For those of you who have not started your food service rotation yet, there are many opportunities to learn and make a positive impact at your site. Take full advantage of the management rotation, as it is a great opportunity to get, or increase, management experience.
Toward the end of my undergrad curriculum the courses started to focus on management; the message was that there are many rewarding entry-level jobs in dietetics, but whether you are working in clinical, community, food service, or in some other realm of dietetics, deciding to take on more of a leadership role and join management is the surest path to career growth.
During your rotation you may notice that you have more training than most of the employees, you will not be able to move as fast as they do, but you will probably exceed in areas like food science, critical tasting, understanding of nutritional content, practicing safe food handling , menu planning, and implementing ergonomics. Even some food service directors you may encounter have not had the formal education that a dietetics student receives; they had to learn through years of experience what was taught to us in the dietetics curriculum. Management-wise, think about all the things you might have learned from the food service systems approach model: labor and equipment inputs, policy and procedure controls, transformation pieces like procurement, and outputs of quality products and customer satisfaction.
Toward the end of my undergrad curriculum the courses started to focus on management; the message was that there are many rewarding entry-level jobs in dietetics, but whether you are working in clinical, community, food service, or in some other realm of dietetics, deciding to take on more of a leadership role and join management is the surest path to career growth.
During your rotation you may notice that you have more training than most of the employees, you will not be able to move as fast as they do, but you will probably exceed in areas like food science, critical tasting, understanding of nutritional content, practicing safe food handling , menu planning, and implementing ergonomics. Even some food service directors you may encounter have not had the formal education that a dietetics student receives; they had to learn through years of experience what was taught to us in the dietetics curriculum. Management-wise, think about all the things you might have learned from the food service systems approach model: labor and equipment inputs, policy and procedure controls, transformation pieces like procurement, and outputs of quality products and customer satisfaction.
The fact is, even if you have never set foot in a food service environment, the management team at your rotation will be happy to have you working alongside them, and happier if they can help you grow as a manager and a leader in this environment. Many of us will find career paths that deal intimately with meal production, whether it’s trying test trays in a clinical job, or being part of the meal creation in community and food service.
Here are some tips that helped me gain solid management experience during my food service rotation [1]:
You can discuss these last two points with your preceptor and gain valuable insight into the pros and cons of handling a situation in the way you were thinking.
[1] Effective Managers Earn Trust Quickly By Doing 5 Things Well https://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2012/07/10/effective-managers-earn-trust-quickly-by-doing-5-things-well/#3b25707c5631
Here are some tips that helped me gain solid management experience during my food service rotation [1]:
- Build rapport with the staff; take the time to learn the staff members names and positions.
- Establish credibility by getting involved and operating consistently.
- Think about systems changes you would make that might increase employee and customer satisfaction.
- Think about ways you would solve any conflicts that you might witness.
You can discuss these last two points with your preceptor and gain valuable insight into the pros and cons of handling a situation in the way you were thinking.
[1] Effective Managers Earn Trust Quickly By Doing 5 Things Well https://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2012/07/10/effective-managers-earn-trust-quickly-by-doing-5-things-well/#3b25707c5631
