How To Become A Dietary Clerk: What It Is and Career Path

What is a dietary clerk and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a dietary clerk. For example, did you know that they make an average of $15.12 an hour? That's $31,444 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 2% and produce 17,700 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreDietary ClerkUS Average

Salary

2.5

Avg. Salary $31,444

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

4.8

Growth Rate 2%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.00%

Asian 7.86%

Black or African American 13.16%

Hispanic or Latino 17.32%

Unknown 5.00%

White 55.66%

Gender

female 83.90%

male 16.10%

Age - 34

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 34

Stress Level

4.8

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

6.2

Complexity Level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

6.6

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a dietary clerk

Explore dietary clerk education requirements

Most common dietary clerk degrees

Bachelor's

32.9 %

High School Diploma

28.2 %

Associate

22.4 %

Start to develop specific dietary clerk skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	28.07%
Food Handling	19.16%
Allergies	6.79%
Compassion	5.22%
Patient Meals	5.06%

Complete relevant dietary clerk training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New dietary clerks learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a dietary clerk based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real dietary clerk resumes.

Research dietary clerk duties and responsibilities

Demonstrate strong math skills in managing inmate s accounts and calmly and effectively deescalating outbursts of belligerent inmates.
Edit and modify the menus according to the diet, food preferences, allergies, etc.
Enter patients orders and special request into department computer system ensuring full accountability of each meal serve.
Document clinical findings, such as allergies and correctly enter pertinent data for processing.

Prepare your dietary clerk resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your dietary clerk resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a dietary clerk resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Dietary Clerk Resume templates

Build a professional Dietary Clerk resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Dietary Clerk resume.

Apply for dietary clerk jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a dietary clerk job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do dietary clerks rate their job?

-/5

5 Stars

4 Stars

3 Stars

2 Stars

1 Star

Dietary Clerk reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jan 2020

Pros

It’s an honest day’s work. Lots of lifting and walking around. Pots and pans to scrub, pantries to organize. You won’t be bored for a second, there’s always something to do.

Cons

At the end of the day, you’re body is so tired. From doing this much heavy work you’d expect a decent pay check. You won’t make enough to rent an apartment with this job.