Preparing for your JOB INTERVIEW

Nan Quinlan is a Senior Career Consultant at Transition Solutions. 

Nan helps job seekers get new jobs, how to protect and build an effective PERSONAL BRAND and

best practices for creating an effective resume and job interviewing skills and strategy.

Nan has

Nan visited our class today to inform students about best practices for a successful job interview followed by student role plays at a job interview.

Jessica Baquiax Bulus was the student class host today welcoming our guest, Nan Quinlan, to Central High School and our class.  Great job, Jessica.

Following Jessica’s introduction, each student approaches Nan to welcome her to our class with good eye contact, a friendly smile, a welcoming greeting and a firm handshake.  John Cuevas leads the class in a welcome.   Nan’s response after the class –   “an impressive group“.

Nan opens the class with a presentation on an effective strategy for a successful job interview. “Do your research on the country you’re apply to for a job.  Be prepared to ask a question about the company during your interview;  this will impress your interviewer you did your research and came prepared for the interview.   Ask people in your network if they know anyone who works there and ask  –  ‘what is it like to work there?’.  Make sure you know the job description of the job you’re applying for.  And, end the interview with a ‘thank you’ for the opportunity to apply”.

 JOB INTERVIEW ROLE PLAYS

Liz Acevedo PImentel, a rising junior at Central High, volunteers to be a job applicant during the role playing exercise. Liz begins by introducing herself to the ‘company receptionist‘ and informs the receptionist she is ‘here for a scheduled interview with Nan‘.  Liz presented so well that all agreed she would be hired on the spot!   Great job Liz.

Liz responds to a question from Nan during the role play.  Impressive presentation of a PERSONAL BRAND by Liz.

Cam Davis follows Liz for the second job interview role play. Photo about shows Cam introducing himself to the company receptionist.

 

 

Cam’s presentation of his BRAND during the interview was exceptional.

Damian Cruzado was the 3rd person to volunteer for the role playing.

 

Damian presented himself humbly as a ‘multi-talented employee at the company he presently works at doing a number of jobs to help his company serve their customers‘. Impressive interview, Damian!

Nan agreed to return to our class for additional job interview role playing later this year.   Thank you, Nan.

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Cosmetics Career / Jobs Interview

Today’s class took place because of Linda Lanuza Climaco‘s exceptional personal BRAND and her growing NETWORK of successful, influential people who want to help her with her growing interest in Cosmetics.

Linda (center) welcomes Tito Suarez (left) and Lydia Watkins to today’s class.

Linda introduces Tito and Lydia to her classmates to start today’s class.

Brayan Rodas Ibanez welcomes Lydia and Tito to class with perfect greeting skills – good eye contact, a smile, firm handshake, and a friendly greeting

More students welcome Lydia and Tito to today’s class following Linda’s introduction.

 

Lydia and Tito begin to share their personal stories about their career paths in the cosmetics / beauty industries from the building of their important “connections” (network) who helped them get their initial jobs in the industry and at Sephora to their future career plans with their own line of cosmetics to a possible beauty salon next to Louis Vuitton on the Champs Elysee in Paris.

Linda exchanges her business card with Tito and continues her inquiry about her passion, cosmetics. Good job, Linda!   Daillany Castro does the same with Lydia in the background.

Donnell Lange, a master networker, follows up with Lydia after the class.

 

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Machine Languages and TODAY’S and FUTURE Jobs

Autonomous (self driving) cars.  Flying taxis.  Robot Maids and House Keepers.  Virtual Disney vacations.   Space ships to Mars.   TikTok, Instagram and other social media sites.  The Central High School elevator.  And, the apps on your mobile phone.

It’s the languages of machines that runs them all.

Katarína Lukácsy  

is a Senior Engineering Manager at Atlassian, an Australian software company that develops products for software developers, project managers and other software development teams with 8,813 employees in 13 countries all over the world.

Katarina and her team write the languages of the machines running your flying car, your mobile phone and so much more!

Katarina began the class by sharing her personal story from its beginning in the European country Slovakia to her career as a software engineer for an Australian company working from her home in Rhode Island.

Central High School senior Dinorah de la Cerda Cordon welcomes Katarina Lukacsy to the Life Skills class and exchanges business cards with her.   Dinorah has now added Katarina to her growing network of successful, influential, ethical, caring people.

Dinorah leads Katarina into our classroom to her awaiting classmates.

Dinorah introduces Katarina as her classmates stand to show their respect.

Following Dinorah’s introduction, each student welcomes Katarina to their class and thanks her for taking time out of her day to share her story.  Brayan Rodas Ibanez introduces himself and thanks Katarina for coming with good eye contact, a friendly smile and a confident hand shake.  Good job, Brayan.

Jose Rivera Rodriguez welcomes Katarina to class as Walvyn de Pena Reinoso waits to do the same.

Katarina presents a world map to show the location of her native country, Slovakia, and the location of her company in Australia to emphasize the opportunities for skilled people in today’s global economy.

Following a series of introductory questions, Katarina rewards students for their insightful responses. Liz Acededo Pimentel accepts the reward.

Katarina begins her personal story and description of the career opportunities and compensation (income) for a software engineer / computer programmer.

Katarina shows the code written in collaboration by the class and input by Liz Acevedo Pimentel.

 

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The Power of the Brand and the Influential Network It Creates

Adriana Dawson  –   a first-generation professional.  An influential, successful Latina.   A mentor.   A Director at an American multi-national, multi-billion dollar, telecommunications company. “I’m in the business of people.   Some of my earliest memories involve acting as a translator for my family and being sourced as a navigator for other newly arrived Spanish-speaking families. I quickly learned the power of community, activating as a connector, and using my voice to assist others. As an adult, I chose to leverage these formative experiences + my skills to continue the work on a larger scale to support greater societal impact and access…… I help co-create solutions, elevate voices and lift citizen design spaces that help inform corporate change-makers of unmet needs and business opportunities. My deep multi-sector experience and cultural fluency/insights enable me to broaden and accelerate outcomes.”

Adriana shared her inspiring story with our Central High School students today.   From overcoming an early mistake to a career of setting goals, working hard and never giving up to develop a respected BRAND and building a DIVERSE NETWORK of successful, influential people who guided her along the way.

Adriana Dawson –  Verizon’s Community Engagement Director for
the Eastern Region of the United States.

Jessica Baquiax Bulux welcomes Adriana to Central High School and her Life Skills class.

Jessica leads Adriana into our classroom to introduce her to her awaiting classmates.

Jessica introduces Adriana to her classmates. “Impressive introduction, Jessica. Well done.”

Donnell Lange leads his classmates to welcome Adriana to today’s class with eye contact, a friendly smile, firm handshake and a welcoming, sincere greeting as John Cuevas waits to do the same.

Adriana begins the class by sharing her story.

Donnell asks the first question to Adriana

While Cam Davis follows with his questions and interesting comments.

The class with an opportunity for all to network with Adriana. Angelica Delgadillo Guzman exchanges business cards with Adriana while Walvyn DePena Reinoso waits to the do the same.

John Cuevas thanks Adriana for taking time out of her busy schedule to visit our class.  Great job, John!  Confident eye contact, professional handshake and a sincere smile that welcomed Adriana to our class.

Jose Rivera Rodriguez thanks Adriana and exchanges his business card for Adriana’s business card.  Great job, Jose! Impresionante.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A Story of Courage and Perseverance

Claudia Cardozo, Latina Immigrant, entrepreneur, consultant, author, mentor, and mother of a young professional.

Claudia advocates for self-acceptance and self-love. Having experienced abuse and neglect during her childhood and lived in a low-income boarding school, she grew up with a tendency towards self-criticism and workaholism. Now, she helps others develop a healthier internal dialogue, leveraging the wisdom of lived experiences to shape a better life. She encourages young people to critically question their thoughts and not blindly accept everything, recognizing that our thoughts are influenced by our environment and conditioning. By cultivating a GROWTH MINDSET, we can manifest the lives we truly want. More about Claudia’s journey at https://loveisthepath.org/

WHAT IS A GROWTH MINDSET –   A growth mindset is the acknowledgement that you most certainly have abilities and intelligence AND they can be developed and improved over time through hard work, continuous learning, and perseverance (grit).

Spanish:
Claudia Cardozo, Inmigrante Latina, empresaria, consultora, autora, mentora y madre de una joven profesional.
Claudia aboga por la aceptación y el amor propio. Habiendo experimentado abuso y negligencia durante su infancia, y vivido en un internado para jovenes de bajos recursos, crecio con un tendencia a la autocrítica y el trabajo excesivo. Ahora, ayuda a otros a desarrollar un diálogo interno más saludable, aprovechando la sabiduría de experiencias vividas para moldear  una mejor vida. Claudia anima a los jóvenes a cuestionar sus pensamientos y no creer ciegamente en todo, ya que estos están influenciados por nuestro entorno y condicionamiento. Al cultivar una mentalidad más saludable, podemos manifestar la vida que realmente deseamos. Más sobre Claudia en la página: https://loveisthepath.org/
¿QUÉ ES UNA MENTALIDAD DE CRECIMIENTO? Una mentalidad de crecimiento es el reconocimiento de que ciertamente tienes habilidades e inteligencia Y que se pueden desarrollar y mejorar con el tiempo a través del trabajo duro, el aprendizaje continuo y la perseverancia (valor).

 

Liz Acevedo Pimentel (right), aspiring interior designer and businesswoman, acts as class host introducing herself to guest Claudia Cardozo and to her Central High life skills class.  Notice Claudia is sharing her business card information with Liz after Liz gave Claudia her business card.

Liz accompanies Claudia into the Life Skills classroom

Liz introduces Claudia to her classmates to open today’s class. Notice how Liz’s classmates stand showing their respect to Claudia.

Walvyn De Pena Reinoso welcomes Claudia to Central High school with good eye contact, a smile and a professional handshake.   Walvyn De Peña Reinoso le da la bienvenida a Claudia a Central High School con buen contacto visual, una sonrisa y un apretón de manos profesional.

Claudia shares her inspiring personal story with students from an orphan in Colombia to a successful American business woman.

Alex DeJesus practices perfect personal brand development and networking skills with Claudia after class.

 

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Young Entrepreneurs

Class Host, Central High School senior Dinorah Valentina de la Cerda (left), introduces herself to guest entrepreneur Zainabou Thiam and welcomes her to Central High School

Anthony Wilds and Zainabou Thiam. High School seniors. Risk taking entrepreneurs.  Hard workers. Time managers. Curious – no fear to ask questions. Business owners.  College bound.  Owners of impressive PERSONAL BRANDS and master NETWORKERS. Their message to our Central High School students – “you can be successful. There is no secret sauce for success.  We’re doing what all successful people have done to become the successful person we want to be”.

Hope High School sophomore class host, Donnell Lange (right), introduces himself to guest entrepreneur Anthony Wilds and welcomes Anthony to Central High School.

Valentina introduces Zainabou to her Central High classmates to start today’s class.

Donnell introduces Anthony to his classmates to start today’s class.

Following Valentina’s and Donnell’s introduction of our guest entrepreneurs, Jessica Baquiax leads her classmates to welcome Zainabou and Anthony

Zainabou and Anthony begin to share their stories before answering questions from the class.

Liz Acevedo Pimental stands to show respect to our guests and then, with great eye contact, asks Anthony and Zainabou about their money management plans

NETWORKING TIME – Kapinga Kapanda introduces herself to Zainabou during the networking opportunity at the end of class and asks her questions about starting a business

NETWORKING TIME

 

 

 

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Marta Aparicio Celebration and Networking Day

The Social Studies 2.0  – Life Skills class begins with student hosts welcoming and introducing today’s guests to the Central High School class:  Central High School Senior Alonnie Stoval introduces Marta Aparicio, former student of Mr Cronin’s Life Skills class at Hope High School and now United States of America State Department Diplomat serving in the United States Embassy in the Central American country of Honduras and previously in the United States Embassy of the Asian country of Laos.   Central High School senior, Chris Feliz, is poised to introduce Providence Mayor Brett Smiley to the class.

Central High School sophomore, Henry Pardo, introduces former United States Congressman NOW President of the Rhode Island Foundation, David Cicilline, to the class audience.

Social Studies 2.0 – A Life Skills program teacher, Stephen Cronin, opens the day’s class by reminiscing about his former student, Marta Aparicio‘s, numerous accomplishments:  her emigration to the United States as a 12 year old from the central American country of Guatemala, valedictorian of her 2010 Hope High School class, her full scholarship and her 3.45 GPA double major graduation from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., her Master’s degree from Columbia University in New York City, her acceptance into the United States Diplomatic Corps and the fact Marta Aparicio remains a hard working, principled, kind, and dedicated person.

Mayor Smiley congratulates Marta on her significant accomplishments while acknowledging her willingness to help others especially those whose journey is similar to her own, and closes by expressing his appreciation for representing the City of Providence as the person she is.

Rhode Island Foundation President, David Cicilline, reminisces when he recognized Marta’s significant high school accomplishments at the 2010 Rhode Island Hispanic American Chamber of Commerce Banquet and her internship in his Congressional Office while Marta was a student at Georgetown University.

After sharing her personal story from her Guatemalan immigration to serving in the United States State Department as a United States Diplomat, Marta Aparicio answers questions from the Central High School students.

THEN A CATERED LUNCH AS STUDENTS
NETWORK
WITH INVITED GUESTS

Estiben Calderon, Brianna Albizures Arevalo, and Reggie Castro network with Marta over lunch

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Jobs & Career Day: Fidelity Investments

Today’s visit was to the sprawling, Smithfield, Rhode Island campus of the Fidelity Investment company, an international financial services company. The company was established in 1946.  As of December 2022,

the investments Fidelity manages for its clients has a combined value of
$10.3 trillion.

Fidelity operates a brokerage firm, manages many large mutual funds, provides investment advice to their clients as well as retirement services, index funds, wealth management, securities execution and clearance, asset custody, and life insurance.

The mission of today’s class was to provide

information on a variety of career options

working in a large, international, financial services company as well as an opportunity for students to practice specific like skills like

personal brand development, pushing out of comfort zones to
build networks of successful, influential people, storytelling, questioning, listening and observation, and
‘meet & greet‘ techniques.

Travis Escobar, Community Relations Manager at Fidelity Investments, welcomes the Central High School students outside of one of the main buildings (900 Salem) on the Fidelity campus

Students showed their IDs, registered and given identification badges at the front desk of the Fidelity building.  Security was organized and emphasized.

Chevalee Graham takes the initiative introducing herself to Mr Escobar and extending her business card to him.   Great networking, Chevalee!

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A NETWORKING WORKSHOP

The Social Studies 2.0 – Life Skills class  – mantra has and continues to be

“EVERY PERSON HAS A BRAND,
i.e. THE PERCEPTION OTHERS HAVE OF YOU.

GREAT BRANDS CREATE GREAT NETWORKS.

NETWORKS OF SUCCESSFUL, INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE
HELP US THROUGHOUT LIFE
IF
THEY HAVE A POSITIVE PERCEPTION  OF OUR BRAND.

LIFETIME SUCCESS IS OFTEN DETERMINED BY
THE QUALITY OF THE BRAND AND NETWORK.”


Today’s class featured a panel of successful professionals
from a diverse field of professions:
medicine, counseling, psychology, engineering, higher education, and administration.

Today’s Panel of Successful, Influential professionals

The class began with each panelist introducing themself with a brief story of where they’re from and the success they now enjoy and concluded with NETWORKING among guests and students over a catered LUNCH.

Central High School senior, Alonnie Stoval, exchanges her business card with Doctor Jamall Pollock, Associate Dean at Brown University.

Victoria Mealer-Flowers is the Student-Athlete Development Senior Manager, Community Engagement and DEI programs at Brown University networking with Central High School senior Henry Pardo and Nurisbel Santana as Alonnie Stoval joins their conversation during the networking lunch.

Engineer Yemi Onipede networks with a ‘fist bump’ with Angel and Diego Cortez while Central High School senior Chris Feliz looks to Hamid Akinfolarin, a Civil Engineer.

Doctor Yvorn Aswad, medical doctor who received his degree from UCLA and a native of South Central Los Angeles who now makes his home in Providence, Rhode Island, shares his personal story with the Central High students.

Luckson Omoaregba, the Director of Pathway Programs at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University, networks with Central High School seniors Chris Feliz and Angel.

Here’s a more complete biography of each member of our Professionals panel:

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Central High School Students’ Great Impression at the 2023 Women’s Summit at Bryant University

10 Central High School Women were warmly welcomed and continuously engaged in networking conversations during this year’s Women’s Summit® presented by Bryant University on Thursday, March 16, 2023 by the more than 1,000 successful women professionals in attendance. The Summit, sponsored by several regional and national corporations including Platinum Sponsor Amica Insurance and Diamond Sponsors Bank of America and Fidelity Investments, focused on the theme of “Moving Forward Together: Me, We, Us”.

Doctor Daria Long, Harvard and Yale trained Emergency physician, national television contributor (CNN) and TEDx Speaker, networks with Central High School student Alonnie Stoval and her fellow Central High classmates following Dr Long’s Keynote address.

The 10 Central High School women were introduced to the Women’s Summit attendees by Central High School volunteer Life Skills teacher, Stephen Cronin, an account executive at Signature Printing in East Providence, Rhode Island. Mr Cronin introduced his 10 Central High School students to the entire Women’s Summit audience following the Women’s Summit’s Opening Keynote address by Sally Helgesen, one of the world’s premier experts on women’s leadership and an international best-selling author, speaker and leadership coach. After Mr Cronin asked his students to stand to be recognized at their assigned tables in the Women’s Summit auditorium, he thanked the Women’s Summit leaders for inviting the Central High women and asked the professional women in the audience to PLEASE network with these “10 remarkable Central High School women. This is why we’re here! Each student has their business cards and they’re eager to network with you. We’re hoping you’ll take time out of your busy day to share the wisdom that’s enabled you to be the success you are today”.

Stephen Cronin introduces his 10 Central High School students and presents a sample of his students’ business cards to the 1,000 women attendees at the Women’s Summit.

Central High School women respond to the applause from the Women’s Summit audience.

Women’s Summit attendees responded by approaching the 10 Central High students, in-between and after the Women’s Summit workshops and presentations, with introductions, greetings, an exchange of business cards, and rich conversations about their stories of hard earned success.

Central High School student, Carolee Salas, and Lisa Dandeneau, the President of Navigant Bank, at the 2023 Women’s Summit.

 

Central High School Class President, Ida Faye, exchanges business cards with Leah Wood, Director of Regulatory Affairs for the Verathon Company.

“It was wonderful meeting such impressive young women at the Women’s Summit” observed Michelle Felizzola, Senior Assistant Director of Admission for Multicultural Recruitment, Bryant University. “I’ve received so many positive messages about how engaging the Central High School students were today. So professional. Impressive.” from Mailee Kue, Ph.D, Assistant Vice President, Student Affairs & Title IX Coordinator, Bryant University. “I was able to speak with the amazing Central High students for few minutes. It only takes that long to see how impressive they are!” Allyson Antin, Corporate Sales – Marriott Hotels.

Central High School student Chevalee Graham, gets a selfie with supermodel and business woman, Beverly Johnson, the first African-American Supermodel, AND the Founder, Chairwoman, and CEO of Beverly Johnson Enterprises.   Central High School senior Mikaiya Johnson, waits to do the same with Ms Johnson.

Central High School sophomore, Rexella Bishop, networks with Ms Rita Williams-Bogar, Bryant University Trustee and President and CEO of Personal Development Solutions following Ms Willaims -Bogar’s presentation.

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