Interview: Emily (Hyun-Hye) Choi

EMILY (HYUN-HYE) CHOI
Product Technologist at Tegel Foods, Supreme Winner Massey University Food Awards

What was your first job?

New product development technologist at Heinz Watties in Hastings, in the pet food department. It was 2004 and my starting salary was $42,000. I applied through www.seek.co.nz and went to Hastings for interviews and tests.

Did you enjoy it?

It was tougher than I expected ... being away from the family and working in a big company. Everything was new and challenging. However, I loved who I worked with. Mark, my boss, motivated me and made me realise how to apply the theory I had learnt from university. Our team was like one big family to me.

Making pet food is not that exciting when it comes to the smell and handling the offal but you get used to it.

The interesting and challenging part of developing pet food was making the product a 100 per cent balanced diet for cats and dogs.

What did you learn?

Textbooks and the theory came alive as they were applied to real situations.

The things I couldn't learn from the textbook were obtained from different people's experiences and from the factory floor and the lab.

Why did you leave?

I left Watties after one year. I wanted to stay longer because there were so many opportunities there but I missed my family in Auckland and my health wasn't so good at the time.

Any advice for someone starting out?

Don't be afraid to try something different. Be keen to work outside of Auckland and expose yourself to the bigger companies to start your career. Don't be too picky on your first salary because the experience and the networking you get out of your first job are priceless.