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!
Mr Escobar outlines the day’s agenda to the students.
The students quickly learned the career choices at Fidelity Investments were surprisingly many and varied: marketing, sales, programming and computer support, building and property management (electricians, plumbers, building maintenance, security, etc), customer service, community relations, management and leadership roles, accounting and finance, and much more.
Mr Escobar introduces a panel of Fidelity professionals working in a number of different jobs from customer service and computer programming to sales and marketing at Fidelity Investments. From left to right – (standing) Travis Escobar – Fidelity’s Community Relations Manager; (seated) David Marion – Team Leader Customer Services; Katherine Simpkins – Director of Business Management and Operations; Paul Vaz – Product Delivery Senior Manager; Eugene Johnson – Vice President Sales Development Program.
Central High School graduate now Fidelity Director of Business Management and Operations, Katherine Simpkins, addresses the Central High students to share her impressive personal story of success.
Henry Pardo networks with Fidelity Director of Young Customers, Meghan Cataldo, during lunch. Meghan’s job at Fidelity focuses on developing financial education content for high school students while leading strategic partnership efforts to drive awareness, access, and acquisition of learning materials for Youth investment accounts.
Dave Marion, a Team Leader of Client Services at Fidelity Investments, speaks directly with Central High school senior, Reggie Castro, while other Central High students listen during the luncheon networking session.
Students tour the Fidelity facilities at just one of the many buildings on the Fidelity campus in Smithfield, RI. Fidelity has offices all over the world including Providence, Boston, Massachusetts, Albuquerque, New Mexico; Jacksonville, Florida; Covington, Kentucky; American Fork, Utah; Greenwood Village, Colorado; Jersey City, New Jersey; New York City, New York; Merrimack, New Hampshire; Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; Salt Lake City, Utah;and Westlake, Texas.
Fidelity Investments is apparently a great place to work. Employees spoke to Mr Cronin about the wonderful, friendly, supportive work environment. the company provides numerous amenities (i.e. special accommodations, things to do, etc) for its employees including a Starbucks, the physical fitness facility above, cafe and cafeteria, and so much more.