The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
CVS seeks to boost state workforce
CVS Health is looking to add 470 workers at its Connecticut stores as part of larger national hiring initiative.
Nationally, the Rhode Island-based company is looking to add 25,000 clinical and retail workers, CVS Health officials said Monday. The jobs the company is looking to fill are a combination of existing open positions as well as new full-time, part-time and temporary jobs, with the possibility of those becoming permanent, Tara Burke, a company spokeswoman, said.
“Approximately 75 percent of these jobs are existing open roles, with the remainder new, incremental positions,” Burke said.
The surge in the need for workers is being driven by the demand for COVIDrelated testing and vaccines as well as for flu shots, she said.
“Last year we administered double the number of flu shots we had the previous year,” Burke said.
“This year we expect a similar volume of vaccinations throughout flu season,” she said. “At the same time, the rising number of COVID-19 cases, driven by the delta variant, which is spreading primarily among those who are unvaccinated, creates a more urgent need for us all to be vigilant and is driving demand for both vaccinations and testing.”
Company officials were unable to provide a breakdown of which Connecticut locations the company is hiring for.
But many of the Connecticut jobs the company is looking to fill are licensed pharmacists, trained pharmacy technicians and nurses. CVS Health is looking to fill the positions as soon as possible, according to Burke, and to that end, the company will hold a oneday national career event Friday.
Qualified candidates can apply immediately for the open positions using the CVS Health mobile apply feature by texting CVS to 25000 to get more information about jobs in their local area. Using the text-based process will allow applicants to enter a streamlined digital screening process that facilitates an online application, virtual job tryout and immediate hiring.
The CVS Health hiring initiatives comes about a month after the company announced its corporatewide minimum wage would rise to $15 per hour starting in July 2022.
Walgreens will begin a phase-in of its $15 minimum hourly wage starting next month and continuing until November 2022.
Officials with Walgreens and Rite Aid weren’t immediately available for comment Monday regarding any hiring initiatives they might have in place or be planning.
CVS Health is the parent company of Hartford-based insurance giant Aetna.
Angela Mattie, a professor of management and medical sciences at Quinnipiac University, said more highly compensated health care positions are seeing the same shortages that have plagued other employment sectors.
“This is becoming a national crisis,” Mattie said. “As one age group is becoming older, the 18-to-22-yearold demographic is shrinking. We have to become more innovative to attract smart younger people into health care professions.”
The problem is becoming exacerbated by the movement of retail pharmacy chains into broader health care service areas, she said.
“They’re doing more now than just dispensing drugs,” Mattie said.