How to hire a dietary aide

How to hire a dietary aide, step by step

Here's a step-by-step dietary aide hiring guide:

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

What does a dietary aide do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring a dietary aide, 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 dietary aide's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, dietary aides 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.

   Here's a comparison of dietary aide salaries for various roles:

   Type of Dietary Aide	Description	Hourly rate
   Dietary Aide	A Dietary Aide works in food preparation and food service programs, assisting a trained dietitian. They work for hospitals and health clubs/sanatoriums.	$10-16
   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
   Registered Dietitian	A Registered Dietitian assesses the health of individual patients with medical conditions such as diabetes or renal failure. They work in hospitals, doctors' offices, nursing homes, or other care facilities.	$20-37

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Patients
   • Meal Trays
   • Food Service
   • Food Handling
   • Food Carts
   • Tray Line
   • Rehabilitation
   • Fine Dining
   • Meal Service
   • Cleanliness
   • Compassion
   • Customer Service
   • Kitchen Equipment
   • Culinary

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Use of slicers, grinders, deep fryers, ovens, grills and cash register.
   • Prepare cooked foods following HACCP guidelines.
   • Operate stoves, grills, fryers, ovens and microwaves.
   • Interview WIC applicants for income eligibility, nutrition foods, and health.
   • Train employees as hired to complete all assign tasks according to ServSafe guidelines.
   • Maintain a clean kitchen by cleaning the oven and stoves sweeping and mopping.

   More dietary aide duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your dietary aide job description helps attract top candidates to the position. A dietary aide salary can be affected by several factors, such as geography, experience, seniority, certifications, and the prestige of the hiring company.

   For example, the average salary for a dietary aide in Alabama may be lower than in Washington, and an entry-level dietary aide usually earns less than a senior-level dietary aide. Additionally, a dietary aide with certifications may command a higher salary, and working for a well-known company or start-up may also impact an employee's pay.

   Average dietary aide salary

   $13.46hourly

   $28,005 yearly

   ---

   Entry-level dietary aide salary

   $22,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 23, 2025

   Average dietary aide salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	Washington	$37,209	$18
   2	Oregon	$36,531	$18
   3	Maine	$32,945	$16
   4	New York	$32,336	$16
   5	New Jersey	$31,051	$15
   6	Minnesota	$30,240	$15
   7	Colorado	$30,165	$15
   8	Nevada	$29,124	$14
   9	Arizona	$27,507	$13
   10	Pennsylvania	$27,355	$13
   11	Delaware	$27,317	$13
   12	Ohio	$26,662	$13
   13	Nebraska	$26,477	$13
   14	Michigan	$25,510	$12
   15	Indiana	$25,367	$12
   16	Wisconsin	$25,336	$12
   17	North Carolina	$24,950	$12
   18	Illinois	$24,699	$12
   19	Missouri	$24,311	$12
   20	Florida	$23,978	$12

   Average dietary aide salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Lifespan	$36,224	$17.42
   2	University of Washington	$35,469	$17.05	3
   3	Valley View Health Center	$35,075	$16.86
   4	Flint Hills Community Health Center	$34,876	$16.77
   5	Sutter Health	$33,367	$16.04	14
   6	Chapters Health System	$33,335	$16.03	1
   7	Children's of Alabama	$33,167	$15.95	3
   8	Aurora Behavioral Health System	$33,090	$15.91
   9	Era Living	$33,011	$15.87
   10	the Montrose Center	$32,975	$15.85	2
   11	Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital	$32,903	$15.82	1
   12	Erickson Senior Living	$32,886	$15.81	9
   13	CenterPointe Hospital	$32,857	$15.80
   14	Rolling Hills Hospital	$32,709	$15.73
   15	Allina Health	$32,703	$15.72	9
   16	Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center	$32,533	$15.64
   17	Mercy Corps	$32,510	$15.63	1
   18	American Addiction Centers	$32,500	$15.63	1
   19	Brigham and Women's Hospital	$32,474	$15.61	19
   20	Maine Health/maine Mental Health Partners	$32,376	$15.57	7

4. Writing a dietary aide job description

   A dietary aide 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 dietary aide job description:

   Dietary aide job description example

   Qualifications:
   - High School diploma/GED accepted and may be required per state regulations
   - Must be 18 years of age
   - Previous experience preferred in skilled nursing dining and/or long term care, assisted living or hospital dining
   - Ability to read and follow instructions to meet the dietary needs of the residents
   - Ability to handle multiple priorities
   - Competent in organizational, time management skills
   - Demonstrates good judgment, problem solving and decision making skills

   Sunrise considers the health and safety of its residents, family members, and team members as its highest priorities. All offers of employment with Sunrise are conditioned on completing and passing a background and drug test, participating in mandatory vaccine programs (e.g., Covid-19), participating in testing requirements (e.g. Covid-19, TB) and using designated PPE when required.

   Sunrise Senior Living offers a comprehensive benefits plan to eligible team members including health, dental, vision, retirement benefits, short-term disability, long-term disability, and paid time off. Team members may also be eligible to receive a bonus based on their position. Some leadership roles are eligible to receive annual bonuses. All team members have the potential to receive spot bonuses and other incentive awards.

   
   Qualifications
   

   Sunrise Senior Living has championed quality of life in senior care for more than 30 years. We believe team members are our greatest resource and are looking for people who share our commitment to provide quality care for seniors and their families. It's no surprise that many of the world's leading experts in Senior Living entrust their career to Sunrise.

   At Sunrise, you will…
   
   Make a Difference Every Day
   We are passionate about our mission — to champion quality of life for all seniors. We deliver high-quality care with a personal touch and encourage our residents to enjoy life to the fullest.

   Be Part of a Uniquely Supportive Community
   The care-focused environment we create for residents extends to our team members. We offer programs, rewards, and benefits to help you live your best.

   Ignite Your Potential
   We believe potential has no limits. We offer best-in-class leadership development programs designed to grow our leaders. We are committed to helping our team members achieve their career goals.

   Sunrise Senior Living was again named as one of the Best Workplaces in Aging Services™ by Fortune and certified as a Great Place to Work® by Activated Insights. This is the 5th time Sunrise has received this top culture and workplace designation, highlighting the special place Sunrise is to be a part of.

   Apply today to learn why Sunrise Senior Living is a certified Great Place to Work ®

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find the right dietary aide 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 dietary aides they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit dietary aides 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 dietary aide job on Zippia to find and recruit dietary aide candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting dietary aides 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.

   You should also ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match the ideal candidate profile you developed earlier. Candidates good enough for the next step can complete 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 dietary aide

   Once you have selected a candidate for the dietary aide 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.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new dietary aide. 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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How much does it cost to hire a dietary aide?