Entry Level Qualification 

12

Career Fields 

Medical Services

For Specially Abled 

Career Entrance Exam 

NEET UG, AIIMS MSC, AIIMS BSC

About Career 

As a Nutritionist / Dietician, you will be assessing, diagnosing, and treating nutritional problems of your clients or patients. Your primary objective should be assisting in promotion of good health and hygiene and controlling the spread of diseases. You will be involved in providing recommendations or giving suggestions regarding nutritional principles, dietary plans or modifications, food preparation, healthy eating habits, basic rules of good nutrition, and monitoring nutrition for improving the quality of life of your patients or clients.

You will be analyzing the health requirements of your clients. You will resolve their nutrition issues and help implement healthy habits of eating. You will be responsible for developing a proper dietary-care plan for your clients as per their budget, age, gender, medical conditions, medical history and personal choices. You will also need to suggest appropriate modifications to new dietary plans after assessing its effects.

Key Roles and Responsibilities

As a Nutritionist / Dietician, you will be engaged with one or more of the following roles and responsibilities: -

1. You will be assessing the nutritional needs, current health plans and diet restrictions to develop dietary-care plans and provide nutritional counseling.

2. You will be making suggestions to clients and their families on nutritional principles, dietary plans or modifications, food preparation, healthy eating habits and basic rules of good nutrition for improving their quality of life.

3. You will be advising your clients regarding public policies like nutrition labeling on consumer products, nutrition standards for school programs or food fortification (adding key vitamins and minerals to primary nutrition sources like rice, milk and salt for improving their nutritional content).

4. You will be consulting with personal physicians or medical officers for determining nutritional needs, diet histories and diet restrictions of clients and patients for providing them with nutritional counseling.

5. You will be monitoring food service operations in hospitals and other healthcare establishments for ensuring adherence to nutritional safety and quality standards.

6. You will be educating and supervising workers who prepare and serve meals to the patients in hospitals and other healthcare establishments.

7. You will be planning and conducting dietetics and nutrition related training programs or workshops etc. for target groups like healthcare personnel, medical students or the general public.

8. You will be planning and conducting regular dietary, nutritional, and epidemiological (related to distribution and control of diseases) or similar researches to keep yourself updated.

9. You will be tabulating, assessing and recording research findings and maintaining regular records, digitally on a computer or physically on paper.

Career Entry Pathway 

Class 10 all subjects as per scheme of studies – Class 11-12 Physics, Chemistry and Biology along with any other subject as per scheme of studies – B. Voc in ‘Nutrition and Dietetics’ or similar courses.

After completing Class 10 all subjects as per scheme of studies, Class 11-12 Physics, Chemistry and Biology along with any other subject as per scheme of studies, you can go for a B. Voc course (Bachelor of Vocation) in ‘Nutrition and Dietetics’, ‘Nutrition and Healthcare Science’, ‘Food Science And Technology’, ‘Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics’ or similar courses.

After completing Class 10 all subjects as per scheme of studies, Science and Mathematics then Class 11-12 Biology along with any other subject as per scheme of studies / Class 11-12 Home Science along with any other subject as per scheme of studies/ Class 11-12 Chemistry, Biology & Home Science along with any other subject as per scheme of studies/ Class 11-12 Chemistry, Biology & Agricultural Science along with any other subject as per scheme of studies/ Class 11-12 Home Science along with any other subject as per scheme of studies, you can pursue a Bachelor degree (B.A., B. Sc., B. Tech.) course in ‘Food and Nutrition’, ‘Nutrition and Dietetics’, ‘Nutrition and Healthcare Science’, ‘Food Science And Technology’, ‘Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics’, ‘Nutritional Biochemistry’, ‘Clinical Nutrition’, ‘Public Nutrition & Programme Planning’, ‘Food Science & Processing’, ‘Dietetics and Public Health Nutrition’, ‘Health and Social Gerontology’, ‘Nutrition & Health Education’ or similar.

After completing Class 10 all subjects as per scheme of studies, Science and Mathematics, finish Class 11-12 Biology along with any other subject as per scheme of studies / Class 11-12 Home Science along with any other subject as per scheme of studies/ Class 11-12 Chemistry, Biology & Home Science along with any other subject as per scheme of studies/ Class 11-12 Chemistry, Biology & Agricultural Science along with any other subject as per scheme of studies/ Class 11-12 Home Science along with any other subject as per scheme of studies; then you can pursue your Bachelor degree in ‘Microbiology’, ‘Home Science’, ‘Food Technology’, ‘Biochemistry’, ‘Nursing’, ‘Medicine’, ‘Food and Nutrition’, ‘Nutrition and Dietetics’, ‘Nutrition and Healthcare Science’, ‘Food Science And Technology’, ‘Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics’, ‘Nutritional Biochemistry’, ‘Clinical Nutrition’, ‘Public Nutrition & Programme Planning’, ‘Food Science & Processing’, ‘Dietetics and Public Health Nutrition’, ‘Health and Social Gerontology’, ‘Nutrition & Health Education’ or similar. Then you can go for a Post Graduate Diploma in ‘Dietetics and Public Health Nutrition’, ‘Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics’, ‘Nutrition and Diet’, ‘Sports Nutrition’, ‘Food and Nutrition Management’, ‘Food Science’, ‘Applied Nutrition’or similar disciplines.

After completing Class 10 all subjects as per scheme of studies, Science and Mathematics, finish Class 11-12 Biology along with any other subject as per scheme of studies / Class 11-12 Home Science along with any other subject as per scheme of studies/ Class 11-12 Chemistry, Biology & Home Science along with any other subject as per scheme of studies/ Class 11-12 Chemistry, Biology & Agricultural Science along with any other subject as per scheme of studies/ Class 11-12 Home Science along with any other subject as per scheme of studies; then you can pursue your Bachelor degree in ‘Microbiology’, ‘Home Science’, ‘Food Technology’, ‘Biochemistry’, ‘Nursing’, ‘Medicine’, ‘Food and Nutrition’, ‘Nutrition and Dietetics’, ‘Nutrition and Healthcare Science’, ‘Food Science And Technology’, ‘Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics’, ‘Nutritional Biochemistry’, ‘Clinical Nutrition’, ‘Public Nutrition & Programme Planning’, ‘Food Science & Processing’, ‘Dietetics and Public Health Nutrition’, ‘Health and Social Gerontology’, ‘Nutrition & Health Education’ or similar. Then you can go for a Master degree program (M. A., M. Sc) in ‘Dietetics and Nutrition’, ‘Food Science’, ‘Food Nutrition’, ‘Applied Physiology’, ‘Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics’, ‘Nutrition and Diet’, ‘Sports Nutrition’, ‘Food and Nutrition Management’ or similar disciplines.

Required Qualification & Competencies 

After Class 11-12, you can go for:

1. Diploma / Certificate courses.

2. B. Voc or Bachelor degree courses.

Various private and public educational establishments offer these or related courses:

1. Food and Nutrition

2. Food Chemistry & Nutrition

3. Food Science & Nutrition

4. Nutritional Physiology

5. Molecular Nutrition

6. Nutrition Sciences

7. Nutrition and Dietetics

8. Sports Nutrition

9. Animal Nutrition

Competencies Required

1. You should have interests for Investigative Occupations. Investigative occupations involve working with ideas and quite a lot of thinking, often abstract or conceptual thinking. These involve learning about facts and figures; involve use of data analysis, assessment of situations, decision making and problem solving.

2. You should have interests for Social Occupations. Social occupations involve helping or assisting others; these involve working with and communicating with people to provide various services; these may involve educating and advising others.

3. You should have interests for Enterprising Occupations. Enterprising occupations involve taking initiatives, initiating actions, and planning to achieve goals, often business goals. These involve gathering resources and leading people to get things done. These require decision making, risk takingand action orientation.

4. You should have knowledge of Healthcare Science and Services - different fields which are related to offering various types of healthcare services to people; assisting physicians and surgeons to carry out diagnosis, treatment and prevention of human diseases, ailment and disorders. This includes knowledge of different practices apart from medicine which are used to treat and prevent human diseases or to provide holistic healthcare and wellness. This also includes knowledge about drugs and medicines.

5.  You should have knowledge of Biological Sciences - plants and animals, their anatomical structure, cell structure, tissues, physiological functions, evolution, and all other related aspects.

6. You should have knowledge of Customer Service - how to provide customer services. This includes understanding customer needs, helping customers to use products and services, answering customer queries, handling customer complaints and grievances, and evaluating customer satisfaction.

7. You should have Active Listening Skills - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, understanding the points being made by others, asking questions, etc.

8. You should have Critical Thinking Skills - analysis of complex situations, using of logic and reasoning to understand the situations and take appropriate actions or make interpretations and inferences.

9. You should have Public Speaking Skills - Talking effectively to a large group of people or an audience or addressing public at large in different settings such as conferences, seminars, meetings, etc.

10. You should have Service Orientation Skills - or keen interest to help and assist people.

11.  You should have Deductive Reasoning Ability - apply general rules and common logic to specific problems to produce answers that are logical and make sense. For example, understanding the reasons behind an event or a situation using general rules and common logic.

12. You should have Information Ordering Ability - arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).

13.  You should have Inter-Personal Ability - build and maintain good relationships with others at workplaces and elsewhere.

14. You should have Written Expression Ability - communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.

15. You are always or mostly careful about your actions and behavior.

16. You are always or mostly organized in your day-to-day life and activities.

17. You are always friendly and outgoing; you love to be in company of people always or most of the times.

18. You are always or mostly caring, supportive, sympathetic and kind to others.

19. You always prefer to experience new things and have new experiences or you mostly do.

Career - Job Opportunities & Profiles 

You will get many work opportunities with various established Private as well as Government establishments, independent clinics, hospitals, hotels, schools, companies in the modeling industry, companies in the sports industry, veterinary clinics and hospitals, companies in the food and beverage business, diagnostic laboratories, quality control labs, NGOs, health clinics, or for nutrition programmes with leading international organizations like FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), WHO (World Health Organisation), UNICEF (United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund) etc. as:

1. Dietician

2. Public Health Advisor

3. Nutritionist

4. Nutrition Consultant

5.  Diet Counselor

6. Nutrition Advisor

7. Food Inspection Officer

8. Community Health Worker

9. Health Counselor & Advisor

Career Growth

With work experience, you can grow to become a Senior Dietitian, Nutritionist, Diet Counselor, Consultant, and Nutrition Advisor, etc. You may also offer your services independently to customers by setting up your own clinic or nutrition studio after some years of experience. This means you can have your personal business network in this field in future.

Salary Offered  

1. At the beginning of your career, you can expect about Rs. 15,000 – 30,000 or more per month.

2. With 3-5 years of experience, you can expect about Rs. 20,000-60,000 or even more per month.

3. With 8-10 years of experience, you can expect about Rs. 20,000 – 1, 00,000 or even more per month.

4. After 13+ years or experience, you can expect about Rs. 30, 000 – Rs. 2, 00, 000 or more a month.

Monthly Earnings In Indian Rupee

1. Entry level: 0 - 2 years of work experience

2. Junior Level: From 1 to 12 years of work experience

3. Mid Level: From 5 to 20+ years of work experience

4. Senior Level: From 10 to 25+ years of work experience (there could be exceptions in some high-end technical, financial, engineering, creative, management, sports, and other careers; also in the near future, people will reach these levels much faster in many careers and in some careers, these levels will have no meaning as those careers will be completely tech skill driven such as even now, there is almost no level in a Cyber Security Expert’s job)

Famous Personalities 

Not Available

Work Activities 

1. Providing advices and consultation to others- Giving advices or consultation to others about various issues, conceptual matters, know-hows, scientific matters, products or services.

2. Assisting and caring for people - Assisting people in availing of services; taking care of people in different situations; offering help and services to others.

3. Working directly with people - Working directly with people to offer them products and services, providing assistance, etc.

4. Strategic planning - Developing visions and goals, developing strategies and action plans for achieving visions and goals.

5. Decision making and problem-solving - Analysis of data and information; evaluation of alternative decisions and results of decisions; taking the right decisions and solving problems.

6. Getting Information and learning - Observing, hearing, and reading using computers, or otherwise obtaining information and learning from it.

7. Analysing and interpreting data and information - Analysis of data and information to find facts, trends, reasons behind situations, etc.; interpretation of data to aid in decision making.

8. Developing and maintaining inter-personal relationships - Developing professional relationships with co-workers and others outside organizations and maintaining good relationships.

9. Communicating with co-workers and others - Communicating with people in writing, verbally or otherwise inside your workplace and various other people who have professional relationships with your place of work including vendors, government officials, etc. or with people at large.