requires, and one stating that staff are mandated reporters of suspected abuse or neglect.
Putting them in the posting is a filter rather than boilerplate. Candidates who will not clear a check stop reading, and candidates who will clear one read it as a practice that takes clients seriously. Our guides to running a background check and to state background check laws cover the process and the notice requirements.
Screening on the record itself needs care. The EEOC's guidance on arrest and conviction records warns that a blanket rule rejecting every applicant with a record can produce disparate impact liability under Title VII unless the practice is job related and consistent with business necessity. In a coaching context that usually means an individualized assessment tied to the specific client population, not a single rule applied everywhere.
Clearance Comes Before the First Session, Not After
The pattern that gets small practices in trouble is letting a new coach start with a client while the check is still pending, because the waitlist is long and the coach seems fine. Where clients are minors or people receiving services under a licensed program, that is the exact gap an audit or an incident review finds. Build the clearance timeline backward from the start date and hold it. A shared checklist with real dates beats a folder on someone's desk.
Hiring Coaches Without an HR Department
Coaching practices fail at hiring in three predictable places: the posting is generic, the pay model and classification were inherited by accident, and onboarding a coach turns out to involve six documents nobody tracked. Each has a fix.
You are the founder, the lead coach, and the entire back office at the same time
In most coaching practices the person writing the job description is the founder, between two client sessions, on a day that already had a billing problem in it. There is no HR function to hand it to and no library of postings to pull from, so the posting either gets written properly once or it gets copied from a generic template that describes a corporate wellness manager at a large employer. Candidates notice. A coach reading a vague posting cannot tell whether they will carry twelve clients or thirty, whether the schedule is theirs or yours, or whether documentation is a paragraph or a form. The fix is a fixed structure you reuse: the only parts you rewrite each time are the client type, the caseload, and the pay.
The pay model and the classification were decided by accident
Coaching practices tend to grow from a solo founder taking on overflow help, which means the first coach is usually paid per session on a handshake and everything after that inherits the structure. Per-session pay with assigned clients, a required intake form, a set session length, and a non-compete is an employment relationship wearing a contractor label, and the back wages, payroll taxes, and penalties compound quietly until someone files a claim. Fix it at the posting stage, because the job description is where the decision becomes visible. Decide employee or contractor honestly, decide exempt or non-exempt honestly, state the hourly rate or the salary, and say whether preparation and documentation time is paid. A candidate who sees those answers up front trusts the rest of the posting more.
Onboarding a coach means credentials, clearances, confidentiality, and a scope agreement, all at once
A new coach cannot see a client until several things are done and filed: the signed offer and confidentiality agreement, the scope-of-practice acknowledgment, the credential copy with its expiration date, the background check clearance where clients are minors or vulnerable adults, privacy training where health information is involved, and the documentation standard they will be held to. FirstHR was built for exactly this. The onboarding wizard runs the same sequence for every coach, built-in e-signature handles the agreements and acknowledgments, document management stores credentials and clearances against each employee profile with renewal dates attached, and training modules cover scope, privacy, and reporting before the first session rather than after it. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Once the offer is signed, the work becomes a repeatable onboarding checklist: agreements signed, scope acknowledged, credential filed with its expiration date, clearance complete, privacy training done, documentation standard understood. That is a short list, but it fails silently when it lives in one person's head between client sessions.
Key Takeaways
Life coaching is unregulated in every state, so the job description is the only place the credential bar, the scope, and the standard of care get defined.
Non-exempt hourly is the safe FLSA default: coaching has no standard advanced degree behind it, so the learned professional exemption is hard to establish, and per-session pay fails the salary basis test anyway.
The contractor shortcut is the most expensive mistake in the industry, and control over clients, rates, methods, and documentation is what turns a contractor agreement into an employment relationship.
A written scope-of-practice section stating that the role does not diagnose, treat, or manage any health condition, plus a named referral process, is the highest-value paragraph in a coaching posting.
There is no BLS occupation for life coach, so benchmark against the nearest categories: national medians (BLS OEWS, May 2025) ran from $45,930 for social and human service assistants to $69,280 for training and development specialists.
Where clients are minors, older adults, or people in publicly funded programs, complete background checks and any required fingerprinting before the first session, and assess records individually rather than by blanket rule.
A new coach cannot see a client until the agreements are signed, the scope is acknowledged, the credential is on file, and the clearance is back. FirstHR runs the same onboarding sequence for every coach, with e-signature for agreements and acknowledgments, document storage for credentials and clearances, and renewal dates tracked so nothing expires quietly. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should a life coach job description include?
A life coach job description should include eight things: who your clients are in one concrete sentence, the caseload size and session length, the delivery model, the credential expectation marked required or preferred, the documentation standard and the system you use, a written scope-of-practice section, the FLSA classification and whether the role is an employee or a contractor, and the pay with a statement about whether preparation and documentation time is paid. The scope section is the one most postings skip and the one that matters most, because coaching is unregulated and nothing external defines the boundary for you. Add the equal opportunity statement, name a real person to apply to, and give a deadline. The six templates on this page follow that structure so the only parts you rewrite are the client type, the caseload, and the pay.
Are life coaches exempt or non-exempt under the FLSA?
Non-exempt in most cases, and that is the safe default. The learned professional exemption requires advanced knowledge in a field of science or learning customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction, and coaching has no standard advanced degree behind it, so the exemption is hard to establish. Coach training programs and voluntary credentials, however rigorous, generally do not reach the bar the regulation describes. Even where an exemption might arguably apply, it still requires the salary level and salary basis tests to be met, and a per-session or per-client pay model usually fails the salary basis test on its own. Treat coaches as hourly employees, track their hours, and pay overtime past forty in a week unless employment counsel tells you a specific role qualifies. This is general information, not legal advice.
Can I hire life coaches as independent contractors?
Only if the relationship genuinely is one, and in most small practices it is not. The Wage and Hour Division applies an economic reality analysis asking whether the worker is in business for themselves or economically dependent on your practice, and control is the factor small practices give away without realizing it. If you assign the clients, set the session length, set the rate the client pays, require your intake form and documentation system, and prohibit the coach from taking your clients privately, you are directing an employee. A coach who brings their own clients, sets their own rates, markets independently, carries their own insurance, and rents space or referrals from you is a different situation. Misclassification produces back wages, unpaid payroll taxes, and penalties that compound for years before anyone files a claim. Decide before you write the offer, not after.
How much does a life coach make?
There is no published figure, because the federal wage survey has no occupation called life coach. The Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey classifies coaching work across several adjacent categories instead, and the May 2025 national medians for those ran from $45,930 for social and human service assistants and $46,800 for self-enrichment teachers up to $64,330 for educational, guidance, and career counselors and $69,280 for training and development specialists. The closest catch-all, counselors of all other types, had a median of $50,860, with the tenth percentile at $36,240 and the ninetieth at $91,940. Use the category that matches the actual setting rather than a single national number, then adjust for your metro area and publish a good-faith range where pay transparency law requires one.
What is the difference between a life coach and a therapist job description?
The difference is licensure and scope, and it changes almost everything in the posting. A therapist holds a state license, works within a defined scope, diagnoses and treats mental health conditions, carries continuing education and supervision requirements set by a board, and usually bills insurance. A life coach holds no license, does not diagnose or treat anything, works on goals and behavior rather than conditions, and answers to whatever standard your practice sets. That is why a coaching job description needs an explicit scope-of-practice section and a named referral process, while a therapist job description needs the license, the board, and the payer requirements. If your role involves treating a mental health condition, you need a licensed clinician posting, not a coaching posting, whatever title the business prefers.
Do life coaches need a license or certification?
No state licenses life coaches, so certification is a choice you make rather than a legal requirement. Voluntary credentials exist: accredited coach training organizations issue coaching credentials for general and executive work, and health and wellness coaching has its own board certification. None of them is legally required and none is meaningless either. Because the title is unregulated, your job description is the only quality filter in the process, so pick one bar, state it as required or preferred, and screen on evidence instead of the certificate. A live coaching demonstration against a real scenario tells you more in twenty minutes than any credential line. Where clients are minors, older adults, or people receiving services under a public program, background check and training requirements attached to that setting are mandatory whatever you decide about credentials.
How do I hire a life coach for a small practice with no HR department?
Run a fixed sequence. Write one specific posting with client type, caseload, pay, classification, and scope stated up front, because vagueness attracts volume and not fit. Screen on a live coaching demonstration against a real scenario rather than on the resume. Check references from people who sponsored or received the coaching, not only from previous employers. Decide employee or contractor before the offer, not after the first paycheck. Then run onboarding as a checklist rather than a pile: signed offer and confidentiality agreement, scope-of-practice acknowledgment, credential copy with its expiration date, background check clearance where clients are minors or vulnerable adults, privacy training where health information is involved, and the documentation standard in writing. FirstHR handles that sequence with e-signature, document management, and renewal tracking. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
