How To Become A Dietary Service Aide: What It Is and Career Path

What is a dietary service aide and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a dietary service aide. For example, did you know that they make an average of $13.69 an hour? That's $28,473 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 36% and produce 1,185,800 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreDietary Service AideUS Average

Salary

2.2

Avg. Salary $28,473

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.0

Growth rate 36%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.87%

Asian 9.61%

Black or African American 10.21%

Hispanic or Latino 16.81%

Unknown 4.01%

White 58.50%

Gender

female 66.95%

male 33.05%

Age - 50

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 50

Stress level

8.0

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.4

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

9.6

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a dietary service aide

Explore dietary service aide education requirements

Most common dietary service aide degrees

High School Diploma

39.0 %

Bachelor's

24.4 %

Associate

21.3 %

Start to develop specific dietary service aide skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	27.79%
Food Service	16.49%
Culinary	9.86%
Food Handling	9.20%
Tray Line	6.14%

Research dietary service aide duties and responsibilities

Maintain the cleanliness of the kitchen and kitchen equipment by directing the weekly and daily cleaning according to schedule.
Maintain cleanliness of service counters according to food safety policy standards.
Accompany nutrition educators to discuss dietary issues with patients and family members.
Excel within a service-orient organization, demonstrating a talent for communication effectively with patients from diverse backgrounds.

Prepare your dietary service aide resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your dietary service aide resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a dietary service aide resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable dietary service aide resume templates

Build a professional dietary service aide resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your dietary service aide resume.

Apply for dietary service aide jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a dietary service aide job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do dietary service aides rate their job?

-/5

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Dietary service aide reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jan 2020

Pros

It’s an honest day’s work. Lots of lifting and walking around. Pots and pans to scrub, pantries to organize. You won’t be bored for a second, there’s always something to do.

Cons

At the end of the day, you’re body is so tired. From doing this much heavy work you’d expect a decent pay check. You won’t make enough to rent an apartment with this job.