What Are the ICF Experience Requirements?
Coaching experience hours highlight your dedication to client development and your skills as a professional coach. The requirements are designed to ensure you’ve gained the appropriate expertise for the ICF credential you're pursuing, affirming your ability to create impactful results and advance your coaching career.
Breakdown of Coaching Experience Requirements by Credential/Certification
Each ICF credential has specific experience requirements that align with the level of skill and professionalism expected at that stage. These requirements also help ensure that your coaching experience is both relevant and recent, adding value to your professional development.
To meet the coaching experience requirement, you can count any client coaching hours completed after you begin your coaching education or training.
ICF defines the start of your education as any course with a minimum of 30 hours, of which at least 24 hours are focused on ICF Core Competencies. Eligible courses can be ICF accredited or non-accredited. However, if you are using the Portfolio Path to apply for your credential, non-accredited programs are subject to review by ICF.
Associate Certified Coach (ACC)
The ACC credential is ideal for coaches early in their careers who want to establish their credibility.
To qualify, you must document:
- 100 hours of coaching with at least eight clients.
- 75 of these hours must be paid.
- 25 of these hours (paid or unpaid) must be completed within 18 months prior to submitting your application.
Professional Certified Coach (PCC)
The PCC credential is a testament to your advanced coaching knowledge and skill. It reflects your dedication to mastering the craft and delivering meaningful client results.
To qualify, you’ll need to document:
- 500 hours of coaching with at least 25 clients.
- 450 of these hours must be paid.
- 50 of these hours (paid or unpaid) must be completed within 18 months prior to submitting your application.
Master Certified Coach (MCC)
The MCC credential demonstrates your profound expertise, extensive experience, and ability to create transformative impact. Achieving this credential requires a significant commitment, reflecting your mastery of the coaching profession.
To qualify for the MCC credential, you must document:
- 2,500 hours of coaching with at least 35 clients.
- 2,250 of these hours must be paid.
Advanced Certified Team Coach (ACTC)
The ACTC is designed for coaches who specialize in team coaching and have demonstrated advanced expertise in this area.
To apply, you must have completed at least five team coaching engagements within the past five years. A team coaching engagement includes all activities and sessions related to a team coaching agreement. While other team development activities (like team training, consulting, or team building) can be included, the engagement must involve actual team coaching sessions to qualify.
Option 3 Application Path: Credit for Prior Learning
If applying through the Credit for Prior Learning path, you will receive 30 hours of education credit for completing 10 team coaching engagements (plus additional hours in coaching supervision). The engagements must include:
- At least five team coaching engagements completed within the last five years prior to the date of application creation.
- At least three engagements completed five or more years prior to the date of application creation.
- The remaining two engagements can be completed any time prior to the date of the application creation.
Types of Coaching Experience Hours: Paid vs. Pro Bono Experience
So, what exactly is a coaching experience hour?
1 Client Coaching Experience Hour = A full 60-minute session with a client who has hired you specifically as their coach (not in any other capacity). The session must happen in real time — whether you’re meeting face-to-face, hopping on a phone call, or using technology to connect live with your client.
If your session is shorter than 60 minutes, you can still count it, but as partial hours. For example, a 30-minute session counts as 0.5 hours.
Your coaching hours can be a mix of both paid and pro bono work, giving you flexibility as you build experience. However, a few activities don’t qualify. Mentor coaching, coaching supervision, and reviewing assessments with clients are not considered client coaching hours. Additionally, coaching within a training program, or with students, trainers, or mentors, doesn’t count unless it’s done outside the classroom, with a real client, and separate from the training credits.
Paid Hours
Your coaching experience hours can be considered "paid" hours if they fall into any of the following categories:
- Direct Coaching for Payment: You receive payment (or barter, such as peer-to-peer coaching or coaching in exchange for goods or services) for coaching a client.
- Internal Coaching: Coaching that is part of your job responsibilities at work.
- Third-Party Coaching: Coaching you provide as part of an arrangement with an organization.
Pro Bono Hours
Your experience hours are considered “pro bono” hours for coaching that you’ve donated or volunteered for no cost.
Eligible Clients and Coaching Situations
Ready to dive into the types of clients whose coaching hours count toward your ICF credential? Let's break it down!
For the ACC, PCC, and MCC credentials, you can submit coaching hours from four types of clients: individual clients, team and group clients, internal clients, and third-party clients.
Only team clients can be counted as part of your ACTC experience.
Individual Clients
An individual client is someone who hires you for one-on-one coaching, usually seeking personal or professional development, goal achievement, or support in overcoming specific challenges.
Team and Group Coaching Clients
For coaching with team and group coaching clients, the participants must set the agenda, and there must be real-time interaction (synchronous) between you and the participants. Training, teaching, mentor coaching, and facilitating workshops do not count as client coaching hours.
Internal Coaching Clients
Internal coaching is coaching delivered as part of your employment. However, coaching direct reports (employees you supervise) does not count toward your client coaching hours.
Third-Party Coaching Clients
Third-party coaching occurs when you’re paid by an organization to coach a client.
Getting Started: Documenting Your Coaching Hours
Ready to start tracking your coaching hours? The sooner you begin, the smoother your credential application will go. Logging hours from the start ensures you’re all set when it’s time to apply.
A simple spreadsheet is your best friend here — quick, effective, and easy to stay on top of. It keeps everything organized and stress-free, so you can focus on what really matters: coaching!
Confidentiality
Trust is everything in coaching, and your clients need to feel comfortable knowing their information is safe. To protect that trust, always get your client’s consent before adding them to your coaching log. Make sure their consent is documented and in line with relevant laws, like the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). If a client doesn’t consent, don’t include their name on your log, with the understanding that these coaching sessions could not be verified if your application was audited.
For internal or third-party clients where confidentiality is key, you’ll need a reference letter from the organization verifying your coaching hours.
Documentation by Client Type
Here’s how to log your coaching hours, depending on the type of client you’re working with.
Individual Clients
For each individual client, you should log:
- The client’s name.
- The client’s contact information you use to reach them (e.g., email address or phone number).
- The start and end date of the coaching relationship.
- The number of paid and pro bono hours that you coached the client.
Team and Group Coaching Clients
Group and team coaching hours should be recorded separately from individual client coaching hours in your coaching log.
When documenting group or team coaching sessions, include the following details:
- The name and email address of one participant (you don’t need to list the names of other participants or the name of the group).
- The start and end date of the coaching engagement.
- The number of paid and pro bono hours spent coaching the group or team.
- The number of individuals in the group or team. Only groups of 15 or fewer will count, unless a co-coach is present. If a co-coach is present, then the coaching time will be split between the coaches.
Important Tip: Each participant in the team or group coaching sessions counts as an individual client. However, the time spent coaching the team/group is not multiplied by the number of participants. For example, if you coach 15 people for one hour, it still counts as just one hour of coaching — not 15.
Internal Coaching Clients
Internal clients are logged just like individual or team/group clients, unless there’s a confidentiality policy preventing you from sharing their information. If that’s the case, no worries! Instead of logging them, get a reference letter from a contact person at the organization confirming your hours.
The reference letter must be signed on company letterhead and include:
- Your name.
- The name and contact information for the contact person.
- A description of the role of the contact person in the organization.
- A description of your role in the organization.
- Confirmation of the organization’s confidentiality policy.
- Confirmation of the number of hours coached, the number of clients coached, and the time period the coaching took place.
Third-Party Coaching Clients
Third-party clients are logged just like individual or team/group clients — unless there's a confidentiality policy. In that case, you don’t need to include client information on your log, but you will need a reference letter from an authorized contact at the organization.
The reference letter must be signed on company letterhead and include:
- Your name.
- The name and contact information for the contact person.
- A description of the role of the contact person in the organization.
- A description of your role in the organization.
- Confirmation of the organization’s confidentiality policy.
- Confirmation of the number of hours coached, the number of clients coached, and the time period the coaching took place.
Verifying Your Coaching Experience
When you apply for your ICF credential, you won’t need to submit a detailed coaching log with client information. Instead, you’ll report the total number of coaching hours you’ve completed and simply attest that they meet ICF’s standards. This helps us protect your clients' privacy.
From time to time, ICF will conduct audits to verify applicants’ coaching experience. If you are selected for an audit, you’ll receive specific instructions on how this verification process works.
What Happens if You’re Selected for an Audit?
ICF periodically audits credential applications to verify coaching experience. If you are selected:
- Provide additional documentation to verify your hours as instructed.
- Ensure you have obtained consent from clients to store their information securely.
- Keep your records organized and compliant with privacy and data protection policies.
Even during an audit, you will not be asked to submit coaching logs directly to ICF.
Maintaining Integrity in Your Application
As an ICF credential applicant, you are bound by the ICF Code of Ethics. This means you must accurately represent your qualifications, coaching hours, and experience. Providing false or misleading information may result in denial or revocation of your credential and could bar you from reapplying for up to five years.
By following these guidelines, you demonstrate your commitment to ethical coaching practices while protecting client confidentiality.
Additional Verification for the ACTC
For the ACTC, you’ll need to submit a verification letter for two of your required coaching engagements. This letter can come from:
- A team member.
- A team leader.
- An authorized representative from the sponsoring organization.
- A third-party coaching body.
Letters should be signed, submitted on company letterhead (unless prohibited by a confidentiality agreement), and include the following elements:
- Authorized representative’s name, contact information, and role within the organization or team.
- Your name as the ACTC applicant.
- Total hours of the team engagement.
- Start and end dates of the engagement.
- The number of team members.
How to Gain the Coaching Experience Required for ICF Credential
Your coaching experience is a powerful testament to your development as a coach. While all experience hours must be completed before you begin your application, exciting opportunities exist to gain this experience. From volunteering and pro bono opportunities to peer coaching and more, these experiences are designed to help you grow while fulfilling your credentialing requirements.
Networking and Referrals
Tap into your professional network to find clients through referrals and collaborations with other coaches or organizations. This strategy can help you create a steady stream of clients and coaching hours.
If you are an ICF member, you have exclusive access to ICF Engage, our dynamic online community for members. Here, you can connect with coaches around the world, expanding your network and opening doors to exciting opportunities, partnerships, and career growth.
Volunteering and Pro Bono Opportunities
Volunteering gives you the chance to not only gain coaching experience but also to make a lasting impact on those who need it most. By offering your coaching skills to individuals or groups in community programs or at local events, you can enhance your expertise while uplifting others.
Pro bono coaching is also a powerful way to build your experience and network while helping people and organizations at no cost. These opportunities allow you to accelerate your path to certification while creating meaningful change. Partner with nonprofits or community groups to make a difference — and grow as a coach in the process.
If you’re wondering how to get started, many ICF chapters and the ICF Foundation support various volunteer and pro bono projects.
Peer Coaching
Peer coaching is a powerful tool to accelerate your professional development. The ICF Reciprocal Peer Coaching program offers ICF members a unique opportunity to gain paid coaching experience while supporting fellow coaches.
In this program, you coach another ICF member and, in return, receive coaching from a peer. This mutually beneficial exchange helps you develop your skills and accumulate coaching hours that count toward your credentialing requirements.
For a small coordination fee, the program matches you with a coach and a client, ensuring both parties benefit professionally. It’s a great way to invest in your growth.
Online Platforms
Expand your reach and gain valuable coaching hours by offering your services through online platforms that connect coaches with clients worldwide. These platforms provide a flexible way to build your experience in a virtual setting.
Before diving in, be sure to review the platform's policies, terms of agreement, and data privacy guidelines to ensure a smooth and secure coaching experience.