After I complete my Bachelor's in Health Promotion I plan on perusing a career a Dietitian or Nutritionist. I am not sure what setting I would like to work at but I am thinking about entering the school system or working freelance.
Another career option I will be looking at is Health Education. As A health educator I can teach a variety of subjects. Of course nutrition being one but also birth class, drug and alcohol abuse.
Nutritionist/Dietitian
My Career Plan
A Nutritionist/Dietitian is required to have a Bachelor’s degree. There are many options for the workplace, such as; hospitals, schools, nursing homes, cafeterias, or self-employment. The skill required and physical demands for this job are to assess patients’ and clients’ health needs and diet, counsel patients on nutrition issues and healthy eating habits, develop meal plans, taking both cost and clients’ preferences into account, evaluate the effects of meal plans and change the plans as needed, promote better nutrition by speaking to groups about diet, nutrition, and the relationship between good eating habits and preventing or managing specific diseases, keeping up with the latest nutritional science research, and to write reports to document patient progress. The work schedule for a Nutritionist/Dietitian is full-time, Monday through Friday. The starting salary is $55,240 a year. The projected change in employment for a Nutritionist/Dietitian is 21 percent with an addition of 14,200 jobs in the next 10 years.
Health Education
Health educators need a bachelor’s degree. Many employers require the Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) credential. Health Educators can work at hospitals, nonprofit organizations, government, doctors’ offices, private businesses, and colleges. A Health Educator needs to be able to assess the needs of the people and communities they serve, develop programs and events to teach people about health topics, teach people how to cope with or manage existing health conditions, evaluate the effectiveness of programs and educational materials, help people find health services or information, provide training programs for other health professionals or community health workers, collect and analyze data to learn about their audience and improve programs and services, and advocate for improved health resources and policies that promote health . The work schedule for a Health Educator is full-time, but also requires some evening hours and travel for meetings and events. The starting salary is $41,830 a year. The projected change in employment for Health Educators is also 21 percent, but with an addition of 21,400 jobs in the next 10 years.
Sources
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Web. 11 Dec. 2014. <http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Community-and-Social-Service/Health-educators.htm>.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Web. 12 Dec. 2014. <http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Healthcare/Dietitians-and-nutritionists.htm>.