At a recent NZAGE forum event, Fonterra shared how they developed the graduate attraction campaign that won the 2025 NZAGE Award for Best Graduate Campaign.

Chelsea Thomson and Michelle Skipworth from Fonterra’s early careers team spoke about building the campaign from the ground up after recruitment moved in-house in 2023. Before then, graduate recruitment had been outsourced, meaning there were no established university relationships, no campus presence and limited direct engagement with students.

After attending careers fairs in their first year and seeing limited impact, the team identified a gap between awareness of the Fonterra brand and understanding of the career opportunities available within the co-operative.

Many students associated Fonterra only with dairy farming or tanker driving, without recognising the breadth of roles across engineering, supply chain, science, sustainability and technology.

Moving Beyond Traditional Careers Fair Approaches

The team reflected on the traditional graduate attraction model often seen at careers fairs: pull-up banners, flyers, giveaways and short conversations at trestle tables.

They found students were becoming more selective about how they engaged with employers and were paying close attention to the quality of the experience itself, not just the graduate roles on offer.

Candidate feedback consistently showed students wanted more than information. They wanted to understand:

• What Fonterra actually does
• The organisation’s purpose and values
• Whether they could see themselves working there
• How their interests connected to potential career pathways

Rather than focusing on increasing visibility, the team reframed the challenge around creating stronger connection and trust with students earlier in the process.

“Find Your Future Flavour”

The resulting campaign, “Find Your Future Flavour”, was designed as an interactive experience rather than a traditional recruitment activation.

The central idea throughout the campaign was choice.

Instead of directing students toward predefined roles, the experience encouraged exploration. One example was a “career finder” quiz that focused on students’ interests, strengths and motivations rather than CVs or job titles.

Students were matched to different “career flavours”, represented by coloured reusable straws, helping make career pathways more tangible and encouraging peer discussion during events.

The campaign also connected students with Fonterra’s broader business through food and product experiences. Students sampled products powered by Fonterra ingredients, helping shift conversations toward innovation, science and global impact.

Choice as a Design Principle

A key theme throughout the presentation was treating choice as a design principle.

The team carried this through the recruitment process itself by introducing flexibility in how candidates could engage, including:

• choosing between a CV and cover letter or a simplified application form
• completing either a phone interview or one-way video interview
• attending assessment centres online or in person
• choosing to have a support person from our employee networks at assessment centres
• flexibility within business case presentations

The assessment criteria remained the same, but candidates had more ways to demonstrate capability.

According to the team, the goal was to focus on potential rather than polish.

Inclusion and Representation

The campaign also included deliberate efforts to create a more inclusive experience.

This included bilingual content, partnerships aimed at strengthening engagement with Māori and Pacific students, and involving Māori and Pacific employees at events so students could see themselves represented within the organisation.

The team described the objective as creating an environment where students felt comfortable engaging authentically.

Results and Outcomes

The campaign delivered measurable results across attraction and engagement activity.

Outcomes included:

• nearly 1,300 engagements across activations at two universities
• more than 200 per cent growth in web traffic
• 100 per cent assessment centre attendance
• 20 hires directly linked to the campaign
• no declined offers

The team also reported positive shifts in diversity and leadership potential indicators through online testing.

Importantly, Fonterra positioned the campaign as more than a one-off attraction initiative. The “Find Your Future Flavour” platform now supports broader recruitment and employer brand activity across the organisation.

The team is continuing to evolve the experience, including moving the career finder quiz online and developing practical candidate support tools such as interview preparation and CV guidance.

What NZAGE members should take away from the session?

• Using choice to reduce barriers and improve engagement throughout the candidate experience.
• Creating opportunities for students to experience an organisation’s culture and purpose directly, rather than only hearing about graduate programmes through traditional marketing messages.

As the Chelsea and Michelle explained, every organisation has its own version of that experience to uncover and build around.

Congratulations again to Fonterra on their award winning submission!