How to hire a nutrition internship

How to hire a nutrition internship, step by step

Here's a step-by-step nutrition internship hiring guide:

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

Post a nutrition internship job for free, promote it for a fee

Post free

1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your nutrition internship job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find a nutrition internship for hire on a part-time basis or as a contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

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

   Yes

   No

   Hiring the perfect nutrition internship also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

   This list shows salaries for various types of nutrition interns.

   Type of Nutrition Internship	Description	Hourly rate
   Nutrition Internship	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.	$11-25
   Clinical Dietitian	A clinical dietitian is responsible for providing quality nutritional care for patients by monitoring their current health conditions, advising nutritional and dietary supplements to maintain their healthy lifestyle, and speed up their recovery process. Clinical dietitians often coordinate with other medical professionals to assess food choices and develop nutrition programs for the patients... Show more	$20-38
   Dietician	Dietitians are specialists in food and nutrition whose primary role includes encouraging healthy eating patterns, providing dietary instructions, and creating particular diets for individuals. They interpret the science of nourishment to daily knowledge of well-being and healthy food, as well as perform treatment and prevention among individuals or groups... Show more	$15-46

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Patients
   • Nutrition Education Programs
   • Nutrition Education Materials
   • RD
   • Diabetes
   • Food Safety
   • Student Athletes
   • Nutrition Assessments
   • Literature Reviews
   • Body Composition
   • Food Preparation
   • Weight Loss
   • WIC
   • Medical Nutrition Therapy

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Research foods available in VT grocery stores that meet the WIC criteria for eligible food products in VT.
   • Complete nutrition assessments and design interventions for hospital patients and long term care facility residents.
   • Enter recipes and analyze nutrient levels of school lunches via USDA approve software program, NutriKids.
   • Create agendas, identify potential speakers and topics, connect communities and individuals to USDA resources and programs.
   • Research on various topics such as corporate wellness, exercise, food allergies, and other health relate concerns.
   • Create diabetes educational handouts for an outpatient clinic.

3. Make a budget

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

   • Location. For example, nutrition interns' average salary in alabama is 59% less than in alaska.
   • Seniority. Entry-level nutrition interns 55% less than senior-level nutrition interns.
   • Certifications. A nutrition internship 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 nutrition internship's salary.

   Average nutrition internship salary

   $36,506yearly

   $17.55 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level nutrition internship salary

   $24,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 15, 2025

4. Writing a nutrition internship job description

   A job description for a nutrition internship role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a nutrition internship job description:

   Nutrition internship job description example

   **Nutrition Product Development Internship - Erlanger, KY**
   
   After completing the acquisitions of WILD Flavors and Specialty Commodities Inc. in late 2014, ADM established its newest business unit in January 2015, Wild Flavors & Specialty Ingredients (WFSI). This is your opportunity to play an important role as part of an innovative, fast-growing, customer-oriented business within the world's most admired global agribusiness. The WFSI internship with our Product Development and Applications group will focus on technical and scientific exploration in our Food, Beverage, and Color groups. The internship is 10-weeks in length and will begin with an intern orientation at our North American Headquarters in Decatur, IL. The ideal candidate would have food industry experience and a desire to work in a lab environment.
   
   **Responsibilities could include** :
   
   + Follows basic GMP, ISO Procedures, GLP, Safety, Lab Notebooks and/or other electronic record keeping tools.
   
   + Executes batching, testing and simple to more complex adjustments or formula modifications of products/samples. May be required to participate in trouble-shooting activity.
   
   + Executes standard sampling (Screen & Select) of finished products and flavors, flavor systems or specialty ingredients and may be assigned projects.
   
   + Coordination of sample shipments with shipping department in accordance to customer/salesperson guidelines.
   
   + Executes and maintains product retains for stability studies/troubleshooting on finished products, samples and/or flavors, flavor systems, specialty ingredients and retains.
   
   + Completes work on time and accurately.
   
   + Keeps laboratory stocked with raw materials, clean glassware, maintains equipment, etc.
   
   + Demonstrates knowledge of and continues to acquire ingredient and ingredient interaction knowledge.
   
   + Demonstrates knowledge of and continues to acquire product processing knowledge.
   
   + Performs other related duties and assignments as required such as the maintenance of ISO Work Instructions.
   
   **Qualifications:**
   
   + Pursuing a four-year degree in Food Science or related field
   
   + Willing to relocate for 10-weeks in the summer with provided lodging
   
   + GPA of 3.0 or greater is preferred
   
   + Verbal, writing and appropriate customer interaction skills.
   
   + Detail-oriented.
   
   + Analytical, problem solving and experimental design skills
   
   **City:**
   
   Erlanger
   
   **State:**
   
   KY - Kentucky
   
   **Ref ID:**
   
   \#LI-SM1
   
   **EEO:**
   
   ADM is an equal opportunity employer and makes employment decisions without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability and veterans status.
   
   **About ADM::**
   
   ADM unlocks the power of nature to enrich the quality of life. We're a premier global human and animal nutrition company, delivering solutions today with an eye to the future. We're blazing new trails in health and well-being as our scientists develop groundbreaking products to support healthier living. We're a cutting-edge innovator leading the way to a new future of plant-based consumer and industrial solutions to replace petroleum-based products. We're an unmatched agricultural supply chain manager and processor, providing food security by connecting local needs with global capabilities. And we're a leader in sustainability, scaling across entire value chains to help decarbonize our industry and safeguard our planet. From the seed of the idea to the outcome of the solution, we give customers an edge in solving the nutritional and sustainability challenges of today and tomorrow. Learn more at www.adm.com.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right nutrition internship for your business:

   • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.

   To find nutrition internship candidates, you can consider the following options:

   • Post your job opening on Zippia or other job search websites.
   • Use niche websites that focus on engineering and technology jobs, such as healthcarejobsite, health jobs nationwide, hospitalcareers, medreps.com.
   • Post your job on free job posting websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting nutrition interns 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.

   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 nutrition internship

   Once you've found the nutrition internship candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   It's also important to follow up with applicants who do not get the job with an email letting them know that the position is filled.

   To prepare for the new nutrition internship 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.)

   Sign up to download full list

   Sign up

How much does it cost to hire a nutrition internship?