Health and Wellness Jobs

Are you looking for a new career? The health and wellness jobs growth is a sign that the Covid Pandemic has created opportunities in this exciting field. Below, we take a look at a few of the services in this industry — plus how you can start careers in these areas if you think you'd be a good fit.

What Is Health and Wellness?

This career field refers to jobs that promote physical, mental, and behavioral wellbeing. According to the World Health Association (WHO), "Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." The difference between the two terms is that wellness refers to living and lifestyle, while health refers to a state of being.

Top Health and Wellness Jobs

Meditation Instructor

Meditation instructors undergo specific training and are certified to teach students in person or online. Unlike yoga instructor training and certification (which we will explain in more detail below), meditation instructors do not have one single certification option in North America. In other countries, this may be different. In Australia, for example, the Meditation Association of Australia can provide certification for instructors.

Companies and other organizations are often interested in hiring independent instructors for meditation services in the office. Independent meditation instructors often offer a range of single classes, or they provide ongoing classes by expertise level ("Meditation for Beginners," "Meditation for Advanced Practitioners," etc.)

Yoga Instructor

Yoga instructors teach yoga to individuals or groups. Instructors may choose to specialize in one sub-discipline of yoga, such as Vinyasa, Hatha, Kundalini, Anusara, or Iyengar, or they may offer a range of courses in various disciplines.

Yoga instructors should be certified by the Yoga Alliance and obtain yoga insurance. You can get an RYT 200 certificate or an RYT 500 certificate or other specialized options.

Yoga insurance is necessary for instructors in case of any accidents.

Yoga instructors are also encouraged to undergo regular training of their own after receiving certification. To maintain their registered status with the Yoga Alliance, all instructors must undergo a certain number of continuing education hours every three years.

Physical Trainer

Trainers focus primarily on physical fitness and physical health. However, they may delve into nutrition occasionally.

Generally speaking, a trainer will either work for a gym or fitness center or as a freelance trainer. Trainers usually help clients one-on-one, although some will take small groups or may teach larger classes on the side. Clients may seek help from trainers for a range of reasons.

Trainers help clients in the following areas:

• Weight loss
• Postnatal fitness
• Muscle growth
• Injury prevention

Wellness Program Manager

The corporate world has recently entered the world of health and wellness. The result has been a significant change in businesses and organizations globally. COVID concerns, remote working, and changes in office locations have employers prioritizing employee wellbeing as a vital goal.

Baby Boomers, once the majority of the workforce, are now retiring in great numbers. Replacing them are Millennials and Gen X-ers. Unlike their predecessors, both of these generations are not satisfied to work for companies that don't provide health and wellness care and support. Instead, they want their work environments to be comfortable and accommodating. They want more frequent breaks, fitness opportunities in the workplace, break rooms stocked with healthy food options, more time off, excellent health insurance plans, and more attention paid to behavioral and mental wellbeing.

An increasing number of companies are hiring corporate coordinators to adjust their work environments and human resources departments to please their current employees and attract and retain the top tiers of recruits. As a corporate wellness professional, facilitating this would be your job. You would have a range of responsibilities and could work in a range of settings.

As a manager, you will spend your time getting feedback from employees, creating wellness plans and incentives, and trouble-shooting issues within the workplace (uncomfortable office chairs, unhealthy vending machines, harsh office lighting, excess work stress, etc.). As a result, corporate wellness jobs are becoming more and more on-demand for both physical locations and remote locations.

Nutritionist Jobs

Lastly, for those interested in the dietary aspect of health and wellness, you might consider a career as a nutritionist.

Nutritionists are professional experts in diet and nutrition.

They may help a range of different people:

• Professional or aspiring athletes
• Individuals looking to improve their overall health through diet
• Those looking to lose excess weight
• Pregnant or nursing women
• Individuals struggling with a specific disease or medical treatment
• Anyone else who wants a professional opinion about what they eat and how they eat it

As a nutritionist, you could work for a business or organization, on-site at a hospital or remote. Some nutritionists advise and counsel individuals or small groups, while others create meals for large groups.

As professionals, nutritionists generally require some level of formal licensing. What type of licensing will largely depend on the state or locality you are in, however. Of course, even if formal training, licensing, and certification are not required, it's always beneficial to obtain these accreditations as individual employers often mandate them.

Are You Destined for a Career in Health and Wellness?

One of the best things about a career in health and wellness is the wide range of options available and the flexibility offered in this career path.

In many cases, health and wellness workers can work from home or at small office spaces for a larger, centrally-located organization. Some even find jobs working for themselves as consultants, instructors, or advisors.

Whatever path you end up taking on your journey toward a new career, know that you are undertaking a job that can be lucrative and extremely rewarding, and fulfilling.