Today’s Class: March 20, 2015
The 2014-2015 Hope High School Life Skills class at the corporate campus of CVS in Woonsocket, Rhode Island
For the fifth consecutive year, Hope High’s Life Skills class visited the campus of
CVS, the 12th largest company in the world with $139 BILLION dollars in revenue, to learn about working in a world class organization.
Carlos Sanchez, the Senior Director of Advertising Production, CVS/pharmacy, once again coordinated the event featuring guest speaker, Jose Cid – Specialty Pharmacy Account Executive, and multiple breakout information sessions with representatives from several internal CVS departments:
pharmacy
marketing/promotional planning
information technology/app development
marketing/copywriting
supply chain management
procurement/vendor relationships
store operations
graphic design
Carlos Sanchez speaks to the Life Skills students about what it is like to work in a large company like the CVS. Carlos informed the class what CVS expects from its employees and what its employees can expect from the company
Carlos speaks about the characteristics of CVS brand
“There are lots of opportunities working at CVS for anyone who can collaborate with others, has an ongoing curiosity for what ‘could be’ and works hard. CVS’s success is founded upon a critical attitude – respect. Respect for fellow employees, our customers and the outside companies who help us serve our customers.”
Carlos spoke about
the CVS brand and the high standards it represents.
He also shared the company’s commitment to diversity.
“Workforce diversity makes sense.
If CVS expects to consistently respond to our customers’ needs with great service,
we need CVS employees with empathy
who understand our customers all over America and the world. For example, the needs and expectations of our Miami (Florida) customers are somewhat different from our Seattle (Washington) customers. A team of employees from diverse backgrounds and interests is one way to do this.”
Carlos Sanchez speaks about the company’s philosophy on ‘risk taking’ and ‘mistakes’ by sharing the recent story of CVS’s Executive Vice President, Helena Foulkes, commending CVS risk takers who failed but, in the process, learned valuable lessons which ultimately improved the performance of the company.
Jose Cid speaks to the class about tough choices, thorough preparation and hard work to create a personal brand for career success. Jose challenged each student to write down how they envision their life time success.
After Carlos’s introductory remarks and Jose Cid’s inspiring story of success, the students met with experts from a CVS department they might have a career interest.
Geraldo Brito, Senior Manager of Circular Planning, explains the strategy behind the layout of the newspaper circulars found in local newspapers near the CVS stores all over America.
Bala Bing, CVS Senior IT Analyst, spoke about cyber security at CVS. “Sure we take risks but it’s ‘measured risk’ based on a thorough analysis of data.”
Members of the circular planning team share with Daniel Labang (center), Isabel Romero (to the right of Daniel) and Aileen Rodriguez Jimenez (to the right of Isabel in the photo) the specifics of newspaper circular design and their collaboration with others on their team.
Following the breakout department sessions, the class reconvened in the conference room for lunch, a summary of the day’s events, sharing of constructive feedback and networking time for each student to add CVS employees to their personal networks.
Geraldo Brito, the Senior Director of Circular Planning, shares his story of hard work, risk taking, a strong personal brand and networking to create career opportunities at CVS.
Hope Life Skills students Manny Rivas (far right), Raymond Perez (far left) and Travis Barbour (upper left) add Jose Cid (center) to their networks during an exchange business cards.
Hafzat Akanni (far left) and Valentina Gomez (center) speak with Denise Bueno, Senior Manager Strategic Procurement during lunch.
Fernando Perez shares networking information with a CVS Marketing specialist Nicole Cuningham (center) and Dawn-Marie Gray (far right), CVS Executive Advisor on Diversity Management
CVS Marketing Copywriter, Wendy Lewis, speaks about her collaborative work within the CVS Marketing team. Jose Cid (center in the photo) and Eric Cartier, CVS Manager of Compliance (to the right of Jose) also participated in this roundtable conversation with the students.
Gisabel Salcedo (far right) speaks about her newly found interest in graphic design after meeting with CVS graphic designers. Fernando Perez (center) and Richard Quinilla Gonzalez (far left) listen intently.
Raymond Perez enjoying lunch during the CVS career day with Hafzat Akanni (right of Raymond), Delvaney Soares (immediate left) and Leah Jackson (standing far left).
Olimpia Aldana Perez (center) shares details from her meetings with James Hull, Senior Director of Inventory Management of beauty and personal care products) who spoke about CVS cosmetic company partners. Olimpia has an interest in cosmetics and makeup design. Olimpia also spent time with Jordan Daniel and Lindsey Dyer from the Pharmacy department to learn about responsibilities of CVS pharmacists. Jordan is responsible for Quality Insurance and Patient Saftey and Lindsey will soon graduate from the Pharmacy program at the University of Rhode Island to take a pharmacist job at CVS. Ms Antonia Lora (right) and Isabel Romero (left) listen to Olimpia.
Students picking up their identification badges at the front desk of the main CVS building upon arrival.
Students passing through the security monitors at the main desk on to the 2nd floor conference room.
Students boarding the bus at the end of our great visit to CVS
The day began at Hope High School at 7:45am when Isabel Romero (left center) introduced Suffolk University marketing student, Kayla Stephanie Jaffe (right of Isabel), to the class. Kayla, a junior at Suffolk, joined the Life Skills students on the field trip to the CVS corporate campus.