Elizabeth Joa

FNES 106 Spring 2014

Interview/Professional Meeting Assignment: Choice A: Part One
For this assignment, I interviewed Mary Grace Webb, the Assistant Director for Clinical
Nutrition at New York Hospital Queens.
1. Me: Why did you become a Nutritionist/Registered Dietician?
- Mary Grace Webb: I wanted to help people. I wanted to go into a profession that would help
people and also keep people healthy.
2. Me: What was your career path up until this point?
- Mary Grace Webb: Well, once I finished the studies to be a dietician, and finished the
internship, I was working as a clinical dietician in a hospital in Connecticut. And then when I
started grad school, and worked for maybe four or five years just to support myself and have
an apartment and pay my bills and then once I saved a little money, I went back to grad
school. And when I was in grad school, through friends and various contacts, I heard of a job
with Weight Watchers International in New York. They were looking for not a nutritionist per
say, but somebody that would help them design, what they call, meeting outlines, for the
meetings that they have across the country. So I applied for it just because I was studying and
I thought, After I finish the graduate degree, and it was in nutrition education, maybe what
would I do with it? so I just said Ill go for a chance and I was hired for the job. So I worked
for Weight Watchers for 11 years, designing the program, the diet program that goes across
the United States. And then that was very, very wonderful for me. I mean, as a young
dietician, Im very grateful for those experiences, but I have to say, working in a corporate
environment, cause at the time, they were owned by Heinz, you know, Heinz ketchup. And
while it was exciting and I was traveling for the company, through all the United States, but I
really missed health care. I really missed working one-to-one with patients and being in an
environment like this, so I didnt know what I was going to do. But I thought, Okay, Ill
start exploring and I went to the annual academy conference, you know, the food and
nutrition conference, and I happen to go to a booth that the Sodexo people were at. And
Sodexo is the largest food and nutrition management company in the whole world and the
largest employing of dieticians and they were really interested in the field so I started a
conversation with them and then about a year later, I was hired to work for them, and thats
here in New York Hospital of Queens, even though I work here, I am a Sodexo employee.
Even within Sodexo, because Ive been out of health care for so long, that I have to start as a
clinical dietician again and then become a patient services manager as they call it, like a
dietician that kind of supervises a little bit of the dieticians activities and then how it relates
to the kitchen. Until I took this position, now Im an Assistant Director here for clinical
services.
3. Me: How did you find this job?
- Mary Grace Webb: Through Sodexo.

4. Me: What was the interview process like?

- Mary Grace Webb: Well, there was a screening. Sodexo has a philosophy of making sure
that they select people who are very patient-centered. People who have, not just saying Im
in it for the money, Im in it for the prestige. Everything we do as a company is directed
towards taking care of someone. I like that philosophy. So first screen, there was a series of
questions they asked me over the phone, like in an objective way, and I knew that it was a
way to figure out my personality. And after that, there was a face-to-face, maybe two or three
interviews with various levels of people within the company, until I was selected for the job.
5. Me: What education is needed for this job?
- Mary Grace Webb: Well, you need at least a bachelors in nutrition. Mine is specifically in
clinical nutrition then of course, completing the internship and then I have a masters in health
administration because I felt for my education, my baccalaureate was very, very heavily
focused in therapeutic nutrition. The different diets, and how theyre prescribed and how you
teach someone the diet. But in terms of management department or understanding food
service systems, I needed more education. So thats why I got the masters in health
administration. And that was good.
6. Me: May you please describe your daily job tasks?
- Mary Grace Webb: I would say its never a dull moment. When I described having breakfast
at home, thats really important because when you walk into a hospital setting, first of all, I
have to, the minute I come in, I have to make sure that all the dieticians, there are ten of them
that work here, that I supervise, that theyre all okay and if there are any call outs or any
problems thats taken care of first and then I move onto the food services, and the hostesses
that serve the food, I have some indirect supervision of, so they usually have some needs.
Like for example, Oh Mary Grace, theres this patient has this diet order and the foods are
coming up kind of funny on their tray ticket, can you help me out with it? Or completely
computerized, sometimes they have computer issues. Maybe the food service director has
some problems of the day. So its usually morning is spent kind of troubleshooting. And then
once meal period starts, then that becomes again, helping out. And then usually the afternoon
is with meetings or projects.

7. Me: How do you keep current on the changes/trends in this field?

- Mary Grace Webb: Sodexo, the company gives us lots of opportunities for continuing
education and seminars, webinars, that are kind of free. We have conferences. Then I
personally, believe that I, even though Im an Assistant Director, I always see some patients
myself because I cant understand what the dieticians go through or what patients go through
if Im not doing it myself. So I like to listen to what patients are saying. We have continuing
education, were required. We have to do minimum of 75 hours to maintain our R.D. So that
challenges you to attend, continuing education conferences and all that. Im certified in
weight management and diabetes. So you have to maintain those certifications. So you have
to constantly look for opportunities to continue to learn and grow. So very important in this
profession.
8. Me: What are some challenging aspects of this job?
- Mary Grace Webb: Well, you need to have patience. So, you also have to be very flexible.
Because its not a job where, sometimes, you may not have the most beautiful of offices or
most comfortable of offices. Theres frequent interruptions, and you absolutely, positively
have to have an appreciation and tolerance and a respect for people. If you dont, and youre
struggling with that, you may have to really look and see, maybe take some courses, take as
many like sociology or counseling courses even psychology. Because youre going to be
really working with a lot of people that can be, working with people can be very challenging.
9. Me: What are some positive aspects of this job?
- Mary Grace Webb: Theres always something new, every day. Something new to work on.
Even though I would say that I personally like a job where you come in and theres just a lot
of excitement and a lot of things going on. You could be really tired or kind of really down,
but as soon as you come in, its kind of an energetic environment. But on the flip side, that
could be a disadvantage too, because sometimes it can be very difficult to work on projects.
Like I have several things I need to do like plan wellness presentations, I need to, were
upgrading our computer programs, so I need time to develop that, and if theres so many
interruptions during the day, its very hard to sometimes get to those projects and then that
can be a problem because then you know, your timelines get delayed and there can be issues
going on. So you just need time management skills. And thats where teamwork comes in. So
if, for example, I really had to buckle down with a project, and maybe, I would ask maybe
another R.D. to help me with a tray assessment or sometimes just closing the door and
putting up a sign at the door that, from 2-3, Im not available for any questions and maybe
Oscar can help.
10. Me: What requirements are needed to be successful at this job?
- Mary Grace Webb: Well, the preparation is really important. So we talked about being
secure in knowledge that you have, and knowing, and having a good foundation in nutrition
and food science so that at least, youre not running to the library or computer every five
seconds to look up something. So thats really important. And it is challenging because you
have to know nutrition and food, a little bit of each. Whats another challenging? People. So
taking care of yourself the best you can is important because you can be really drained, you
constantly have to be there for the patients, you have to be there for the employees, you have
to be there for your boss, his expectations and projects, and it can be very, very tiring.

11. Me: What is your career path from this point on?
- Mary Grace Webb: You know, Im not sure. Because I think Im really at a point where I
have done a lot of cool things I am proud of and I have a good foundation of knowledge and I
enjoy teaching. So I dont know whether I want to explore more teaching and counseling as
oppose to the heavy-duty management. So I dont know exactly where that would lead me.
But for now, I have some elements of that that I enjoy.