The Hope Life Skills class traveled to Woonsocket, Rhode Island today for their

annual Career and Job Day at the impressive campus of CVS Health,

a $177 billion, international company.

Ms Nuri, Laisha Mendez and the rest of the Hope Life Skills class check in to the reception desk at the Marketing Center facility on the CVS Health Campus.

Gerardo Castenada receives his Identification tag at the reception desk at the Marketing Center.

Ariel Hall greets Fred Felix, a senior manager at CVS Health

Carlos Sanchez, Senior Director of Channel Innovation and Program Delivery,  welcomes the Hope Life Skills class to the CVS Health campus and informs the students of the day’s agenda.

The Day’s agenda

Carlos Sanchez, the host and coordinator of this event for the past several years, began the day’s program with several impressive facts about CVS Health, ranked 7th on the Forbes 500 list with almost 8,000 CVS stores throughout the United States, Puerto Rico and Brazil.  He then presented an assignment to the class.  “As you hear about CVS Health today and meet several of our team members in your department immersion meetings, ask yourself what skills and qualities you possess that would cause CVS Health to consider you a good candidate for a job here.”   Fred Felix added

“how would you respond during the job interview if you were asked ‘what value would you bring to CVS Health if you were hired’?

Students listen intently to Carlos Sanchez and Fred Felix’s opening remarks.

Karly Sormanti, CVS Health’s Director of Marketing Planning, shares her personal career story of change, new opportunities, the value of a strong personal brand and importance of networking. Karly has been Senior Manager – Marketing Shopper Experience, the Senior Manager of Pharmacy Operations – Strategic Product Development, Senior Consultant – Store Operations, and an IS Analyst.

Karly Sormanti, CVS Health’s Director of Marketing Planning, spoke about the importance of personal brand and the value of a diverse network of successful people. “I’ve been fortunate to have successful people in

my network, Directors like Carlos, who have had confidence in my brand and, as a result, offered me new jobs

and assignments in the company” she said.  “I’ve pushed out of my comfort zone and, in many instances, took some risks.  I faced challenges in many of these new assignments.  And, each time,

I worked hard and reached out to my network with questions

whenever I needed help”.  Carlos added “we encourage all people at CVS Health to ask questions.  We realize no one has all the answers!“

Mohamadou Mbaye greets Karly after her presentation and thanks her for taking time out of her busy schedule to speak with the Hope Life Skills class.  Mohamadou also offers his business card to Karly.  Justin Cordeiro, standing behind Mohamadou, prepares to do the same.

Following Karly’s presentation, the Life Skills students traveled to different locations on the CVS Health campus for department immersions

to speak with CVS staff in several different departments about their specific jobs:  graphic designers, pharmacists, store managers, financial experts, supply chain managers, promotional marketers, merchandising specialists, and performance analysts.

Gerardo Castenada listens intently to Jessica Alves, CVS Health Manager of Customer Engagement,  as she explains the company’s process for planning and creating email marketing campaigns.

Gerardo, Courtney Entwistle (left)- Loyalty and Personalization Consultant and a member of Jessica’s email marketing team and Jessica Alves.  Courtney shared her career story with Gerardo, from her intial career objective of elementary school teacher to a college marketing major and various marketing jobs in different industries and countries.

The CVS Health Career and Job Day ended with a review of the day’s events over lunch.

Lunch at CVS Health