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What is a nutrition technician and how to become one
Avg. Salary $32,976
Avg. Salary $59,228
Growth rate 2%
Growth rate 0.3%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.58%
Asian 5.85%
Black or African American 14.47%
Hispanic or Latino 12.28%
Unknown 4.68%
White 62.13%
Genderfemale 79.37%
male 20.63%
Age - 40American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%
Asian 7.00%
Black or African American 14.00%
Hispanic or Latino 19.00%
White 57.00%
Genderfemale 47.00%
male 53.00%
Age - 40Stress level is high
7.1 - high
Complexity level is challenging
7 - challenging
Work life balance is good
6.4 - fair
Nutrition technician career paths
Key steps to become a nutrition technician
Explore nutrition technician education requirements
Start to develop specific nutrition technician skills
Skills Percentages Patients 32.93% Food Service 7.99% Patient Care 6.20% Food Handling 5.82% Breast Milk 5.48% Complete relevant nutrition technician training and internships
Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New nutrition technicians learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a nutrition technician based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real nutrition technician resumes.Gain additional nutrition technician certifications
More About CertificationsNutrition technician certifications can show employers you have a baseline of knowledge expected for the position. Certifications can also make you a more competitive candidate. Even if employers don't require a specific nutrition technician certification, having one may help you stand out relative to other applicants.
The most common certifications for nutrition technicians include Certified Nutrition Specialist (CNS) and Dietetic Technician, Registered (DTR).
Research nutrition technician duties and responsibilities
- Coordinate all walk-through visible inspections to achieve overall cleanliness and order within each facility.
- Provide appropriate care to patients by evaluating and giving assistance to individual patient regarding meal selections.
- Collaborate with patients under dietitian supervision to ensure compliance with diet requirements, quality care and satisfaction.
- Assist the nutrition in identifying and encouraging the residents to maintain specific dietary needs/restrictions for residents at an inpatient rehabilitation facility.
Prepare your nutrition technician resume
When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your nutrition technician 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 nutrition technician resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.
Choose from 10+ customizable nutrition technician resume templates
Build a professional nutrition technician 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 nutrition technician resume.
Apply for nutrition technician jobs
Now it's time to start searching for a nutrition technician 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 did you land your first nutrition technician job
Are you a nutrition technician?
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Average nutrition technician salary
The average nutrition technician salary in the United States is $32,976 per year or $16 per hour. Nutrition technician salaries range between $26,000 and $40,000 per year.
What am I worth?
How do nutrition technicians rate their job?
Nutrition technician reviews
Hands on, direct patient care. Rewarding.
Underappreciated. Not many positions available.
No respect- took tons of gen, orgo, bio, food, and polymer chem, all bio series, anatomy/physio, genetics, nut genomics, molecular bio, microbio, bacteriology, clinical nutrition, maternal nut, community nut, food service management and more (treated like I know nothing, and ostracized by the nurses, the charge nurse, nurse attendants, and MDs. Its like they think I learned only how to carry a meal tray and know how to temp check, the unit fridge and trays.Treated like a food service worker or a volunteer who is always asked to do errand). Low wage-$15-$22/hr( I worked all through college. Starting at a wage of $2.50/hr, all the way to $34.00/hr. After graduating with a degree in Clinical Nutrition and a minor in Genetics. For all of that practical knowledge to be paid nothing is not worth it!!! Also in the interview for getting the job-showing that you've worked for 5+ years is not a good idea... bc the hr at the hospitals I've worked at were really concerned with how much leadership experience I had and felt that I wouldn't be happy starting at $11/hr. (Getting a BS still means getting minimum wage for nutrition). I wasn't happy, but I stuck it out until I got to $19/hr. no benefits-Its very rare to get 1.0 FTE/FT at a hospital. I started PT which at a hospital is 24hrs a wk, and they would always have me work 'extra hours' which equaled full time and was more than 32hrs which was considered FT at the hospitals I worked for, but they were unwilling to give me benefits- which was very sucky though I did get time and a half, but I really wanted benefits. There is a pattern in the nutrition field, where there are a lot of pt and per diem jobs, but not so many ft jobs unless you want to work at a correction facility.(Correction pays well, but has a ton of competition. bilingual (mostly Spanish)- you see in job posters that they want you to be bilingual in Spanish- and for all the people who know Spanish on a conversational level- that's not gonna cut it. A lot of good jobs (good benefits, good pay, good work life balance) require one to be bilingual in Spanish-if its not your native tongue and you don't have the language gene, you should probably start learning it by age 2yrs. I was lucky in that I knew 2 other languages besides American English and bargained/persuaded my way into the clinical DTR jobs. But I've been to WIC where they say language is not a problem, yada yada yada and then they only take people who are native speakers. So knowing the 'corre
Updated January 8, 2025
