Career Path Issues - Essay Example

Career Path Introduction In the last few years, people have become very health conscious. They are very conscious about how they look and hence try to keep themselves as fit as possible. This has led to the growth in demand of nutritionists and obesity specialist and has turned it into a very lucrative career. Nutritionists are the food specialists whose job is to study the effects, which food habits have on people’s health and their well-being. They have the required knowledge and skill to diagnose, which dietary program will best provide the solution to a particular type of ailment. They can tell people how to prepare healthy meal and what must be the ingredients in the same.  Education and Training: Those students who are studying at the high school level and are looking forward to pursue a career in nutrition, they can take up courses in biology, chemistry, micro biology, health, mathematics and also communications. This will help them is some way or the other during their perusal of bachelor courses in nutrition. In 2007, there were 281 bachelor degree program and 22 master degree program approved by American Dietetic Association. The minimum qualification required for the same is a bachelor’s degree in dietetics or in food and nutrition or in similar related areas. But among the various states of USA, licensing and certification requirements for the same are different.  License Requirements License requirements for the nutritionists vary across the different states in USA. Whereas 35 states have made the license requirement mandatory, 12 require statutory certification, while one state requires only their registration. Certification is not compulsory for the nutritionists to practice their profession. The commission on dietetic Registration of the American Dietetic Association awards the Registered Dietitian (RD) credentials, to those professionals who clear the exam after completing the academic stipulation along with the internship. To maintain the RD status, the professionals must complete as least 75 credit hours in approved education classes every 5 years. The internship can be completed in two ways. In the first case, the candidate is required to complete a program accredited by the commission on Dietetic registration. By the year 2007 there were 53 such accredited programs, which provided a combination of academic and practical internship experiences. These programs generally last between 4 to 5 years. The other option involves completion of 900 hours of intern experience in any of the 265 accredited internships. If these internships are full time, then they last between 6 to 12 months and if they are part time they last for 2 years. (Occupational outlook handbook, 2007)  After completion of all the formalities a nutritionist can work in any of these four capacities:  Clinical dietitians: They provide their services in various hospitals and nursing homes and other such related institutions. Here they take care of the patients who might be visiting hospital to consult on their nutritional needs. But mostly the nutritionists are required to provide their services to all the patients whether they are visiting the hospitals for their specific nutritional problems or for any other ailments. Thus a nutritionist in a hospital had to provide his services to all the patients, irrespective of their ailments during their stay in the medical center. While preparing a dietary chart for these patients a clinical dietician is essentially required to consult with the doctors treating the individual patients. Community dieticians: They work mostly in the government agencies like that of the public health clinics, health organizations and other health agencies. They are responsible for developing nutritional plans and advices the citizens on a plethora of issues ranging from shopping for food to its cooking and to take care of people with special needs, like diabetics and people suffering from high blood pressure. They also provide advice on sanitary and safety procedures. (British Nutrition Foundation, 2004) Management dieticians: They are concerned with planning and preparing nutritious foods, for the corporate canteens and schools. Consultant dieticians: They work independently and provide their service so such clients who visit their clinics. They are also associated with other health care centers and corporate clients whom they advise on nutritional related issues. As they work independently their area of work gets significantly enhanced and among their regular services like preparing menu and advising clients on their nutritional requirements they may also have to look into the budgeting part, safety procedures and management of their staffs. (Occupational outlook handbook, 2007)     Work environment of the dieticians vary from a clean and air conditioned chamber to a hot and noisy kitchen. Most of the full time dieticians are required to give in 40 hours a week. Thus the career path of a dietician is not actually that rosy as it is made to look like. Like all other professions a fair amount of hard work is required for the same.    Career Outlook: After gaining experience at the basic level, the dieticians can move to management positions like assistant director, associate director and finally full time director nutrition in a clinic. Another option is to specialize in fields like child nutrition, sports nutrition or cardiovascular and diabetics care, then become independent and set up their own clinics. Although a bachelor degree allows a person to practice a master degree can definitely promote their individual careers in clinical medicine, to go for public health or conduct independent research works. The career path chosen here is of a nutrition specialist having a master degree and dealing with the obesity and nutrition issue of the children. After gaining necessary experience in the short run say 5-7 years, a nutritionist can start his own consultancy for providing obesity and nutritional related solution for the children After gaining significant experience and conducting research work in the field of child nutrition one can become a consultant dietician, specializing is child obesity and nutritional issues. The job of the child nutritionists is to plan the food and nutritional requirements of the patients in accordance to their health requirements, oversee the preparation of the meal and recommend any modification in the same. They also need to teach the clients or in this case to their parents regarding how to use various ingredients like sugar, so as to control the obesity problem in their wards. In short, the main job of the nutritionists is to promote better eating habits among its patients in order to treat their illness. The nutrition specialist thus needs to meet the patients’ dietary needs, chart out a nutritional program based on their needs and look forward to implement the same. From time to time they are also required to find out the result of these programs on the patients health and to take corrective steps wherever required. In order to better implement these program, the nutritionist need to double check their findings with the doctors and other such professionals, so as to develop a comprehensive solution for their clients. Their job involves not only treating but also preventing illness. They work to create a low sugar and low fat diets for the clients. They also work with other healthcare professionals to provide a multidimensional approach for the health care industry. A child nutritional specialist can also manage food service for hospitals and schools in order to promote good eating habits among the children. Obesity has emerged as a very serious problem in the children. It is generally defined as an excessive accumulation of fat in the body. A child is said to be obese, when the total body weight is in excess to the fat by 25 percent for boys and 32 percent for girls. Obesity in children can also be defined as having the weight for height ratio 120 percent more than the ideal (Defining Obesity In Children and Adolescents, 1990).  Although it is not necessary that all the obese children turn out to be obese adults/but it has been observed that if not treated for their obesity, there develops a tendency of persisting with obesity throughout one’s life span. There are a number of problems associated with an obese child. Along with the chances of being obese during the adulthood, the child can later on develop diabetes. The child may develop cardio vascular problems at a later age and also runs the chance of damaging his weight bearing joints due to increase stress. Along with the physical ailments the child might develop psychological problems as well. The child may suffer from low confidence and low self esteem which can affect his relationship with his peer groups. The hospital cost for treating children for obesity related conditions has gone up from $35 million to $127 million from 1979-1999. (Paxson, Donahue, Orleans, and Grisso, 2006)   It has been estimated that to reduce every 20 percent of excess body weight, a child will need at least one and half years of care under a nutritionists to attain the ideal weight structure. As early the therapy begins better it will be for the child. It also has to be noted that the eating and the exercising habits can be more easily modified in the child than in adults. This menace can be controlled by the twin functions of diet management and physical activity and both of them are very intricately related (Martin, 2007, p. 206). The focus should be on providing a balanced diet to the child with necessary calorie restriction and a low fat diet. Along with this, increasing the time gap between meals, slowing down the speed of eating and asking the child to himself monitor and stick to the chart regarding food intake and physical activities. The children should also be rewarded if they follow the instructions carefully. It is a proven fact that obesity is much easier to prevent than to treat. Thus the parents should take the help of the nutritionists selecting proper low fat diet for the children, they also need to be educated on nutrition and encourage their wards for taking up physical activities and sports.        In the present era of increasing business opportunities and specialization, there has been a huge increase in demand for the child nutritional specialist. Job opportunities are now available to them in food manufacturing industries as well in their advertising and marketing promotions. Many food manufacturing companies, which markets products like the health drinks or baby foods need the nutritional experts for the same. These experts provide valuable suggestions to these companies on the technicalities of fiber rich products, vitamin supplements and other such related issues. Many times these experts are called upon by the corporate to prepare literature on the benefits of their products, their nutritional contents and in what best way it must be used. The basic competencies required in a Child nutritionist are mentioned below, it has been compared to the competencies, which is a hallmark of an MBA.  Leading people and team:  The people in the profession of child nutrition need to lead their own staff as well as that of the other organization where they are required to provide consultancy services. For leading people and team the professionals require adequate knowledge in their respective fields. They should also possess good personnel management skills. At all the levels in their career path a professional is required to direct the efforts of their juniors and to guide them to achieve the desired objectives. An MBA is competent in man management practices. The curriculum of an MBA student as well as his work experience is mostly concerned with leading the efforts of the men in the organization to achieve the desired goals. Managing products and services: A nutritionist is required to provide various other kinds of services to his clients. These services range from helping the clients to develop their children’s dietary charts to fixing a strict regimen of nutrition coupled with physical activity to deal with the problem of obesity. Taking a cue from his past experience, a nutritionist has to manage his service in such a way, so that maximum satisfaction can be provided to the customer. An MBA often analyses the products and services, which his company provides and promotes those which can bring the maximum revenue to the company. Many tools like the BCG matrix are available to the MBA to work towards managing hid products and services. Managing technology and innovation: In the last two decades there has been a phenomenal growth in the use of information and technology in the research field. With the help of this many new agricultural and food products have been developed which are now profoundly affecting the eating habits of the people. (“How to Start a Nutrition Consulting Business”, n.d.) Nutrition specialist must also get himself updated on all these new developments and also should be able to advise their clients on how better utilize these systems for their own benefit. Armed with an MBA qualification a professional will be able to better understand the changing technology and will be able to select those which are beneficial for use in the profession. Assessing the competitive environment: The professionals should keep themselves updated on the business techniques used by their more successful counterparts. This will allow them to understand their competitive environment and will help them in maintain their edge over others. An MBA is always taught to be wary of its competitors and not to take any competitor lightly. Again many technical models like the Porter’s five forces model are taught to the MBA students. This not only helps them to better their position in the market but also to mould the needs of their suppliers and customers with their own interests in order to obtain maximum results. Serving customers: The primary aim of nutritionists like that of any other professionals is to provide service to their customers. Hence the aim of the professional nutritionists must be to provide all the services to the clients in order to satisfy and retain them with the firm. While servicing customers the nutritionists should use all his knowledge and experience in providing lasting solutions to his customers. An MBA always looks forward to provide the best possible service to its customers. He knows that by doing so he will get a long lasting brand loyalty with the customer, who will in all probability come back to him. Thus the MBA professional looks forward to provide the services to his clients with a smile and is always ready to go an extra mile in order to satisfy him. Developing sustainable solutions: For satisfying the clients along with meeting the required nutritional guidelines, it is of utmost importance for the nutrition specialist to provide sustainable solutions to their clients. This can be made possible by involving the client in dealing with his child’s problems and to help him in his effort to rid his child of the malaise of obesity. An MBA too understands the need of providing sustainable solutions to his clients. He works methodically to understand the exact needs of his clients and then develops sustainable solution based on the guidelines provided by the client. Planning for future: The nutritionist needs to understand the direction in which his profession is moving and should try to gauge all the new developments, which are supposed to takes place in the future. For this he needs to keep himself abreast on the past trends in his profession based on which he can take decisions in the future. For an MBA also it is of utmost importance to make planning for the future. He had to keep on analyzing the past trends of the industry in which he is functioning, so as to predict which course it is going to take in the future. Here again he makes use of various statistical methods to reach his decision. Bringing new products to market: The nutritionist needs to constantly update his services, so as to bring some newness in his operation and also to diversify in those areas where he has not yet treaded. (Barrett, 2007) For e.g. the nutritionist who is providing consultative service to a school can start providing his services to the child care units in his area. Before introducing the new service a professional should match his own qualities with those, which are required for the service and should develop those areas where he finds himself lacking. For an MBA introducing new products and services in the market proves to be a major exercise. New products are introduced while the non-profitable ones are phased out. Before introducing anything new, the MBA uses his knowledge and training to study the market in detail where the product is to be introduced. Only when the study satisfies him that the market potential is enough to meet the profitability of the product, does the manager goes for the introduction.  Career competencies Table  Subject Matter Competencies required Prior experience MBA competencies Gap analysis Leading People and Teams Leadership qualities Not essential Man management skills Difference in education and training Managing Products and Services Ability to understand specific needs Very important Works to provide maximum satisfaction Technical capabilities Managing Technology and Innovation Keeping oneself updated Important Better informed technologically Difference because of better exposure Assessing the Competitive Environment Quick analysis of business atmosphere Prior experience or professional help is required Technical knowledge and analytical power Better training, availability of management tools Bringing New Products to Market Correct market analysis and marketing skills Experience or competent professional help Learns through experience Invest much resources in the same Planning for the Future Trend Analysis Essential Taught and also learns through experience Core area of activity Serving Customers To understand the customer’s needs Not essential Learns through case studies and also through work experience Core area of activity Developing Sustainable Solutions   To develop long lasting solutions Very essential Problem analysing skills Looks at it as prime objective   Industry Analysis: Nutritionists held 57000 jobs in USA in 2006. More than half of these jobs were in health care facilities (Career Description: Dietician and Nutritionists, 2009). Rest were in government departments related to public health, in industry like the food processing industries, airlines etc and in college canteens and company cafeterias. Few of them were self-employed appearing as consultants to various health care and other such related facilities. Employment opportunities for the nutritionists are supposed to rise by 9 percent during 2006-16. The reason for this phenomenal growth rate is believed to be spurred by an increasing emphasis on obesity control, disease prevention a desire by the people to live a healthy and fulfilling life.   Politico Legal Environment: The politico legal environment is quite strict for the nutritionists, as they have to work within the rules and regulations of the government. (Atun, McKee, Drobnewski and Coker, 2005) They also cannot over rule any guidelines provided by the government. Thus if a particular range of food products are banned by the government, the nutritionists cannot recommend the sane to their customers. But within this limit they are given wide freedom to carry on with their profession. They are also required to meet the registration and certification guidelines as provided by various states. Socio Cultural Environment: Socio cultural environment has turned positive for the child nutrition workers. The reason being people have become quite health conscious and they do not want to see their children struggling with the problem of obesity. Moreover, now the trend is to go for prevention rather than to wait for the problem to occur. An expert advice at an early stage goes a long way in satisfying such needs. Economic Environment: Economic environment has also turned positive for this type of service – “Theres a lot of room for growth in this segment” (Carlino, and Martin, 1990). The demand for child obesity and nutritional experts has grown to a great extent. Now there service is not only solicited by the worried parents but also by the food products manufacturing companies who want to assure their customers regarding the quality of their products. These experts also find employment in various school canteens and day care center as everyone wants to be sure that only best quality nutritious foods are being provided to the children under their care. Competitive Environment: Although the industry provides an all round positive outlook, the competition in this sector remains quite stiff. It is expected that the growth of nutritional service may be hampered by the fact that these services mostly depend on the ability of the clients to pay up. Most insurance plans still keep the nutritional issues out of their cover because these are still not considered to be essential health care services. Also many schools, day care services and children specialty hospitals can always outsource their food requirements, thus ending the need to keep an in house nutritional expert. Notwithstanding this fact there is a steady growth in the career path of a child nutritional expert. After he starts his own consultancy he can always go for an MBA degree to be able to better manage his business and to enhance his career prospects.                     References    1. Atun, R.A., McKee, M. Drobnewski, F. and R. Coker, (2005) “Analysis of how the health systems context shapes responses to the control of human immunodeficiency virus: case-studies from the Russian Federation”, Bulletin, World Health Organisation, vol.83 no.10 Genebra, available at: http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?pid=S0042-96862005001000009&script=sci_arttext&tlng=en (accessed on June 13, 2009) 2. Barrett, S. (2007) “The American Association of Nutritional Consultants: Who and What Does It Represent?”, Quackwatch, available at: http://www.quackwatch.com/04ConsumerEducation/Nonrecorg/aanc.html (accessed on June 13, 2009) 3. British Nutrition Foundation (2004) “Community Dietitian”, Energy and Nutrients, available at: http://www.nutrition.org.uk/upload/Community%20Dietitian.pdf (accessed on June 13, 2009) 4. Career Description: Dietician and Nutritionist (2009), All Healthcare, available at: http://www.allhealthcare.com/training/articles/22-career-description-dietician-and-nutritionist (accessed on June 9, 2009) 5. Carlino, B. and R. Martin (December 17, 1990), Healthcare Nutrition Services: growth to come in new accounts, Nation’s Restaurant News, available at: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_n50_v24/ai_9275736/ (accessed on June 13, 2009) 6. 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