Graduate role is starting point to greatness

A sugar free ginger beer and a number of alcoholic RTDs, formulated for the Australian market, have been   Zymus International applications technologist Roselle Samaratunga's greatest achievements to date.

“It is a cool feeling knowing that your hard work and dedication has paid off and people across the globe are enjoying something you made,” says Roselle.

She was drawn to food technology from a young age, influenced by a dad who was an executive chef, caterer and culinary arts lecturer. With her sights on product development, she successfully completed a food science degree at AUT. She then worked her way into her current role, developing important skills on the way.

Trust the process, says Roselle.  "Everyone has to start from somewhere and work their way up."
Her first role after graduating was with Mr Chips Ltd in a role as a quality control technician.

“The checking of quality of inward and outward goods is important. It teaches you how to be very precise. You also have to liaise with production, so you get experience with communicating with other teams in the business. These skills have been really helpful in my other roles.”

Roselle spent six months at Mr Chips Ltd before LinkedIn signalled a NIG Nutritional sales representative role to her.
“They wanted a food tech person who understood ingredients and could communicate food science info,” says Roselle.
While still not product development it sounded fun and different and a push outside her comfort zone. Roselle took the leap. The role involved maintaining and growing customer accounts and relationships and identifying sales growth opportunities within the dairy industry.

She also spent time learning about the manufacturing processes for NIG Nutritional, including quality control, production planning and product development.

“After a while I realised that I was still very keen on the product development side of the food and beverage industry and so I started looking for a role involving it.”

When Roselle was approached by a recruiter about the role at Zymus International she was delighted because the role aligned perfectly with her career goals.

“As an applications technologist I’m formulating new products for customers based off their market requirements and needs. I am also involved in quality assurance for key ingredients that are supplied to our customers,” she explains.

Roselle loves her current role which covers not only product development, but sensory evaluation, quality assurance and maintenance of laboratory supplies.  “It is a really diverse role, drawing on a broad range of skills that involves product development,” explains Roselle, adding that several of the skills she uses she built up through her previous experiences.  “I’m now using a lot of the skills from my other roles. It all adds to what I offer. It is great.”

Try things outside your comfort zone

Roselle encourages graduates to take risks and try things outside of your comfort zone.
"In this industry experience, knowledge and creativity goes a long way and will be the attributes that will make you excel."

Find out more

• If you want to find out more about Food Science and Roselle, read the AUT Food Science Career Sheet.
• You can also read about other career sheets on this page on the AUT website.
• If you want to talk to someone about your career decisions, head online at Elab Online to make an appointment or do a workshop.
• Or just pop into the AUT Employability Lab on city campus at WA202.