I recently was asked a question about health coaching jobs and instead of writing a long reply I decided to write a post answering her questions here in a blog post because I’m sure others may also want to know.
These questions actually come at a very good time, because I just did some research on Health Coaching jobs.
So Thank You Maggie for your questions!
But first, here is what she wrote –
“Thanks for this info. I’m a nurse interested in making a career change to something more meaningful as opposed to my job which is based on increasing amounts of documentation and no time to give to our patients. It’s exhausting and sad. I want to do something that resonates better with me where I can treat people with compassion and not like numbers like some employers see people.
I’ve looked for holistic /wellness nurse jobs and haven’t found many at all.
Can you please tell me if there are any programs for holistic coaching in south Florida/how to prepare for it, what potential salary could be & where I should look for this kind of position/opportunity?
I’d really appreciate any information you can offer.
Thank so much and blessings” 🙂
Question 1 “Can you please tell me if there are any programs for holistic coaching in south Florida/how to prepare for it?”
My answer is this – you don’t have to look for a coaching program in your area, there are excellent choices online, allowing you to learn at your own pace.
Read my post for a list of approved nurse coaching programs you can do online.
How do you prepare for these programs? You just have to be a willing participant and take action on what you learn, no preparing beforehand needed.
Next question – What is the potential salary?
This is a popular question I get all the time and my answer is, it will always depend on where you live in the USA (higher pay on West coast verses the East coast) and you’re employer. The best chance for higher income is to open your own nurse coaching practice. Of course this takes time and hard work but well worth it if you’re the entrepreneurial type.
For an example of what a nurse coach in private practice charges for his coaching services check out Coach Perg site- Coach Perg/services.
Don’t just look at salary though, consider the benefits of working as a health coach for an insurance company or cooperation. These jobs are Monday – Friday, holidays and weekends off. Nice perks for nurses who do hospital nursing and can’t get away from working weekends or holidays, don’t you think?
Next question “Where should I look for this kind of position/opportunity?”
You can search sites like careerbuilder.com and monster.com, typing in your keyword “health coaching jobs” (put quotation marks around your keyword) See what results you get but a better place to go is directly to an insurance company website such as Aetna, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, United Healthcare etc. Check the company job board or call the company directly if you can’t find a job board.
Do the same with large corporations, especially healthcare organizations, who are now hiring health and wellness coaches. You may even find that the hospital you currently work for has a health coach on staff. If so, find out who she is and make a connection with her by asking her for an informational interview. This is an interview you do with anyone who is doing a job you would like to be doing. You ask them how they got their job and any advice they could give you for getting this type of job.
I actually had someone call me recently asking me what I did and how they could do the same. We nurses love talking about what we do so don’t be afraid to ask for an informational interview.
Make a list of companies you want to work for and keep checking their websites or better yet get connected with them on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is a great place to find jobs and connect with influential people who do the hiring. Check your network and see who you are already connected with. You may find someone who can help you with your job search and if you’re not on LinkedIn yet I highly recommend you sign up today.
Read the P.S. below for information on the power of LinkedIn for your next nursing job.
My best advice to you Maggie (and others wanting this information too) is to get training first by signing up for one of the programs I mentioned above. These programs also have contacts with companies that hire health coaches.
In fact I just received an email from the Bark Coaching Institute that stated “Recently the Bark Coaching Institute has received employment inquiries from companies seeking our graduates.”
So any program you pick from the list will have opportunities for you to be in their online directory or will help you with finding a job so you won’t need to do much searching online yourself.
Hope I’ve answered you questions and let me know if there’s any thing else I can help you with. Leave a comment below and Thanks so much for asking the questions!
Tina