Does the thought of applying for your didactic internship feel like playing the lottery? They are SO competitive these days. Relevant experience is what can set you (and your amazing application) apart from the competition and land you the match!

In this blog post, I’ll go over my very best tips for how to get useful dietetic experience as a student so that you’re more likely to get accepted into your dream internship.

Let’s help the odds to be ever in your favor.

What are the stats?

Nutrition is a growing field! In 2020, there were nearly 16,000 dietetic students (1). But the number of accredited internship placements? Far fewer. This makes the odds not in your favor: on average the dietetic students who match are only about 60% (2).

So - what is a savvy nutrition student like you to do? Seek relevant experience that bolsters your resume (and helps you to network in the field).

Why is experience important?

With the dizzying number of required courses in your journey of becoming a dietitian, why is the experience even required?

Learning from a lecture or textbook simply isn’t the same as hands-on experience. Doing a practice case study is different from working with a real-life patient. Learning about a food service kitchen is not the same as working in one.

“Hands-on experience gives you an advantage in terms of what you bring to the table experience-wise. If you already have some knowledge of how a hospital kitchen runs, or have good public speaking skills, and are comfortable conversing with patients about their dietary needs you will be able to adjust to the demands of the internship more effectively.” – Shavonne Morrison, MS, RD, LD, founder of Wellness for Womanhood

In addition, experience as a student helps your application to be far more personalized.

“Too often students are too general when talking about why they want to enter the dietetic profession. We always see "I want to help people" or " I've always loved food/nutrition/wellness". These applications get buried by the ones that tell a compelling story about what made them choose a career as an RD. Your personal statement is called a ‘personal’ statement for a reason. Don’t be afraid to dig deep into the details that led you to this field; it will make you memorable!” – Morgan White, MS, RD, RYT-200

Now that we know why experience as a dietetic student is important for your internship (and following job) applications, what kinds of experiences are the most important? The answer depends on you and your goals. Let’s explore!

What kinds of experiences are important?

Experience for dietetic students could include working in a variety of settings depending on your goals, who you connect with, and your bandwidth for projects. You can fill out your resume with experiences in:

• Foodservice
• Clinical
• Community
• Research
• Entrepreneurship
• Private Practice
• Hospital

Jenny Westerkamp, RD, CSSD, and Founder of All Access Dietetics, suggests:

“There are 3 types of experience that I suggest all applicants obtain - foundational, goal-related, and leadership.

Foundational includes anything similar to supervised practice under a registered dietitian, in areas such as clinical, food service management, research, or community nutrition.

Goal-related experience is something in your area of interest. You don't want to write in your personal statement that you are interested in sports nutrition, but not have any sports nutrition experience.

And finally, leadership experience can be either in a work or volunteer setting. It can be a one-time event or a role where you were a leader. The key here is being able to answer the question at the interview, "Tell me about a time when you were a leader."

Lisa Andrews, MEd, RD, LD Owner of Sound Bites Nutrition reiterates that leadership experience is important. “Take on a leadership role. Volunteer to be the head of the student dietetic association. Chair a food drive or other event.”

Now that you know what kinds of experiences are most in line with your career goals…how to get the experiences lined up? Let’s chat networking!

How to find mentors and preceptors

Networking can happen in person and online; use both!

“Social media is great for searching for potential mentors; don't be afraid to reach out and send a message letting them know you are interested in their work.” - Morgan White, MS, RD, RYT-200

You can also get involved in your local Academy group.

“My biggest tip is to join your student chapter of AND as a freshman and be involved. That was the single best decision I made. It led to multiple job opportunities, which allowed me to graduate with three years of relevant work experience. I worked in a hospital as a diet aide and at the local food bank as a nutrition educator. This work experience helped set me apart from other applicants, and since my GPA was not as high as others, having the work experience was critical to be competitive.” – Shavonne Morrison, MS, RD, LD, founder of Wellness for Womanhood

You can connect with potential preceptors and employers in Facebook groups and via LinkedIn. You can also let your current network help you to find your next connection: just ask!

“Don’t underestimate the power of directly explaining what you’re looking for. The people who know and care about you want to help. While you may not be connected to the right person right now, someone in your network might already know just the right person! Let the people in your corner connect you to the people you’d like to meet and the experiences you’d like to get - you never know what might pop up!” -Holly Larson, MS, RD, LD, founder of Holly Larson Writes

Now that you have your sights on specific professionals you’d like to work with, don’t blow your first impression!

Make a good first impression

As you’re mustering up the courage to connect with professionals in the field, be sure to make a good first impression. Jenny Westerkamp, RD, CSSD, and Founder of All Access Dietetics, explains how:

“When it comes to finding experiences, the biggest mistake future dietitians make is creating a very poor first impression. The first email you send to a registered dietitian is very important because you only have one chance to catch their attention and try to get a response. Think about what a dietitian needs to know from you in order for them to make a decision. Don't send an email that says ‘Hi, I am a student at X University. Do you take interns?’ It would be like if an advertisement said ‘I'm a sponge, buy me!’. You have to market yourself.

Busy dietitians don't want to see an email and think ‘this is more work and more time for me, no thanks!’. Rather, they want to think, ‘this future dietitian seems awesome and aligned with what I do, and it looks like she can make my life a little easier too!’. Do this by sharing your background (and nice resume), why you are interested in working with them specifically, how they can help you reach your goals (what your ask is), and most importantly, what value you can bring to them (why they should invest their time and money in you).

The key is to pitch yourself, offer value, and show how it can be a win-win relationship. And don't be afraid to ask for payment if you will be taking on a role that would replace a paid employee!”

Morgan coaches further about leading with the value you have to offer:

“Reach out to RDs who are doing what you want to do. Don't just ask if you can shadow them, tell them about your skills and offer to help them with a project. We all have projects gathering dust on our desktops that we just don't have time for. They will be more likely to respond to you if you offer to provide a service for them rather than just wanting to take up their time following them around.” - Morgan White, MS, RD, RYT-200

How many experiences do you have time for? Let’s talk about not letting your grades (or sleep) slide in order to fit more experiences into your resume.

Don’t over commit

You need enough – but not too much – experience. Think Goldilocks.

We all have the same 24 hours in a day, and it is important to spend a few of them sleeping. When planning your student experience, don’t say yes to absolutely everything that comes your way.

Morgan White, MS, RD, RYT-200 explains:

“It can be tempting to take on a lot of different experiences; too often students do this and something has to give, usually their grades end up slipping which is not a good look on an application. Before committing to an activity, ask yourself how this experience is going to serve your long-term goals. Also, focus on quality over quantity. Leading 3 - 1 hour nutrition workshops is far more impressive than spending 100 hours packing boxes at the food bank. Anyone off the street can do that!”

You may be “just” a student, but you have a unique skill set and offer fresh perspectives to any opportunity; don’t be afraid to take the lead!

Take the lead

Don’t sell yourself short.

“Don't be afraid to create your own opportunities. Seeing somewhere you can make a difference and taking the initiative to do so can really help you stand out on your application. For example, when I was an RD2BE I also marched with a drum and bugle corps. Every summer we were fed by volunteers, usually parents, out of a food truck, and as a nutrition student, I knew our meals were not optimal for young athletes. So I offered to analyze the menus and helped rewrite them to better meet our needs. I also developed a cheap sports drink mix which saved the corps a ton of money on Gatorade. As a result, I was awarded Volunteer of the Year by the corps. No one asked me to do this, I saw a need and I stepped in! “ - Morgan White, MS, RD, RYT-200

Keep on truckin’

Once you land your internship, you’ll spend 9-12 months getting even more experience truly practicing as a dietitian. And then…you’ll be job hunting!

The experiences you gain as a student (and the connections you make) can help you with your job search, too…if you made a good impression.

Dietetics is a small world. Treat every meeting with professionalism; as we mentioned earlier, you only have one chance to make a first impression. If your preceptor remembers you as the student who was late, was constantly scrolling on Instagram, and was dressed inappropriately, they’re not going to recommend you for any future jobs.

Get the recommendation

As you gain experience, take notes about the kinds of projects you completed and any measurable outcomes. It is so easy to think that you’ll remember the details in the future…but you won’t! Take detailed notes so that you can refer to them later when you update the next version of your resume and LinkedIn profile.

And while you’re on LinkedIn, take the time to ask for recommendations from preceptors you had a good experience with. (And if they do so, be sure to send them a Thank You card!)

Key takeaways

Experiences as a dietetic student are extremely valuable as you prepare to apply for (and match!) your internship experience. Be purposeful and professional as you seek and complete a range of opportunities. It’s a small world; make a great first impression and keep on truckin’!

About the Author

Stacey Dunn-Emke, MS, RDN, is the Founder Owner of NutritionJobs and an established dietetic career expert. She helps steer dietetic and nutrition professionals to a successful job search process with the top-ranked dietetic job board platform, NutritionJobs.com. Stacey is the author of The Dietetic Resume Guide and numerous dietetic career action-ables. She gives the tools to create a modern standout dietetic resume to land that job interview, help with job interview prep, and with creating Compelling LinkedIn profiles. Stacey has interviewed and hired many dietitians. Since running NutritionJobs in 2000, she has reviewed thousands of dietetic resumes. She works closely with dietetic hiring managers and recruiters to know the standout elements on a resume that land a job interview. Stacey speaks on successful compensation negotiation at professional conferences and frequently consults with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics at FNCE and co-created the webinar series, Dietetic Career Hack: The Complete Networking and Resume Guide and Dietetic Career Hack Part II: Interviewing Tips and Tricks. Her previous dietitian jobs have been in clinical, nutrition support, and research.

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