How to hire a community dietitian

How to hire a community dietitian, step by step

Here's a step-by-step community 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 community dietitian job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new community dietitian
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the community dietitian you need to hire. Certain community dietitian roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

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

   Yes

   No

   You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them a community dietitian to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire a community dietitian that fits the bill.

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

   Type of Community Dietitian	Description	Hourly rate
   Community 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.	$14-59
   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
   Nutritional Consultant	A Nutritional Consultant provides assistance regarding food service and nutritional programs. They help patients improve their health and control of disease.	$14-60

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Medical Nutrition
   • Health Education
   • Heart Disease
   • Community Health
   • Disease Management
   • Eating Disorders
   • Weight Management
   • RD
   • Nutrition Services
   • MNT
   • Community Organizations
   • Culinary
   • Disease Prevention
   • WIC

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage the anemia status of patients by reviewing necessary lab data and initiating or adjusting medication doses.
   • Provide nutrition education and diet counseling to WIC participants, groups and individuals.
   • Provide basic nutrition education to WIC patients and teach nutrition classes in this rural community.
   • Monitor patients' nutrition status, laboratory values, diet tolerance, and motivate them to adhere to dietary/medications recommendations.
   • Provide individualized nutrition consultations for sports nutrition, weight-loss, diabetes, hypertension and hormonal changes.

3. Make a budget

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

   • Location. For example, community dietitians' average salary in alabama is 56% less than in district of columbia.
   • Seniority. Entry-level community dietitians 76% less than senior-level community dietitians.
   • Certifications. A community 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 community dietitian's salary.

   Average community dietitian salary

   $61,786yearly

   $29.70 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level community dietitian salary

   $30,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 15, 2025

4. Writing a community dietitian job description

   A community 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 community dietitian job description:

   Community dietitian job description example

   The Outpatient Registered Dietitian functions independently providing education to patients in various settings such as group, individual and telephone contact. This position is responsible for researching, developing, implementing and evaluating education programs for patients, staff and the community.
   **Required qualifications:**
   
   + Bachelor's Degree in Food and/or Nutrition Science
   
   + National CDR Registered Dietitian - Commission on Dietetic Registration upon hire
   
   + 1 year working in an outpatient healthcare setting
   
   + 1 year Registered Dietitian in an outpatient education department teaching patients (adults and children) in group and individual settings
   
   + Experience with providing MNT and individual counseling
   
   + Teaching and modeling self-management skills, concepts, resources and tools related to health, lifestyle change and behavior modification to class participants
   
   + Working with patients with chronic diseases and other primary prevention programs
   
   + Program planning, implementation, evaluation and education training
   
   + Experience with Microsoft Word or windows environment and an email system
   
   **Preferred qualifications:**
   
   + Master's Degree in Nutritional Science, Public Health or Health Education or related field
   
   + Additional specialty certification related to department and patient needs (e.g., weight management, cancer care, pediatric issues, renal, and exercise instruction) upon hire
   
   + Pediatric nutrition therapy certification
   
   + Working with patients with chronic diseases, exercise instruction, children's health issues and other primary prevention programs and topics
   
   + Pediatric nutrition therapy experience
   
   + Powerpoint, Access, and GroupWise experience
   
   Our best-in-class benefits are uniquely designed to support you and your family in staying well, growing professionally and achieving financial security. We take care of you, so you can focus on delivering our Mission of caring for everyone, especially the most vulnerable in our communities.
   
   **About Providence**
   
   At Providence, our strength lies in Our Promise of "Know me, care for me, ease my way." Working at our family of organizations means that regardless of your role, we'll walk alongside you in your career, supporting you so you can support others. We provide best-in-class benefits and we foster an inclusive workplace where diversity is valued, and everyone is essential, heard and respected. Together, our 120,000 caregivers (all employees) serve in over 50 hospitals, over 1,000 clinics and a full range of health and social services across Alaska, California, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas and Washington. As a comprehensive health care organization, we are serving more people, advancing best practices and continuing our more than 100-year tradition of serving the poor and vulnerable.
   
   **About the Team**
   
   Providence Physician Enterprise (PE) is a service line within Providence serving patients across seven states with quality, compassionate, coordinated care. Collectively, our medical groups and affiliate practices are the third largest group in the country with over 11,000 providers, 900 clinics and 30,000 caregivers.
   
   PE is comprised of Providence Medical Group in Alaska, Washington, Montana and Oregon; Swedish Medical Group in Washington's greater Puget Sound area, Pacific Medical Centers in western Washington; Kadlec in southeast Washington; Providence's St. John's Medical Foundation in Southern California; Providence Medical Institute in Southern California; Providence Facey Medical Foundation in Southern California; Providence Medical Foundation in Northern and Southern California; and Covenant Medical Group and Covenant Health Partners in west Texas and eastern New Mexico.
   
   We are committed to the principle that every workforce member has the right to work in surroundings that are free from all forms of unlawful discrimination and harassment.
   
   We are committed to cultural diversity and equal employment for all individuals. It is our policy to recruit, hire, promote, compensate, transfer, train, retain, terminate, and make all other employment-related decisions without regard to race, color, religious creed (including religious dress and grooming practices), national origin (including certain language use restrictions), ancestry, disability (mental and physical including HIV and AIDS), medical condition (including cancer and genetic characteristics), genetic information, marital status, age, sex (which includes pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding and related medical conditions), gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, genetic information, and military and veteran status or any other applicable legally protected status. We will also provide reasonable accommodation to known physical or mental limitations of an otherwise qualified caregiver or applicant for employment, unless the accommodation would impose undue hardship on the operation of our business.
   
   We are a community where all people, regardless of differences, are welcome, secure, and valued. We value respect, appreciation, collaboration, diversity, and a shared commitment to serving our communities. We expect that all workforce members in our community will act in ways which reflect a commitment to and accountability for, racial and social justice and equality in the workplace. As such, we will maintain a workplace free of discrimination and harassment based on any applicable legally protected status. We also expect that all workforce members will maintain a positive workplace free from any unacceptable conduct which creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.
   
   **Requsition ID:** 115870
   **Company:** Providence Jobs
   **Job Category:** Clinical Nutrition Services
   **Job Function:** Clinical Care
   **Job Schedule:** Part time
   **Job Shift:** Day
   **Career Track:** Clinical Professional
   **Department:** 7520 COMMUNITY HEALTH EDUCATION CA HERITAGE SERVICES 1
   **Address:** CA Santa Ana 2212 E 4th St
   
   Providence is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. Providence does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, disability, veteran, military status, religion, age, creed, national origin, sexual identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, genetic information, or any other basis prohibited by local, state, or federal law.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find community dietitians for your business:

   • Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your community dietitian job on Zippia to find and attract quality community dietitian candidates.
   • Use niche websites such as healthcarejobsite, health jobs nationwide, hospitalcareers, medreps.com.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   To successfully recruit community dietitians, your first interview needs to engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. You can go into more detail about the company, the role, and the responsibilities during follow-up interviews.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match your ideal candidate profile. If you think a candidate is good enough for the next step, you 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 community dietitian

   Once you've selected the best community dietitian candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing 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.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new community dietitian. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.

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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