As a life coach, distinguishing your resume in a crowded marketplace can be a formidable challenge, given the need to effectively communicate the uniqueness of your personal coaching style and successes. Our guide will provide you with tailored strategies to enhance your resume, ensuring you showcase your strengths and stand out to potential clients or employers in a meaningful way.
- The most straightforward and effective resume format, ensuring your life coach resume stands out among numerous candidate profiles;
- The significance of the top one-third of your resume, including the header, summary or objective, and skills section, and its impact on recruiters;
- Frameworks and structures used by real life coach professionals, offering insights on how to enhance your resume with industry-specific expertise;
- A variety of life coach resume sections that bolster your profile, showcasing your comprehensive capabilities and distinctiveness.
Gaining insights from the best has never been easier. Explore more life coach resume examples below:
Life Coach resume format made simple
You don't need to go over the top when it comes to creativity in your Life Coach resume format .
What recruiters care about more is the legibility of your Life Coach resume, alongside the relevancy of your application to the role.
That's why we're presenting you with four simple steps that could help your professional presentation check all the right boxes:
- The reverse-chronological resume format is the one for you, if you happen to have plenty of relevant (and recent) professional experience you'd like to showcase. This format follows a pretty succinct logic and puts the focus on your experience.
- Keep your header simple with your contact details; a headline that details the role you're applying for or your current job; and a link to your portfolio.
- Ensure your resume reaches an up-to-two-page limit, only if you happen to be applying for a more senior role or you have over a decade of relevant experience.
- Save your Life Coach resume as a PDF to retain its structure and presentation.
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Highlight any significant extracurricular activities that demonstrate valuable skills or leadership.
Essential sections that should make up your life coach resume include:
- The header - with your contact details (e.g. email and telephone number), link to your portfolio, and headline
- The summary (or objective) - to spotlight the peaks of your professional career, so far
- The experience section - with up to six bullets per role to detail specific outcomes
- The skills list - to provide a healthy mix between your personal and professional talents
- The education and certification - showing your most relevant degrees and certificates to the life coach role
What recruiters want to see on your resume:
- Demonstrated ability to set and achieve personal development goals
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills
- Evidence of relevant certifications or education in life coaching or psychology
- Track record of successfully helping clients implement positive life changes
- Proficiency in coaching methodologies and tools
Writing your life coach resume experience
Within the body of your life coach resume is perhaps one of the most important sections - the resume experience one. Here are five quick tips on how to curate your life coach professional experience:
- Include your expertise that aligns to the job requirements;
- Always ensure that you qualify your achievements by including a skill, what you did, and the results your responsibility led to;
- When writing each experience bullet, ensure you're using active language;
- If you can include a personal skill you've grown, thanks to your experience, this would help you stand out;
- Be specific about your professional experience - it's not enough that you can "communicate", but rather what's your communication track record?
Wondering how other professionals in the industry are presenting their job-winning life coach resumes? Check out how these life coach professionals put some of our best practices into action:
- Spearheaded a comprehensive 6-month coaching program focused on executive leadership development, resulting in a 40% improvement in client leadership metrics.
- Implemented an innovative mindfulness and emotional intelligence training protocol for over 100 clients, enhancing personal growth and work-life balance.
- Developed and executed individualized coaching plans that resulted in a 30% average increase in clients' goal achievement rates.
- Conducted over 300 one-on-one life coaching sessions, focusing on career transitions and personal development, with a client satisfaction rate of 95%.
- Created and facilitated a successful online group coaching program targeting mid-career professionals, which was later adopted as a corporate training module.
- Organized and led a life coaching retreat for C-level executives that emphasized strategic planning and personal efficiency.
- Pioneered a digital life coaching initiative using webinars and e-courses that expanded service delivery to international clients in over 15 countries.
- Enhanced coaching techniques by integrating AI-powered tools for personalized goal tracking, resulting in a 25% quicker attainment of client goals.
- Led a collaborative project between life coaches and mental health professionals to provide holistic wellness coaching, increasing client retention by 20%.
- Developed a specialized 'Coaching for Creatives' program that supported over 150 artists and entrepreneurs in developing sustainable business models.
- Facilitated a peer-to-peer coaching network that offered ongoing support, accountability, and shared resources among clients.
- Incorporated neuro-linguistic programming techniques into coaching practice, which dramatically improved communication effectiveness with clients.
- Orchestrated a 12-week intensive life coach training program for incoming coaches, resulting in a 50% increase in coaching effectiveness as rated by clients.
- Leveraged expertise in relationship coaching to help more than 200 individuals and couples enhance communication and emotional connection.
- Introduced a goal-setting framework that became the standard for client onboarding, leading to clearer expectations and a faster start to the coaching process.
- Conceptualized and conducted 'Balance in Action' workshops that guided over 500 participants towards achieving better work-life integration.
- Customized resilience training modules for clients in high-stress industries, significantly reducing burnout rates by 35%.
- Partnered with nutritional experts to create a holistic health and wellness coaching program, resulting in an average weight loss of 10 pounds among participating clients.
- Piloted a unique adventure-based life coaching program that improved client self-efficacy by intertwining physical challenges with personal growth exercises.
- Cultivated a strong online community through social media engagement, increasing brand visibility and attracting 300 new clients.
- Implemented a 'Coaching for Impact' initiative that trained clients in social entrepreneurship, leading to the launch of 15 community projects.
- Launched a targeted coaching program for millennials, addressing specific generational challenges and aspirations, with a successful client base growth of 200% in the first year.
- Initiated quarterly coaching symposiums that featured industry experts and thought leaders, providing continuous education and networking opportunities for clients.
- Empowered over 100 clients to make significant career advances through personalized coaching strategies that catered to their individual strengths and industries.
Quantifying impact on your resume
- Include the number of clients you've worked with to demonstrate the breadth of your experience.
- Specify the percentage of clients who achieved their goals to showcase the effectiveness of your coaching.
- Highlight the average client satisfaction rate to provide evidence of your positive impact.
- Detail the specific financial goals met by clients under your guidance to show your understanding of fiscal responsibility.
- Report the average improvement in productivity or performance among your clients to emphasize measurable outcomes.
- Mention any awards or recognitions you’ve received to reflect the esteem of the coaching community.
- State the number of workshops or seminars you’ve led to highlight your leadership and public speaking abilities.
- List any certifications or relevant continuing education courses with the date completed to demonstrate your commitment to professional development.
Action verbs for your life coach resume
Experience section for candidates with zero-to-none experience
While you may have less professional experience in the field, that doesn't mean you should leave this section of your resume empty or blank.
Consider these four strategies on how to substitute the lack of experience with:
- Volunteer roles - as part of the community, you've probably gained valuable people (and sometimes even technological capabilities) that could answer the job requirements
- Research projects - while in your university days, you may have been part of some cutting-edge project to benefit the field. Curate this within your experience section as a substitute for real-world experience
- Internships - while you may consider that that summer internship in New York was solely mandatory to your degree, make sure to include it as part of your experience, if it's relevant to the role
- Irrelevant previous jobs - instead of detailing the technologies you've learned, think about the transferable skills you've gained.
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List your educational qualifications and certifications in reverse chronological order.
Creating your life coach resume skills section: balancing hard skills and soft skills
Recruiters hiring for life coach roles are always keen on hiring candidates with relevant technical and people talents. Hard skills or technical ones are quite beneficial for the industry - as they refer to your competency with particular software and technologies. Meanwhile, your soft (or people) skills are quite crucial to yours and the company's professional growth as they detail how you'd cooperate and interact in your potential environment. Here's how to describe your hard and soft skill set in your life coach resume:
- Consider what the key job requirements are and list those towards the top of your skills section.
- Think of individual, specific skills that help you stand out amongst competitors, and detail how they've helped you succeed in the past.
- Look to the future of the industry and list all software/technologies which are forward-facing.
- Create a separate, technical skills section to supplement your experience and further align with the life coach job advert. Find the perfect balance between your resume hard and soft skills with our two lists.
Top skills for your life coach resume:
Goal-setting techniques
Behavioral change strategies
Personal development planning
Performance measurement
Motivational interviewing
Cognitive-behavioral coaching methods
Life planning methodologies
Stress management techniques
Effective questioning methods
Workshop and seminar facilitation
Active listening
Emotional intelligence
Empathy
Communication
Adaptability
Patience
Cultural sensitivity
Ethical judgment
Inspirational leadership
Conflict resolution
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The more time and effort you've put into obtaining the relevant certificate, the closer to the top it should be listed. This is especially important for more senior roles and if the company you're applying for is more forward-facing.
Including your education and certification on your life coach resume
The significance of your resume education section is paramount. It can show your diverse talents and experiences that are relevnt to the position.
- Incorporate educational qualifications, mentioning the institution and period.
- If you're on your academic journey, pinpoint your expected completion date.
- Opt for leaving out degrees that don't serve the job's purpose.
- Provide an overview of your educational experiences if it spotlights your milestones.
When recruiting for life coach roles, candidates with relevant education and certification definitely stand out amongst competitors.
Showcase your academic background in the best way possible by:
- Listing all degrees and certifications that are part of the candidate qualifications in the life coach advert
- Including any extra certificates, if they make sense to your application
- Not going over the top in details - the certificate name, institution, and dates are enough
- If you're in the process of obtaining a degree or certificate that's relevant to the job, include your expected graduation/certification dates
The education and certification sections help back up your application with years of experience in the industry or niche.
Select some of the most cutting-edge or applicable credentials for your next life coach application from our list:
The top 5 certifications for your life coach resume:
- Certified Professional Life Coach (CPLC) - International Coach Federation (ICF)
- Associate Certified Coach (ACC) - International Coach Federation (ICF)
- Professional Certified Coach (PCC) - International Coach Federation (ICF)
- Board Certified Coach (BCC) - Center for Credentialing & Education (CCE)
- Master Certified Coach (MCC) - International Coach Federation (ICF)
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Listing your relevant degrees or certificates on your life coach resume is a win-win situation. Not only does it hint at your technical capabilities in the industry, but an array of soft skills, like perseverance, adaptability, and motivation.
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Practical guide to your life coach resume summary or objective
First off, should you include a summary or objective on your life coach resume?
We definitely recommend you choose the:
- Resume summary to match job requirements with most noteworthy accomplishments.
- Resume objective as a snapshot of career dreams
Both the resume summary and objective should set expectations for recruiters as to what your career highlights are.
These introductory paragraphs (that are no more than five sentences long) should help you answer why you're the best candidate for the job.
Industry-wide best practices pinpoint that the life coach resume summaries and objectives follow the structures of these samples:
Resume summaries for a life coach job
- Accomplished life coach with over 8 years of experience in providing transformative guidance and empowerment strategies, skilled in NLP and CBT techniques. Proud of helping over 300 clients achieve personal and professional growth, including career transitions and relationship management.
- Former HR executive transitioning to life coaching, bringing 10+ years of expertise in team leadership and employee development. Recognized for creating innovative personal growth programs and excels in one-on-one coaching sessions aimed at career advancement and work-life balance.
- Dedicated special education teacher with 6 years of experience, now aspiring to leverage deep empathetic communication skills and extensive background in behavioral techniques to foster personal growth and goal achievement as a professional life coach.
- Energetic professional with a background in corporate sales, seeking to channel 5 years' worth of persuasive communication and strategic planning skills into the field of life coaching. Driven by a passion for helping individuals to unlock their potential and navigate through life's challenges.
- Recent psychology graduate eager to embark on a career as a life coach, armed with a comprehensive understanding of human behavior and motivational strategies. Aspires to support clients in realizing their ambitions and fostering a positive outlook on life's journey.
- As a newcomer to the field of life coaching, I am eager to apply my extensive background in volunteer community service to assist individuals in overcoming obstacles, setting achievable goals, and crafting fulfilling personal and professional life paths.
Four more sections for your life coach resume
Your life coach resume can be supplemented with other sections to highlight both your personality and efforts in the industry. Use the ones you deem most relevant to your experience (and the role):
- Awards - to celebrate your success;
- Interests - to detail what you're passionate about outside of work (e.g. music, literature, etc.);
- Publications - to show your footprint in the wider community;
- Projects - to pinpoint noteworthy achievements, potentially even outside of work.
Key takeaways
- The format and layout of your life coach resume should reflect on both your career and what matters most to the job you're applying for;
- Use the resume summary and objective to hint at your most prominent accomplishments;
- Always be specific about your experience and consider what value each bullet you curate adds to your life coach application;
- Consider how your academic background and technical capabilities could further showcase your alignment to the role;
- Your soft skills should contribute to your overall life coach profile - aligning your personality with skills and results.
