Workplace wellness programs are tremendously popular, and more and more companies are adding wellness coaches to their benefits arsenal to guide their employees to healthier lifestyle choices and habits.

Effective wellness coaching can help your employees improve their mood, stress levels, and overall quality of life, according to the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. But for these benefits to come to fruition, it’s important to find a wellness coach who suits your staff members’ needs.

This is harder than it may sound. Some companies look to former life coaches — a tempting solution given their relative abundance and ability to “talk the talk.” But working with a life coach is less than ideal if you’re hoping to encourage meaningful health behavior changes because the skill sets don’t necessarily overlap.

Often, someone working as a life coach simply does not have the clinical background necessary to properly steer clients toward long-term changes that stick. Unfortunately, the life coach industry is an unregulated grab bag, meaning you could be getting a competent coach or an amateur with little real-world experience.

To prevent your company from hiring the wrong coach, use these five tips to inform your decision:

1.       Look for a track record of guiding people toward healthy habits. A life coach might help people choose new career paths or motivate them to make big one-time decisions, but the kinds of things a wellness coach works with are daily habits of diet, exercise, and mental control. So before you entrust anyone with your employees, find out whether he or she has actually guided a person through the process of establishing healthy habits before.

2.       Value resourcefulness. Wellness coaching can be an overwhelming task. In large corporations, it typically involves supervising a team of 20 that serves thousands of employees. Not all coaches will have the time, materials, and manpower that your company needs.

You need someone who can manage each of those 20 personalities and problem solve quickly. Often, that means knowing where to find answers that aren’t already outlined. Find someone who is willing and able to reach out to colleagues inside and outside his circle on tough questions but also knows when to refer a client to a medical or psychological professional.

3.       Hold a mock coaching session as part of the interview. First impressions matter. You can tell a lot about someone in just 15 minutes of a coaching session. Is this person empathetic? Knowledgeable? Can he or she build rapport? These are critical skills for a health coach to possess.

Rapport is probably the most important ingredient of all, especially for someone who will be doing telecoaching. Another easy way to get a read on your applicant is to subscribe to his or her company’s content (e-newsletter, podcast, social media feed, etc.) to see whether those same qualities are present.

4.       Look for experience in public health, counseling, or social work. This rule ties back to rule No. 1. While practitioners in these fields aren’t trained in a specific health coaching approach, they are taught the essentials of how to ingrain a habit into one’s daily routine.

They also will have a better understanding of when a person would benefit from specialized treatment. Often, people’s bad habits are wrapped up in their emotions, so someone who’s professionally trained to navigate these thorny paths will be a great asset to your program.

5.       Determine how deep any certifications run. Certifications are only one piece of the puzzle. Keep in mind that there are many health certifications out there. Some of them are quite good, while others aren’t. When assessing potential coaches’ certifications, it’s a good idea to ask about the evidence-based methodologies they were taught in the program. If they start talking about the latest fad diets, you’ll know their training is not grounded in science.

For instance, a 2014 study by The BMJ reported that only 46 percent of the health claims made on the popular television program “The Dr. Oz Show” were backed by evidence. Medical talk shows overall fared almost as poorly, with only 54 percent of claims backed by at least one piece of scientific literature.

Without asking the right questions, you could end up with a coach who’s not equipped to help your employees create and sustain healthy habits. Your company may be spending thousands of dollars on its wellness program, so it’s vital to make sure your coaches are worthy of your — and your employees’ — trust.

Chris Cutter is the founder and CEO of LifeDojo. LifeDojo’s evidence-based 12-week wellness programs lead employees through a journey of motivation, daily action, and support, resulting in permanent health behavior change.