courses in nutrition and diet

undergroundvibe

HI All


just wondering how many people on this forum actually work in nutrition based jobs? where did you study etc, is there many career oppertunities in this area?

tHE vAGGABOND

There was a huge thread on this subject not so long ago, if you do a search.

The only course in a big place was a short course in DIT, which was wildly expensive if I remember correctly.

From my experience having tried to loose weight for a long time [before it worked this year], most people in "nutrition based jobs" have no idea what they are doing, and are reselling products and services from places like WW etc

Because they are not protected titles, like Doctor, anyone can make up a name like Nutritionalist and open a business

teacosy

there is some information on becoming a dietitian here.

there is a process underway to protect the public from poorly qualified health care professionals, whereby it will become a statutory requirement for HCPs to register with governing bodies. More info here http://www.coru.ie
Titles like "dietitian" & "physiotherapist" will be protected, so unless you're registered, you will not be able to use the title. not all titles will be protected, so people could still set up a business and call themselves a "nutritionalist" or whatever. hopefully, the practice of statutory registration will make the public become more aware.

Also, members of the Irish Nutrition & Dietetic Institute (a professional body) have the appropriate qualification to advise patients & the general public on a one-to-one basis on any dietary matters. www.indi.ie

Sapsorrow

undergroundvibe wrote: »

HI All


just wondering how many people on this forum actually work in nutrition based jobs? where did you study etc, is there many career oppertunities in this area?

If you do a search I've given a lot of info on this to other posters in the past. I studied Nutritional Science for four years in UCC, I graduated in May with a 1.1 and two scholarships under my belt and still haven't had any luck with work. Although I haven't tried very hard to be honest, the industry doesn't interest me at all, I want to work as a private consultant. We graduated in May and lots in my year are really struggling to find work, including in the food production and research.

No one is interested in in-experienced grads no matter how well they did with so many experienced and unemployed people around. There is also a freeze on employment in the HSE which doesn't help.

Ireland is a terrible spot for nutrition and dietetics. Even dieticians struggle to find work in their area here and lots of dietetics grads and people with Phd's or Msc's in nutrition are emigrating out of desperation. It's not the sort of qualification you can sit on for a few years and expect to get back into the game after a hiatus, it's cut throat.

If you've a head for business or are entrepreneurial there are still options out there, like going free-lance which is my long-term plan.

teacosy

about 20 students graduate from the DIT\TCD course in nutrition each year.
between 1997 and a couple of years ago, pretty much every graduate got full time employment in the area in Ireland. the last couple of years haven't been as good, but many still found relevant work.

Sapsorrow

40-50 graduated in my year, a lot kept going with Msc's in England particularly but out of those that stayed in Ireland a good proportion (that I know of anyway) can't find work despite trying very hard both in the course and in looking for work, it's very sad really. Not everyone wants to leave Ireland just for the sake of finding work.

I think the best bet is to find a college that's good for research and that tends to take a good few students on for masters after graduating. At least you can get your foot in the door of the faculty that way and get some lecturing experience.