10 Questions to Ask Before You Hire a Life Coach

Coaching has seen a major surge in popularity in recent years. With literally hundreds of thousands of options, deciding which life coach to hire can feel overwhelming.

Coaching is an unregulated industry, meaning anyone can hang out a shingle and call themselves a coach. That leaves it up to the consumer vet the many options and avoid all-too-common buyer’s remorse.

Before you choose a life coach, make sure you do your due diligence by asking the candidates some smart questions.

Not sure what to ask to weed out the harmful hacks and identify the professional practitioners? Here are 10 questions that I hope every client asks me during the interview process.

1. Have you completed a coaching program?

There are excellent self-taught coaches, and horrible professionally trained coaches. Completion of a formal program shouldn’t be the only consideration, but it can be one signal of a quality coach.

There are thousands of coach training programs, including self-study options that cost only a few hundred dollars. Was the program they completed approved by the International Coaching Federation (ICF)? Did they take the additional step of receiving ICF certification? ICF is one of the leading professional coaching associations.