KEY POINTS:
Fonterra Graduate Training Programme
Prerequisites: Students must have completed a four-year degree, preferably in one of the following disciplines: Engineering (Chemical, Mechanical, Mechatronics); Science (Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Human Nutrition, Food, Biochemistry, Chemistry and Physics); Technology (Bio process, Chemical, Food, Industrial, Product Development).
Contact: Ph 0800 GRAD JOBS; website www.fonterra.com, click on working at Fonterra section, then graduates' sections.
Applications close: Early July.
bers: Twelve to 16 each year.
Starting salary: Approximately $45,000.
Employment outcomes: Technical, marketing, analytical and maximisation roles.
As a large technical company, Fonterra is well aware of the ongoing shortage of skilled workers. That's one of the reasons it began a graduate training programme in 1970 - to "grow" skilled technologists.
Several of the company's key people started out in the scheme. Bryce Bartley, Fonterra's industry training manager, points to Kelvin Wickham, who completed the programme in 1989 and is now on the Fonterra leadership team.
Martin Bates, head of operations in the United States, was there in 1993.
"Graduates can look at those careers and see the sort of places Kelvin and Martin went," says Bartley. "It is inspiring. In Kelvin's case, a lot of the jobs he has done would have been marketing jobs. And Martin started off with technical roles in milk powder and has moved into marketing roles.
"A lot of people do stay in their technical areas, and there is a progression there. Or they can go over to analytical roles. Also, within headquarters, there is a running project for new processes for milk powder and cheese processes. People who have done the course later find themselves running those projects."
The programme is designed to prepare tertiary graduates for the dairy industry. Each year, between 12 and 18 graduates are taken on.
"Initially, the programme was started because people who joined the company, even with chemical process degrees, knew more about oil and aluminium than they did about milk.
"It is a big transition from a university degree and the business that Fonterra is and there is a lot to learn."
Successful applicants enter the programme as full employees, doing an induction course in Palmerston North before Christmas. After the New Year, they spend three or four months in Fonterra's dairy factories, learning the basic dairy processes: milk powder, cheese, butter and protein.
They then return to Palmerston North for a series of courses, again taking the dairy chemistry approach to milk fat and to protein, and tackle more practical assignments in a laboratory and pilot plant situations to work on how the products are made.
Also, they learn about product management and how microbiology applies to different products, about the market and the company's systems.
They also learn about the sensory and flavour sciences so they understand how products are tested for consumer acceptability.
Graduates are also expected to do an individual research project, taking about three months and rounding out the year's course.
"A huge benefit of this course is they get to see whole lot of people within Fonterra," says Bartley.
"They see the range of what people do - the operators, the supply chain people, people who solve problems with respect to speeding up or improving the process.
"There are also the people who are introducing new products to the factory situation. They see first-hand what career opportunities are available. And we get people from all parts of Fonterra in to talk about their part of the business.
"Obviously the course is for young Kiwis but we also take graduates from overseas.
"Next year we have an American engineer who has joined Fonterra in Chicago and he's coming over to do the programme.
"On this year's programme we have a guy from Japan and one from Mexico. The programme really is an introduction to a global business."
THE GRADUATE
Casey Thomas, 27
Business manager, ingredients marketing
Joined Fonterra in December 2004
I went to the University of Auckland first for chemical and materials engineering and also did commerce with management; then, when I joined the FGTP programme, I went to Massey and got my master of dairy science and technology.
I joined the programme at the end of 2004. A couple of my friends were in the year before. They said it was a good place to work, had great opportunities and was big enough to do whatever you want almost; it had the flexibility.
The programme gives you all that detailed dairy knowledge that I use every day in my role, which is to build a new cheese factory based on new technology. It means I can understand what the innovation and technical guys are saying.
I am based in Auckland and go to Palmerston North a couple of times a month for work. Career-wise, I would like to move to one of the offshore roles, in the US or Japan.
