3 Common Interview Questions for Dietitians
If you're looking to become a dietitian or are already a practicing dietitian, you know that the interview process can be daunting. But it doesn’t have to be. With a few hours of preparation and reflection, you’ll be ready to answer any interview question.
Today we’re sharing 3 common interview questions for dietitians and our top strategies for answering each of these questions effectively. Whether you’re a new graduate or an experienced dietitian, these tips will help you stand out from the competition and land your ideal position.
The first few questions set the flow of the interview.
Most interviews will start off with easier introduction questions so that the interview team can get to know you better. While in an ideal world, everyone in the room will have taken the time to read your resume, this isn’t always the case. Even questions that seem “basic” provide an excellent opportunity to showcase your talent.
Remember, the whole purpose of an interview is for the team to get to know you to help determine if you are the right fit for the role. This is not the time to be shy or reserved about your career or academic accomplishments.
If you can practice your responses to the following few questions, you’ll feel better prepared, and more confident and the rest of the interview will feel easier. Here are 3 interview questions that will almost always be included in every dietitian interview in one form or another.
Tell me about yourself.
"Tell me about yourself" is a common interview question that can often catch people off guard. This question can also be asked in other ways such as “tell us about your career journey so far” or “can you walk us through your resume and background?”. These questions are asking the same thing.
It seems like a really simple and straight-forward question, so most people skip preparing for this question entirely. However, what I have seen happen most of the time, is that people ramble on and on and end up sharing a lot of personal information that is not at all relevant to their professional experience.
Here are some tips to help you answer this question effectively:
Keep it concise: Your answer to this question should be brief, no more than a few minutes long. Focus on the most important information about yourself that is relevant to the job.
Highlight your skills and experiences: Start by highlighting your relevant skills and experiences. Talk about your educational background, any professional training you have received, and any work experience that is relevant to the position.
If your past experience is limited to your dietetic internship, talk about the highlights of your rotations!
Avoid personal details: While it's important to give some context to your background, be careful not to share personal details that are not relevant to the job. Keep the focus on your professional experiences and qualifications.
A lot of people take the “tell me about yourself” question too literally and focus on personal details and hobbies. While it’s great to be well-rounded, focusing on personal details distracts from the overall purpose of the interview and can also open up the potential for bias if you mention that you have young kids, etc.
Here is a great sample response from an experienced dietitian:
“I am a registered dietitian with a MS in Exercise Science and I have five years of experience in clinical nutrition. My passion for nutrition and helping others led me to pursue a career in this field. During my time as a dietitian, I have worked for two years as an outpatient dietitian seeing patients with all different disease states. It was during this time that I fell in love with oncology and transitioned to working full-time as an oncology dietitian which I’ve done for the past three years. In this role, I also became a certified specialist in oncology and I’m currently working to become a certified nutrition support specialist.
As an oncology dietitian, I led several initiatives in my facility to improve patient care. For example, I led a malnutrition diagnosis project that helped our team quadruple reimbursement for malnutrition. With this project I had to write the protocol, educate the staff and submit the final reports. These organizational skills will lend themselves well to the Clinical Project Lead (new position) at XYZ organization. One of the responsibilities that I am most excited about is leading more research projects with XYZ Medical Care.
Outside of work, you can find me in the mountains, at the river, or playing in my garden. I am excited about the opportunity to bring my skills and experience to your organization.”
Overall, when answering the "tell me about yourself" question, it's important to strike a balance between sharing enough information to demonstrate your qualifications and keeping your answer concise and focused. This example response is no more than 60 seconds.
While you absolutely should not memorize your response word for word, having a framework to answer this question will help hit your key points while staying on topic. As you’ll see with the next interview question, the framework is similar for most of the common interview questions for dietitians.
What inspired you to pursue a career in dietetics and what motivates you to continue in this field?
This question is often used to assess a candidate's passion for the profession and their level of commitment to the position. This question seems simple, but it can be a bit of a trap! Employers are looking to make sure that your goals and interests align with the position and specific area of dietetics. For example, if you’re applying for a clinical position in a hospital and mention your passion for school nutrition and healthy school meals, this might signal that you’re not going to stick around for long.
Connect your passion to the position: Before the interview, reflect on your past experiences and your interest in dietetics. Expand on your passion that most closely relates to the position.
Show your long-term commitment: Demonstrate your long-term commitment to the company by explaining how your career goals align with the company's mission and vision. Show your interest in growing with the company and taking on new challenges.
Here is a sample answer to this question:
"As an undergraduate student, I had the opportunity to volunteer in a community kitchen where I taught nutrition and cooking classes to elementary school students. I remember being so incredibly nervous for my first lesson, but with a lot of preparation, the lesson was a huge hit!
The students loved it and asked when I would be coming back. I remember walking away from that experience feeling a passion that I have never ever felt before. I felt alive and energized despite the amount of preparation it took. It was at this moment that I realized my passion for working with the K-12 population in a capacity that allows me to provide education and impact access to healthy meals.
I want to be a school nutrition dietitian because I believe in changing the narrative about school meals. I also want to ensure that all kids in our community have access to healthy food options and maybe get a dose of education too”.
One of the biggest mistakes with this question is that people inadvertently demonstrate that this job is only a stepping stone to their long-term goal. For example, if you mention that you’re passionate about working with pregnant mothers and children and there is ZERO opportunity to do this within the company, this will show that you are not a great fit for the position.
I can’t tell you how many times we were hiring for an entry-level clinical position and new dietitians answered this common interview question with “I am interested in gaining clinical experience before I start my own private practice”.
Guess whether or not we hired this person. Hint, we did not! Turnover is big deal in the workplace setting and is really costly. While it’s great to gain clinical experience, employers don’t want to hear that your long-term goal is to start a private practice!
Now I’m not recommending that you lie about your interests, but most people have more than one reason for their passion for dietetics and all of us have more than one goal. Think of passions and goals that align with the position that you are applying for.
This is a perfect segue to the next interview question:
Why are you interested in this position?
The best way to answer the interview question "why are you interested in the position" is to provide a well-thought-out response that demonstrates your knowledge of the company, the role, and your skills and experience. This question is really asking if you have done your research about the company and the position and if you have thought about how you’ll fit into the company. Other common ways this question is asked are “why should we hire you” and “what makes you stand out amongst the other candidates interested in the position”.
Here are some tips to help you answer this question effectively:
Research the company: Before the interview, research the company and the position to gain a better understanding of their mission, values, products or services, and culture. This will help you tailor your response to the company's needs and goals.
At one of my first clinical jobs, the mission statement was “helping patients live the healthiest lives possible”. So when I was prepping my response to this question, I made sure to weave the mission statement into my reasoning for applying to the job. Companies will be really impressed if you specifically reference a project, initiative or mission statement. This shows that you have done your research.
Highlight your skills and experience: Emphasize your skills and experience that are relevant to the job and explain how they make you a good fit for the position. Use specific examples to demonstrate your qualifications.
Show your enthusiasm: Explain why you are excited about the job and how it aligns with your career goals. Show your enthusiasm for the company and explain how you can contribute to the company's success.
Be authentic: Be authentic and honest in your response. Avoid generic answers or flattery that may sound insincere. Instead, provide a genuine and thoughtful response that reflects your interest and motivation.
Here is a sample answer from a new dietitian:
“During my dietetic internship, I had the opportunity to complete my community rotation with the Brookstown WIC Clinic. My preceptor Michelle was a phenomenal teacher and I really enjoyed the camaraderie among the staff. One day we were short-staffed by three dietitians and I was so impressed by how the whole clinic came together to make sure that we could see as many clients as possible. It was during this rotation that I realized that this is a team environment that I want to be a part of.
Since completing my rotation with WIC, I have furthered my counseling skills and have also completed additional motivational interview training. Because I know that Brookstown WIC primarily serves a Hispanic population, I have also started classes in Spanish interpretation so that I can better serve future clients.
I am truly excited about the possibility of working for Brookstown WIC and I can’t wait to launch my career as a dietitian focused on nutrition for women, infants and children”.
Remember, the interviewer is looking for someone who is passionate, qualified, and a good fit for the company. By demonstrating your knowledge, enthusiasm, and fit, you can convince the interviewer that you are the best candidate for the job.
It’s impossible to prepare for every interview question, but a little bit of preparation goes a long way.
While we’ve only covered 3 common interview questions in this blog post, even this amount of preparation will help you feel more prepared for a future dietitian interview.
If you’re looking for more sample interview questions, check out our Complete Guide to Mastering the RD Interview, which includes over 50 sample interview questions with tips on how to answer them. We also cover the difference between standard interview questions (such as the ones in this post) and situational-based interview questions. The guide also covers the five types of situational questions to be prepared for and how to create your own story bank.
If you’d like one on one support and personalized feedback on your interview responses, book an Interview Ready session today!
