How to hire a clinical dietitian

How to hire a clinical dietitian, step by step

Here's a step-by-step clinical dietitian hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a clinical dietitian job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new clinical dietitian
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a clinical dietitian do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring a clinical dietitian, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A clinical dietitian's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, clinical dietitians from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   The following list breaks down different types of clinical dietitians and their corresponding salaries.

   Type of Clinical Dietitian	Description	Hourly rate
   Clinical Dietitian	Dietitians and nutritionists are experts in the use of food and nutrition to promote health and manage disease. They advise people on what to eat in order to lead a healthy lifestyle or achieve a specific health-related goal.	$20-38
   Nutrition Internship	Nutrition interns are individuals who are on the job training for the tasks performed by licensed nutritionists or dieticians. The interns provide a nutrition care process that includes prescription of parenteral and enteral recommendations and analysis of laboratory values... Show more	$11-25
   Nutritionist	A nutritionist is a health professional who helps patients choose the right things to eat and advise them on the health effects of certain foods. By being experts in food and nutrition, nutritionists assess a patient's dietary habits and create plan menus for them... Show more	$14-38

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Patients
   • Patient Care
   • Medical Nutrition Therapy
   • Home Health
   • Nutrition Services
   • Diabetes
   • Nutrition Care Process
   • Patient Satisfaction
   • Patient Education
   • Rehabilitation
   • Dietetic Interns
   • Nutrition Interventions
   • Nutritional Risk
   • Oncology

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Provide personalize nutrition counseling to clients managing diabetes, lipid disorders, hypertension & obesity.
   • Collaborate with diabetes educator to achieve AADE accreditation for the diabetes education program and to provide education as an instructor.
   • Develop nutrition assessments and provide individual nutrition interventions for post-surgical/medical patients entering rehabilitation.
   • Provide nutritional care for general medical population; assess nutritional status of ICU patients and implement nutritional intervention.
   • Perform nutrition evaluations and education for rehab patients; complete MDS forms and participate in interdisciplinary team meetings.
   • Sole nutrition department member participating in daily and weekly integrative team rounds for oncology and high risk maternity patients.

   More clinical dietitian duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your clinical dietitian job description is one of the best ways to attract top talent. A clinical dietitian can vary based on:

   • Location. For example, clinical dietitians' average salary in alabama is 52% less than in california.
   • Seniority. Entry-level clinical dietitians 46% less than senior-level clinical dietitians.
   • Certifications. A clinical dietitian with certifications usually earns a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for an established firm or a new start-up company can make a big difference in a clinical dietitian's salary.

   Average clinical dietitian salary

   $59,133yearly

   $28.43 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level clinical dietitian salary

   $43,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 20, 2026

   Average clinical dietitian salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$85,737	$41
   2	Oregon	$78,898	$38
   3	New York	$72,756	$35
   4	Massachusetts	$68,272	$33
   5	Illinois	$65,409	$31
   6	District of Columbia	$63,201	$30
   7	Virginia	$60,386	$29
   8	West Virginia	$58,311	$28
   9	Maine	$58,205	$28
   10	Ohio	$57,521	$28
   11	Maryland	$56,894	$27
   12	Wisconsin	$54,624	$26
   13	Texas	$54,423	$26
   14	Pennsylvania	$53,892	$26
   15	Colorado	$53,291	$26
   16	Utah	$52,493	$25
   17	Iowa	$52,108	$25
   18	New Mexico	$51,786	$25
   19	Florida	$51,751	$25
   20	Oklahoma	$51,726	$25

   Average clinical dietitian salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	University of California	$70,244	$33.77	230
   2	Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center	$66,852	$32.14	21
   3	Community Health Systems	$66,463	$31.95	127
   4	Brigham and Women's Hospital	$66,224	$31.84	31
   5	Miriam Hospital	$65,927	$31.70
   6	Sutter Health	$65,654	$31.56	124
   7	Concord Hospital	$65,461	$31.47	3
   8	Baystate Health	$65,292	$31.39	2
   9	Massachusetts General Hospital	$65,021	$31.26
   10	Oregon Health & Science University	$64,997	$31.25	29
   11	Huntington Hospital	$64,763	$31.14	11
   12	Sutter Medical Foundation	$64,747	$31.13
   13	Children's Hospital Los Angeles	$64,689	$31.10	23
   14	WakeMed	$64,451	$30.99
   15	Medstar Health	$64,345	$30.94	5
   16	Dean Health Plan	$63,937	$30.74
   17	Beacon Health Options	$63,932	$30.74	18
   18	Select Medical	$63,892	$30.72	169
   19	Heartland Home Health Inc.	$63,841	$30.69	4
   20	Harris Health System	$63,536	$30.55	9

4. Writing a clinical dietitian job description

   A clinical dietitian job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. Below, you can find an example of a clinical dietitian job description:

   Clinical dietitian job description example

   MercyOne Newton Medical Center is a fully owned hospital of MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center and a member of MercyOne Network.
   
   It is located in the city of Newton, Iowa, county seat of Jasper County. Positioned on Interstate 80, the nation’s only east/west transcontinental interstate highway, Newton is about 30 miles east of the Des Moines metropolitan area, which has a population in excess of 400,000.
   
   MercyOne Newton has a well-deserved reputation for bucking the trend of diminished health care in rural America by enhancing the quantity and quality of its services during the last two decades. This has been accomplished by expanding, remodeling and providing technological improvements to its physical facilities and by adding new physicians.
   
   MercyOne Newton employees and local doctors are known for their highly productive “Iowa work ethic,” emphasis on compassion and quality patient service, and loyalty to the hospital and the community.
   
   Our campus in Newton has 48 beds and about 200,000 square feet of space. Attached to the hospital is a 50,000-square-foot medical office building containing local physician practices and the hospital’s physical medicine and rehabilitation center.
   
   MercyOne Newton is one of the largest employers in Jasper County, along with the local school system and the county government.
   Responsibilities: JOB SUMMARY: Provides nutritional screening for hospital inpatients. Provides nutritional assessments and appropriate follow up measures for all at risk patients. Communicates with other health care professionals to ensure optimal nutrition care. ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS : Assesses the nutritional status of patients. Provides individualized care plans based on assessment. Educates and counsels patients and families on modified diets. Documents findings, actions, summary of assessments, follow up and diet instructions comprehension in medical chart. Attends multidisciplinary meetings on regular basis to ensure optimal nutritional care. Takes phone inquiries regarding nutrition related questions/problems from in and outside the hospital. Monitors patient menus to ensure adherence to meal plan. Qualifications: QUALIFICATIONS : A professional level of knowledge in the field of nutrition and dietetics. Requires skills in providing effective nutrition counseling and education to ensure appropriate nutrition care. Requires the ability to work independently, communicate effectively, and develop nutritional teaching material. EDUCATION : Bachelor’s degree in Food and Nutrition, with ADA Licensed by the State of Iowa Registration or ADA eligibility Active registration with the American Dietetic Association LICENSURE : Iowa Licensure

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find the right clinical dietitian for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important sources of talent for any company is its existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and current employees and ask if they know or have worked with clinical dietitians they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit clinical dietitians who meet your education requirements.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter now have more than 3.5 billion users, and you can use social media to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your clinical dietitian job on Zippia to find and recruit clinical dietitian candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites such as healthcarejobsite, health jobs nationwide, hospitalcareers, medreps.com.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting clinical dietitians requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   Remember to include a few questions that allow candidates to expand on their strengths in their own words. Asking about their unique skills might reveal things you'd miss otherwise. At this point, good candidates can move on to the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new clinical dietitian

   Once you have selected a candidate for the clinical dietitian position, it is time to create an offer letter. In addition to salary, the offer letter should include details about benefits and perks that are available to the employee. Ensuring your offer is competitive is vital, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and it is important to be open to discussion and reach a mutually beneficial agreement. After the offer has been accepted, it is a good idea to formalize the agreement with a contract.

   It's equally important to follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   To prepare for the new clinical dietitian first day, you should share an onboarding schedule with them that covers their first period on the job. You should also quickly complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources must ensure a new employee file is created for internal record keeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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