Mandolin Marriner’s journey from scholarship recipient to Nestlé employee proves that hard work and opportunity can create a sweet career path in food technology.
Mandolin Marriner’s job at Nestlé would be many people’s dream.
"I do things like running tests on the chocolate and making sure the colours of the Smarties are correct," she laughs.
She landed an internship in the final year of her Bachelor of Science (Food Technology) degree at RMIT, in which she was supported by the Australian Dairy Blends Scholarship.
Australian Dairy Blends offer one scholarship per year to a Victorian student who has achieved an ATAR result of 70 or more and has been accepted into the Bachelor of Food Technology and Nutrition or Bachelor of Business at RMIT.
I hadn’t applied for a scholarship at RMIT, so I was surprised and very grateful to be chosen for this one because of my ATAR. My grades continued to be good, and the scholarship was extended each year of my degree
Bachelor of Science (Food Technology) student Mandolin Marriner received the Australian Dairy Blends Scholarship.
While Mandolin was lucky to live at home with her parents in Melbourne, having the scholarship money allowed her to balance part-time jobs with full-time study. “I did some tutoring, and I worked at my local IGA supermarket. Because of the scholarship I could do a little bit of each spread out across the week without having to overwork myself. I appreciated the fact that I could balance study and work and still have time to catch up with friends which I think is really important.”
She was also able to buy a car to reduce her commute time to uni as well as pay some money towards her uni fees. “I found the idea of leaving uni with a huge debt quite daunting,” she says.
But receiving a scholarship meant more than just financial support to Mandolin. Attending the annual RMIT Scholarship dinner allowed her to connect with other scholarship recipients.
At the dinner I’m often seated with other students who are on a Dairy Blends Scholarship, and we can compare notes and give each other advice. I’ve also met people from other industries who’ve given me a different perspective on where my degree can take me.
To add another feather to her cap, Mandolin won the Emily McPherson Consumer Science Award for the best undergraduate student in Food Science and Technology in their second year in 2023.
Since graduating in 2024, Mandolin has taken up a casual role at Nestlé. “I’ll be working across different areas of the factory in a production operator role. Hopefully it will lead to a full-time food technologist position in their graduate program.”
Mandolin says she can see herself advancing her career with the company. “I'm really enjoying the food production technology and now that I have a job at Nestlé I have options.
“I'd love to experience different cultures through their food. Nestlé have programs and other factories around the world. I just want to take advantage of every opportunity available to me and see where it leads.”
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