Today, I’m sharing with you the process I went through to find my first job as a dietitian, and just how long it took. I realize that this post will only apply to some of you, so if it’s not your interest that’s totally fine. I’ll see you back here again next Thursday for another nutrition post!
For those of you who are interested, however, I’m going to give you an inside look at what I went through to find my first job as a dietitian. It was certainly more of a process than I was expecting, and I wish I had more insight as to how long it would actually take! To start things off, I just want to provide a bit of context. If you’re interested in my work/volunteer/educational experiences prior to my dietetic internship you can find that here. To get a better idea of my dietetic internship experience click here. If you want a better idea of how I studied for and passed the RD Exam you can find that here.
Just to summarize everything pretty briefly, however, I earned my Bachelor’s Degree in Nutrition from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. While in college, I spent several years working in health promotion/disease prevention, nutrition counseling, and food service. After graduating, I completed my dietetic internship at Loyola University-Chicago. I then moved back to Minnesota, became an RD and started looking for a job.
A couple extra things to note for context:
- The Twin Cities area of Minnesota (where I moved back to) has quite a few internship programs, and all of these programs finished about a month before my program in Chicago.
- I was fortunate enough to be able to live with family while looking for a job, so I had the opportunity to take a little more time to find a job since I didn’t have any bills.
My whole point in writing this is to give a realistic look at how I actually found my first job as a dietitian. During the job hunt there were so many times when I wondered if what I was doing and going through was “normal”. The process took longer than I thought it would, the hours were lower, the pay was less, and the areas that actually had openings were less fitting to my preferences. Now, that’s not to say it’s all doom and gloom! I was fortunate to actually end up with a job that I love. The process to get there, however, was not nearly what I expected…
My Pre-Application Process
Before even applying for jobs, I did a few things that made the process a million times faster and easier.
- Updated my resume, adding more details about nutrition-related jobs and clearing out some less-related jobs that made my resume too long.
- Compiled a list of all the names and contact information of my preceptors during my dietetic internship to use as references.
- Updated my LinkedIn, providing more detailed information about each job than was on my resume. While on LinkedIn, I updated my profile image, added new skills/certifications/licenses, and sent connection requests to anyone I had forgotten along my internship journey. I also started “following” companies that I knew hired dietitians in my area.
- Did a little research online to figure out what I could realistically expect to be paid as an entry-level dietitian in each area I could be applying to.
- Created a spreadsheet where I tracked information about every company I applied to. Some of the information I included: company, job title, contact name and number/email, address, hours, pay, benefits, date applied, where I applied (if somewhere besides the company’s website), and where I was in the process there (phone screen, first interview, second interview, when I could expect to hear from them next, etc.). I can’t recommend making a spreadsheet enough. This was a LIFESAVER to have all this information in one spot and not have to rely on my memory. Plus, it saved a ton of time when I didn’t have to sort through old emails to find the information I needed.
- I printed out some projects, papers, etc. to bring along to interviews. In all honesty, I only ever used these a handful of times, but it was very helpful to have examples of previous blog posts I had written (as an example) when part of a job included writing social media posts or blogging.
My Application Process
I’d start every day by checking online job boards for new openings. I primarily used LinkedIn, Indeed, and individual company websites that I knew hired dietitians. When I first started applying I only applied for full-time jobs in an area that I had strong interest in. It became pretty clear pretty soon, however, that it was going to take years for me to find a job if I kept doing this. Finding an entry-level job as a dietitian can be really difficult, and in my experience, it was. So I ended up applying to every single job I was qualified for. This meant applying to part-time, casual, and temporary jobs in every area of dietetics (even the ones I wasn’t super psyched about). I would encourage you to apply to more jobs rather than less. You can always weed out more jobs once you learn more about them at an interview.
The one thing I didn’t compromise on though, was location. While I applied to jobs that were several hours away from where I was living at the time, I only applied to Minnesota jobs. It was important to me to stay in Minnesota (hence why I moved back here from Illinois in the first place), so that was one area that I wasn’t flexible in.
Some days, I’d have a lot of jobs to apply for, and other days there were none. Regardless of where I was in my job hunt though, I was always sending out new applications. I even applied for new positions the day before getting the job offer that I ended up accepting. You don’t have a lot of control in how long this process takes, so it’s good to keep doing what you can (applying) regardless of how close you might be to an offer.
Another thing I made sure to do everyday is check my junk email! I had a couple of times where an email from a company I applied to was accidentally filtered into my junk folder. You’re going to be getting a lot of emails from a lot of people you don’t normally receive emails from, so make sure you know what’s in your junk to avoid missing out on an opportunity!
My Interviewing Process
Most jobs I applied to had a preliminary phone interview with human resources. A good thing to remember is that these interviews are really more about the non-dietitian specific parts of the job. Things like hours, compensation and benefits, and whether or not you’re even qualified for that position.
Some of the questions I was asked at this step included:
- Tell us about your work and educational experience?
- Why are you interested in this specific position/company?
- What would you consider your strengths? Areas of improvement?
- What do you think your previous supervisors/coworkers would say are your strengths?
- This position involves x,y,z; is this something you would be okay with?
- What are your salary expectations?
Some of the questions I asked at this step included:
- What are the typical hours of this position? Is there an expectation of working on weekends, holidays, etc?
- Is this position salaried or hourly?
- When are you hoping to have this position filled? What is your timeline for filling this position?
- What’s the average compensation for this position? Benefits? Does this company reimburse for things like registration and licensure fees, Academy memberships, continuing education, etc.? ←Note that this is definitely not something I asked immediately for every job. If I was already on the fence about the position, I might ask this right away. Then I’d know if it’s worth pursuing further before I invest more of my time. Asking this right away saved me from investing more time in several positions that I applied for. I would advise doing this with caution, however, as it can come off as pushy at this stage in the interviewing process.
- Generally, I scheduled my first in-person interview as part of the phone interview. Make sure to ask questions about parking, who you’ll be meeting with, contact info for that person in the event you run late, who to contact if you need to reschedule, etc.
After the phone interview comes the first in-person interview. This process can be really interesting because you may be interviewed by a dietitian, food service director, administrator, etc. Make sure to know the job title of the person you’re interviewing with. Interviewing with a fellow dietitian, for example, is very different than interviewing with a general manager. Dietitians will actually know all the details of your day-to-day while I often found that other interviewers didn’t know much about the dietitian-specific details of a job. Always dress professionally and bring along copies of your resume, cover letter, references, and examples of your work. It’s better to be over-prepared than under-prepared!
Some of the questions I was asked at this step included:
- The same questions I was asked in the phone interview. (Oftentimes the person you interviewed with over the phone is not the same as the person you interview with in-person).
- What environment, people, etc help you work at your best?
- Do you feel you work better alone, with teams, etc? What role do you see yourself play in groups?
- Some dietitian-specific questions (though this literally only happened maybe 2 or 3 times for me because most of my interviewers were not dietitians).
- How do you deal with challenging situations/people?
- What do you believe are important aspects of customer service?
Some of the questions I asked at this step included:
- How would you describe the workplace culture here? What types of collaboration occur here, and how is communication facilitated between different roles?
- I noticed that the job description mentioned this position is responsible for X, can you expand on that?
- What might a typical day in this position look like? ←-If interviewing with another dietitian, I attempted this a couple of times when I wasn’t interviewed by a dietitian and it got awkward because they couldn’t really tell me.
- How does this company support their employees professional development and continuing education?
- What is the compensation and benefits for this position?
- What are the next steps in the hiring process for this position?
For every position I was interviewed for, I always had at least a second in-person interview (some had even more). All of my second in-person interviews were a lot more informal. All of them also involved meeting with other dietitians at the company. While I was still asked some questions, most of these were repeats (since the dietitians hadn’t met with me yet). Most of the time, these second interviews were more of an opportunity for me to ask the other dietitians what it was like to actually work at this company. Compile a lot of questions to ask! Think of everything you’d want to know about being a dietitian here. What does the day-to-day look like? What resources does the company provide (like the Nutrition Care Manual)? How would you describe the communication and collaboration here? And don’t forget to ask when you can expect to hear back about the position!
My Job Offer Process
The job I have now actually wasn’t the first position I was offered. I was offered a position that I wasn’t super pumped about (but that would’ve been fine as a first job) at the same time that I was actively interviewing for another position that I was more excited about. I ultimately turned down this offer when they weren’t able to wait until I heard back from the more exciting job. Just know that this can happen, and you have to make the best decision for yourself in the moment. I ended up not being offered the more exciting job and ended up back at square one for my application process (yippee…), but I still don’t regret turning down that job offer. My next job offer was for the job I have now, and I couldn’t be happier! Trust that the process isn’t super fun, but things will work themselves out eventually.
My First Dietitian Job Stats
- I submitted my first application on September 6, 2018 and accepted my first job on February 20, 2019. Nobody told me this would be a 5+ month process…
- I applied to a total of 44 different jobs. This was literally all of the jobs during the window I was looking, in my area, that I was qualified for. Note: these were dietitian-specific positions.
- Out of the 44 jobs I applied for, I was offered phone interviews for about a quarter of them.
- I was offered an in-person interview after every phone interview I did.
Other Things to Keep in Mind
- If you need an income quickly, you can find a job as a health coach, nutrition coach, lifestyle/wellness coach, etc right away. The pay will be much lower, but it’s a way to make some money while you continue to look for a job as a dietitian.
- Don’t be afraid to withdraw interest in a position after an interview. I only had to do this once, but I knew that I’d be absolutely miserable in that position after learning more about it. Yes, you need money and job experience, but you also need to keep your sanity. It’s a balance. ;)
- Understand that you may not be able to find your first job in the area of dietetics you want to end up in. You’ll still build applicable skills and experience that will help you get your dream job later.
- Pay attention if you’re going to be the most qualified nutrition professional this place will have. It may sound nice, but as a new dietitian you still have a TON to learn. It’s hard to learn more when you’re the most educated nutrition professional at your place of work…
If you’re an RDN, feel free to share your first job tips and stories down below! I’d love to hear from you!