Do you want to help people learn to eat better and get (and stay!) healthy? Do you also need job flexibility that allows you to manage your own life to your own satisfaction?

If that sounds like you, obtaining a dietetics certification may be a great option for you to build a career that fits your life. Read on to learn more about the amazing places you can go with a dietetics certification!

What is a Dietetics Certification?

A dietetics certification can prepare you to embark upon a meaningful career with a wide variety of options. According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Compensation and Benefits Survey 2015, the most common job setting for registered dietitian nutritionists, or RDNs, is an acute-care inpatient facility. But a hospital job is far from the only option available to you when you have a certificate in nutrition and dietetics under your belt.

You can be self-employed. You can work as a consultant. You can be a part-time or full-time employee. You can work as a full-time dietitian or you can use your training and knowledge in another type of job. You might even channel your knowledge of nutrition and your passion for helping people into a career as a Health Coach.

A career in dietetics provides you with a ton of options to build the career of your dreams!

10 Careers in Food and Nutrition

Let’s expand on the types of jobs a registered dietitian can get. We’ve created a list of 10 careers in food and nutrition to know about. Some may require you to be a registered dietitian, while others may not, but they’re all worth investigating if they pique your interest and would allow you to put your passion for health, wellness, and nutrition to work!

  1. Clinical dietitian in a clinic or hospital. Vulnerable patients need a dietitian’s expertise to recover from illness or surgery and return to their regular lives.
  2. Clinical dietitian in a long-term care facility. If you love working with older people, this could be the job for you. Patients in long-term care facilities need help maintaining their nutrition and healthy diets in order to recover from trauma or illness or mitigate the effects of aging.  
  3. Community dietitian for a government or non-profit agency. Take your knowledge out into the community to reach a broad segment of people and educate them about the power of nutrition.
  4. Nutrition services manager for a hospital. This role allows you to manage the food budget and plan nutritionally appropriate meals for hospitalized people.
  5. Nutrition services manager for a school or school system. Plan and coordinate meals for children so they’ll be ready to learn and thrive.
  6. Corporate wellness consultant. Dietitians in the corporate world often lead workshops and seminars for businesses that want to incorporate good nutrition into their employee wellness programs.
  7. Food labeling specialist. In this role, dietitians assist in labeling food so everyone knows exactly what they’re getting when they buy food.
  8. Sports dietitian. Sports dietitians work with athletes to help them eat right to achieve peak performance.  
  9. Food safety auditor. Food safety auditors inspect facilities that process or package food and ensure they’re meeting safety standards.
  10. Nutrition Educator. Teach others about the importance of healthy eating and good nutrition—or even teach future dietitians and nutritionists.

And that’s just a partial list! There are many, many ways to build a career as a dietitian. One thing that all those careers have in common is the chance to make a real difference in people’s lives. You get to combine your own personal interest in nutrition and dietetics with your passion for helping people. What’s not to love?

Where Will Dietitian Jobs Be In Hottest Demand?

As you consider all of the exciting career prospects for dietitians, you might want to keep an eye on trends in the job market. Keeping track of the areas where experts predict that dietitian jobs will be in the greatest demand can help you choose your career path.

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ Council of Future Practice has some ideas you might want to keep in mind. The council keeps a close eye on the job market for dietitians and monitors trends that can influence your job prospects. They’ve recently suggested a couple of new and expanding possibilities that may be opening up.

First, private practice. Have you always wanted to be your own boss and run your own business? Imagine a business model that’s similar to your dentist’s. Your clients schedule twice-yearly check-ups with you, with opportunities for additional care in between when necessary. You bill them for these preventive care visits, just like your dentist would bill you for that office visit for x-rays and a cleaning.

Second, think mobile! If you’re always on the move, another career opportunity that may become more popular in the near future is the mobile dietitian. You work with clients via telephone, email, or even an app. You’re not tied to an office or even regular office hours.

And if the idea of being a mobile dietitian sounds appealing, you might also be interested in yet another awesome (and lucrative) possibility for people with a dietetics certification who want to combine flexibility with meaningful work: Health Coaching.

As a Health Coach, you partner with people who want to learn how to start eating right and improve other areas of health and wellness—and maintain it over the long haul. Your education and training in dietetics will give you the perfect preparation to help clients make steady and sustained progress toward their ultimate goal of living a healthier life. When you establish a Health Coaching practice, you can set your own hours, choose which population you’d like to work with, and name your price, as well.

So, if all this sounds really appealing to you, it might be time to go ahead and pursue that dietetics certification. You can even work toward you dietitian certification online, thanks to a growing number of distance learning programs.

Want to learn more about how you can blend an interest in nutrition with empowering other people to make lasting positive changes in their life? 

Start Your Health and Wellness Coaching Career with HCI

Coaching is a great career that you can help others, while also learning how to help your own personal growth. Health Coach Institute is a top health and wellness coaching certification program. Join our Become a Health Coach program and begin coaching in 6 months! If you are already a coach and want to advance your skills, check out HCI’s Coach Mastery program. Feel free to get in touch with with one of our clarity coaches directly, by calling 1-800-303-2399.

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Health Coach Institute provides aspiring Health and Life Coaches with the tools, training, and support to make a great living transforming lives.