How to ask for a raise or promotion – a dietitian’s guide

You work hard hustling to consults, identifying malnutrition and collaborating with the interdisciplinary team. It makes sense you want to be recognized for it. When it’s time to ask for a raise and/or promotion, create a plan, rehearse what you’ll say and know your strategy for the best chance at getting what you deserve.  

Before asking for a raise, do your homework

Zoom out and take in what’s happening at your facility and within the dietetics industry to determine if now is the best time for a big ask. If your organization is hiring, promoting, or giving raises to other departments, chances are the financial situation is strong and it’s an ideal time to make your request. 

It’s important to dig into trends within the dietetics industry, too. New initiatives in long-term care and acute care can have a significant financial impact on what a dietitian can offer a facility. Research shows that having an RD on staff can influence reimbursement, improve residents’ quality of life, and increase resident satisfaction. So ask yourself, what’s the market value for a dietitian with your level of experience? 

Explain your unique contributions

At the most basic level, an employee’s role is to contribute to the success of their employer, so think about the incredible things you’ve done to benefit your employer. A helpful tool to track your achievements is a work journal.  A work journal is a timeline of your quantifiable value and work successes. 

Some ideas to include in your work journal are positive praise, revenue, patient outcomes, new programs, or reduction of complications. It’s also important to identify ways you can continue to help the organization after you receive your raise or promotion.  

The ask

When in doubt, schedule it out. Requesting a meeting with your supervisor will ensure proper time and attention is allocated to your request. Plus, it gives you a chance to prepare and build up your confidence. 

As you head into the meeting, have a specific request in mind and make sure your request supports it. A few examples are a specific salary bump, title change or specific promotion. 

Here’s an example: 

“Thanks for taking some time to meet with me today. In my role as clinical dietitian, I have championed several quality improvement projects. Last year, I was the lead dietitian on the malnutrition documentation project and became an NFPE trainer for our team. That project increased the hospital’s revenue by 30 percent last year. I have also worked with our critical care nurses and foodservice team to reduce the time to begin nutrition support in our COVID wing. I have gained these leadership skills and helped to advance our clinical nutrition team forward, so I am asking for a promotion to lead clinical dietitian and a 15 percent increase in my salary. In this new role, I would reduce my hours in direct patient care and work more closely with our hospital’s quality improvement team to improve patient outcomes. In fact, they have already approached me about developing a new order set for pressure injury prevention and management. I have truly grown and developed into a stronger clinical dietitian and leader and am eager to continue my professional development in this new capacity.”

If they say no… 

Is there another benefit you could ask for? Perks like additional PTO, a more flexible schedule, title change, higher contribution to 401(k) or professional development are all valuable parts of a compensation package.  

The follow-through

If there’s no budge, schedule another appointment in six months to check in again. 

Below we share a few resources to help estimate your market value. When using these resources, keep in mind to check specifically pay data where you live. Don’t rely on national estimates. Consider the subspecialties of dietetics — clinical dietitians make different salaries compared to academia compared to those in sales. And if you have (or are considering) a specialty certification, keep in mind some may have a higher market value than others. 

Salary estimate tools: 

Eatrightpro Salary calculator for RDs 

Salary.com 

Indeed 

Bureau of Labor Statistics