Dietitians and Nutritionists

Plan and conduct food service or nutritional programs to assist in the promotion of health and control of disease. May supervise activities of a department providing quantity food services, counsel individuals, or conduct nutritional research.

Most important skills

Reading Comprehension
Active Listening
Speaking
Critical Thinking
Social Perceptiveness
Judgment and Decision Making
Writing
Monitoring

Key knowledge

Biology
Medicine and Dentistry
English Language
Therapy and Counseling
Customer and Personal Service
Psychology
Education and Training
Mathematics

What the work involves

Assess nutritional needs, diet restrictions, and current health plans to develop and implement dietary-care plans and provide nutritional counseling.
Consult with physicians and health care personnel to determine nutritional needs and diet restrictions of patient or client.
Advise patients and their families on nutritional principles, dietary plans, diet modifications, and food selection and preparation.
Counsel individuals and groups on basic rules of good nutrition, healthy eating habits, and nutrition monitoring to improve their quality of life.
Develop curriculum and prepare manuals, visual aids, course outlines, and other materials used in teaching.
Coordinate diet counseling services.
Plan, conduct, and evaluate dietary, nutritional, and epidemiological research.
Plan and conduct training programs in dietetics, nutrition, and institutional management and administration for medical students, health-care personnel, and the general public.

Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Social, Investigative, Enterprising.

Qualifications and licensing

Most common education: Post-Baccalaureate Certificate (53.3% of respondents)
Related experience: Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (40%)
On-the-job training: Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month (46.7%)
Preparation level: O*NET job zone 5: Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
Licensing: Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.

Check before planning

Licensing for Dietitians and Nutritionists is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.

Limits

Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.

Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0

Work environment

How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).

Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.

Rankings compare typical U.S. occupation-level work conditions; individual jobs and employers vary. Data: O*NET 31.0 Work Context and BLS wages (May 2025).
Condition	Level	Compared with other occupations	Most common answer (O*NET survey)
Contact with others	High	Higher on contact with others than 68% of occupations compared	66% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others”
Dealing with the public	High	Higher on dealing with the public than 61% of occupations compared	40% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important”
Teamwork	Low	Lower on teamwork than 77% of occupations compared	43% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important”
Freedom to make decisions	Very high	Higher on freedom to make decisions than 84% of occupations compared	55% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom”
Time pressure	Moderate	Lower on time pressure than 52% of occupations compared	37% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day”
Conflict situations	Low	Lower on conflict situations than 68% of occupations compared	47% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month”
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people	High	Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 68% of occupations compared	40% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week”
Consequence of error	Very low	Lower on consequence of error than 80% of occupations compared	31% of surveyed respondents chose “Not serious at all”

Work-pressure profile

Time pressure: moderate
Conflict situations: low
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: high
Consequence of error: very low

Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.

Full answer distributions

Contact with others

No contact with others: 0%
Occasional contact with others: 0%
Contact with others about half the time: 6.9%
Contact with others most of the time: 27.59%
Constant contact with others: 65.52%

n = 29, Occupational Expert 08/2021