Career Transitions are Hard, So Let’s Talk About It!

After learning so much in her amazing career at CVS Health through managing and hiring others Jennifer pivoted her career. Jennifer Chavez advocate of women, especially veteran women, owns her own recruitment firm where she helps them transition from military life to civilian life by finding positions at companies that are veteran-ready. This is an amazing story and an amazing women.

 

Contact Jennifer –

Phone Number - 623-387-8995

E-mail - jchavez@grnmoonvalley.com

Website – grnmoonvalley.com/

 

Leighann Lovely  00:20

HR professionals, business owners and operations at all levels are struggling to figure out what needs to change. Our system has been shocked practices have been questioned, and conversations are finally happening. We all know there has been a huge shift in what people want. inclusion and diversity are common phrases. But often misunderstood generations are coming together more than ever on what's important. Mental health has been brought to the forefront of everyone's mind. Let's humanize these conversations. Let's talk about what's important for employees to be successful in life and at their job and how companies can create an environment to allow them to do both because successful people will make up a successful workforce. I'm Leighann lovely. Let's get this conversation started.  I have a great guest joining me today Jennifer Chavez. Jennifer is the president and Managing Director of Global recruiters network of Moonee Valley. Global recruiters of Moon Valley's expertise includes recruitment of executive and professionals across the United States in the our B M, healthcare services and Senior Living industries in management, financial operations, sales and project management roles as well as expertise in public speaking, consulting, and training services. As a senior health executive at CVS Health for more than 23 years across multiple sectors of the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry. She was responsible for leading client teams of all sizes and achieved significant success through developing and sourcing high performing talent. Serving as a volunteer Jennifer founded the Phoenix chapter of Next up formerly network of Executive Women, led their logistics team and recruited and developed volunteers for the last 10 years. Jennifer also grew up working in the restaurant business and is the wife of a chef. She is also the granddaughter, daughter, niece and mother of military veterans, and has served as a champion for attracting hiring and retaining women and veterans throughout her career. As a result of her work across these disciplines, Jennifer understands how critical matching exceptional talent to amazing employers is. Her goal is to leverage her knowledge, expertise and deep network to help candidates and companies achieve similar success with creating and retaining high performing teams. Whether you're a company that needs help finding the right person for a tough to fill role, or you're a candidate looking to find the right home, GRN Moon valleys is a maker of matches TM across the expertise to make a meaningful and lasting talent connection. GRN Moon Valley is a maker of matches. TM has the expertise to make a meaningful and lasting talent connection. Jennifer, welcome to the show. I'm excited to have you.

 

Jennifer Chavez  03:30

Thanks so much, man. I appreciate you having me.

 

Leighann Lovely  03:32

Yeah, so why don't we jump right in? Why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself?

 

Jennifer Chavez  03:36

Sure, absolutely. So first of all, kind of start with one of the unique things about me. And that's that I'm a second generation Phoenix native. And I actually have two boys that are third generation natives. So they're 17 and 24. They keep me busy. My husband who is a chef. I've been married to almost 30 years, and we're huge foodies. So that's something we like to do in our spare time. And he's originally from California. So we've have a place in the California mountains and we also have a place and of course the Arizona desert and we go between them. So I'm really lucky I consider myself lucky. Yeah,

 

Leighann Lovely  04:15

well that's amazing because what Arizona summers are what temperatures do you guys get to

 

Jennifer Chavez  04:20

when Oh 120 121 I think it's the high gets a little crazy in summertime. So once in a while

 

Leighann Lovely  04:32

it's so crazy you know obviously being Milwaukee you know Wisconsin whether we all summer comes in we're all like Oh let's spend every second outside. And for you guys summer comes in you're like oh my god don't go outside. You know you're

 

Jennifer Chavez  04:48

It's the rest of the year when everyone else is inside that we're out.

 

Leighann Lovely  04:53

Right right you guys are you have absolutely beautiful of course. Of course. You know I remember And I have an aunt who lives in Arizona. And I would come in the I would go visit her in the in the winter and she'd be outside wearing big fun of her. She, there was one year where my entire family who's not from Arizona, we went and visited her right. And we're all outside wearing T shirts and shorts. And she had, she had a fur coat on. I'm like, What are you doing? And she's like, it's so, so cold. I'm like, it's like 70 degrees. And she's like, I know, it's so cold. I'm like, Oh, my God. But you get a little too acclimated

 

Jennifer Chavez  05:41

maybe, right,

 

Leighann Lovely  05:43

you get you get acclimated to your, you know, I'm sure that if you came and spent, you know, a week in in the tundra, when we are in the deep, deep freeze, you'd be like, get me out of here.

 

Jennifer Chavez  05:58

Well, I have family from Minnesota. So I look then in the deep freeze in the tundra, but I try not to do it too often.

 

Leighann Lovely  06:05

Right? You go outside and instantly your nose hairs freeze, because did I just say that? But it's a real thing. It really, it's you walk outside just the small amount of moisture in your nose and nasal passages. And you're instantly like, oh, oh, it's too cold must go inside must cover every piece of skin that is exposed. But yeah, no. And that's awesome. So you get to go to California during the during the summer, I'm assuming?

 

Jennifer Chavez  06:39

Yes, absolutely.

 

Leighann Lovely  06:41

So Jennifer, why don't we go back to what you do for a living? We now know where you live? Where are you? You know, go back and forth between California and Arizona. Let's talk about you know, what do you do? What's your business?

 

Jennifer Chavez  06:58

Sure. Yeah, thanks for asking me. And so after 23 years, stellar career at CVS Health, I had a career pivot and had to really, you know, evaluate things and take some moments to soul search and figure out what did I want to do, and I and I did that. And I really decided to bet on myself. And I bought a recruiting franchise. And really, this is the culmination of what I've done over 23 years, I have been a leader at a fortune four company. I have interviewed, hired, trained, recruited, mentored, led 1000s and 1000s of people, and I have so much passion for just helping people achieve and be their best. And so all of the aspects that come along with recruiting is really just everything that I absolutely love to do. So that's what I decided just bet on myself and make that happen. And it's been amazing. And I've met so many wonderful, amazing people, and I get to help people in a meaningful way every day. So that's great.

 

Leighann Lovely  08:02

That's awesome. That is, that is absolutely awesome. It is. It is scary, though, to take that leap. So how did you finally decide? How did you finally decide? I'm going to I'm going to do this, and I'm going to, you know, wholeheartedly throw myself into entrepreneurship.

 

Jennifer Chavez  08:25

Right? Well, I guess the best way to say it is that, you know, sometimes things happen for a reason. And I truly believe that. And I think that had after my career pivot. And I really was genuinely trying to say, what do I want to do in career 2.0 and explore that? You know, after 23 years, I really never saw myself being in that position. So I definitely was having a bit of an identity crisis and trying to figure that out. Like, I've done this for almost 25 years, oh, my gosh, what do I do next? And so when I really took that moment to, to invest in myself, and really soul search and think about what that is, it kind of came to me through two ways. First of all, when I was doing that, and working towards those things, and considering them, I was super excited. And there was a lot of it was scary, but it was also fun. And when I thought about, you know, doing some of the things that I had done, you know, previously, it really just didn't feel like the right thing to do. So some of it was instinct, but very honestly, had I really gotten an excellent, great job and the time period when I was searching, I probably would have gone back. I mean, honestly, it was fear. Fear was really like I've done this for so long, you know, on somebody else's dime, doing it on my own Can I do it? And I really had to dig deep and my resources of myself and say, I know I can do this. I've got this. I've done it for them. I can do it for other people. And I had a lot of great encouragement from some wonderful friends and mentors, who said, This is what you're born to do. You were meant to do this, this is absolutely your life's path, you need to be helping people in this way. So a confluence of those three things is really what led me to that decision. And I really feel like God probably had a hand in that. Sometimes your prayers are answered by them not being answered.

 

Leighann Lovely  10:27

That's amazing. So tell me a little bit about well, actually, before we get into that, when you and I first spoke, I know that one of your passions, you know, first of all, you and I connected on so many different levels. It was just an amazing, you know, first meeting first con, you know, conversation. But you had mentioned that you really focus on helping women, women, that trends transition into the civilian world. Yeah, I want to talk about that, because it's, it's so amazing, because the majority of the people who I have worked with who understand one, veterans, right, and then understand the staffing and hiring world have come to truly understand the difficulty that that exists with translating, you know, a military job. Yes, into this the civilian world? Because, you know, when you talk about an MOS, yeah, job title there. Yes, it doesn't exist. Right? It doesn't know. And so, so many people get overlooked. Fes Yes, for for jobs.

 

Jennifer Chavez  11:52

Absolutely. And I will tell you that this really came to my attention very clearly. Because my son is in the military, and he's a veteran now. But when he was in the military, at the very same time, my company at the time, CVS, was doing training for their leaders, they we had great diversity and inclusion programs. And military was a huge focus. And I was part of our colleague, resource group that supported military, I have a lot of military family members. And before I even knew my son was considering a military career, that was a whole left field decision for him that I wasn't expecting, but I was supportive of him doing it. And, you know, it's been a pretty amazing learning experience for me as an Army mom. And really, you know, at the same time getting all of that training and understanding very clearly as a hiring leader at a very big company, what the huge gap was, and why I didn't really understand why those things were difficult to translate until I had experienced it myself. And so that really kind of clicked for me at the time, like, wow, there is really a lot of experience that get in the military, that it's really hard to translate into the civilian world, and sometimes hard for people to understand, if you haven't experienced it, the resiliency and the discipline and the you know, so many wonderful leadership qualities that are just absolutely, that's the whole military program is, you know, that is all the training and everything that everybody gets for the entire military. And you might have a specialty your MOS and things like that, that you learn a particular job. But that, and there's value in that too. But there's so much of you know, what the military teaches that is just really awesome for business, how to be on time every day. Start there. It's an I talk to people every day. So I talked to both individuals, candidates, and I talked to clients. And so it's, they really need each other women and veterans and those two things coming together. It's just one of those things that I'm I can see the need. And I love helping people and I can help bridge that gap and bring people together. And when I do, it's amazing. And you know, so I'm just super passionate about it. And I definitely seek out and promote and try to help as many people that I can.

 

Leighann Lovely  14:32

Yeah, and, you know, something that you said in there, you know, how to be on time, how to, how to show up and, and show up in a manner that is appropriate to work. Right. You know, you can't just you can't just stumble in the door. You know, right, tired and non productive and expect to before your day. Right, ready for your day? You know, and I'm flashing back to the days where I was in my 20s were like, Yeah, well, I'm here. Why? Why? I'm, what do you mean? I'm in trouble I showed up today. It's like, Well, you look like you rolled out of bed and you can barely keep your head, uh, you know, up off your desk, that's not exactly showing up. You know, you're physically here. Right. And that brings me, you know, to a, you know, a while ago, I was I was working with an organization that helped men and women who were transitioning out of jail, or out of band. And that was one of the things that they were teaching was how to set an alarm clock. So that they could get out of Secretary Smith. Yeah, it is. But for somebody who's been in prison for, say, five years,

 

Jennifer Chavez  16:03

they're institutionalized. They everything is controlled for them. Correct.

 

Leighann Lovely  16:07

So if you have a military, you know, somebody who's in the military, the idea of being late for them is not it's not an option. Right? It's that's not that's not even.

 

Jennifer Chavez  16:22

You can't on time as expected,

 

Leighann Lovely  16:25

correct. There is no being late. Yeah. And punishment for being late in the military is it's a big deal. Severe. Correct. So the core values just instilled in a military personnel are through the roof compared to other individuals. But there is a learning curve when it comes to working with somebody who is transitioning from military to civilian world, because the majority of unless you're in a high ranking position, all of the job duties, all of they are handed out, you are told here is your job here is the end result here, there is no there is no in between for that person to make decisions. And that is that is what is difficult for companies to understand.

 

Jennifer Chavez  17:29

Right? Right. Chain of Command following orders and not using judgment. Yes, there are times when the in their jobs when they need to use judgment. But from an assignment perspective, they don't want them to they just want them to do exactly what they're told. Right. And so it is it definitely those nuances are really important. And that's so thank you so much for understanding that and for bringing it up and highlighting it. And we're going to be doing a training session in September. And it's going to be actually on September 27. And it is sponsored by myself, as well as my partner in crime, Lieutenant Colonel Kathy galatz. She is a Vanguard veteran, and leads women who lead that I'm a part of, and she's just amazing. But she's invited me to come help share my recruiting expertise with the audience and really help train people on onboarding, hiring retaining veterans. And part of that is exactly what you talked about. It's what is the culture onboarding and ongoing process that you have to assimilate veterans into a civilian kind of environment and helping them make that transition successfully. And they are very adaptable, and they can definitely learn, but they just need a little bit of help to make that transition. And so companies who really make the effort to do that can reap so many great rewards from it. And so I'm super excited about it, and will provide additional details on how to get tickets to the event. But I just so passionate about being able to deliver this information to companies and individuals

 

Leighann Lovely  19:17

now is this is this event live or is it virtual? How?

 

Jennifer Chavez  19:22

That's a great question. It's actually both we're gonna do it in person at the Mac sex Entrepreneurial Center in Tempe, Arizona, and they have generously donated the space for us to be able to provide that. And also we are going to be doing that from an online presence as well so people can attend online. So it really opens up the ability for people to be able to attend. So if you want some in person networking, come join us in person if you'd like to be able to attend online. We will be doing that too. So right September 20. statements from eight to 11.

 

Leighann Lovely  20:01

Yeah, that's and that's awesome. Because, again, you know, the the failure rate of veterans transitioning into roles is so high and that, and I, I've asked so many people, why is that? Why is it and, and I get I get different answers. But one of the answers that always stands out is because it comes down to the feet fear, it comes down to the company ends up fearing that they don't want to. They're afraid of offending. Right, that veteran like, well, I don't want to go to them and tell them, you know, you're supposed to be doing it this way. Because, you know, they served in the army they should or not, aren't they served in the military? You know, like, I feel like if I'm, it's almost like, well, just because they served doesn't, right, they understand your job, you have to train them, just like any other person. And in some cases even more, because they've lived in an environment where there was no black. No, there was no gray, it was black. And it was white. Right? Here are your instructions, follow them to a tee, do not color outside the lines. Right period. You're asking them to make independent decisions. And that is not the lifestyle they have ever lived. Right? So now you, you know, and and companies are like, Well, yeah, but if I go there and say, Well, you got to do it differently. Am I going to offend this veteran who is, you know, such an amazing human for doing what they've done, and they should know better? And know, you're not going to offend? do offend the other employees when you go and say, Hey, do this different?

 

Jennifer Chavez  22:00

Right. You know, it's so interesting about that comment. And I've had a little bit of an aha moment, as I've been working with Kathy, and part of the what we'll deliver to the attendees at the event, is a checklist that kind of helps, like, what are some of those things that you can do real practical solutions to put things in place? But I guess, you know, from that standpoint, you know, when you are asking anybody to your point, to do something at your company, what I learned when I read through the checklist was, these are just best practices for any person. And so what works for any human being works for a military person, you have rules, you have guidelines, you have expectations, you communicate them to your team, and then you help them achieve their goals and expectations by being a great leader and helping them with resources. So that's really all it is. And I think it's just a lot of people don't know, and because they don't understand, I think it does lead to that fear. So I think you're right on.

 

Leighann Lovely  23:01

Right. But that's not unique to veterans. No, it is, it isn't. I mean, I think that the majority of our decision making comes down to a couple of things fear, unknown, you know, the unknown, uncommon, uncomfortableness, which all really falls into the same bucket. It all comes down to emotions on how is this going to make me feel? Am I going to make somebody else feel? I mean, that that's what it is where people so it all comes down, it all boils down to emotion. And then of course, there's another bucket, which is the money bucket. How much is this going to cost me? And can I afford it? Yes. I mean, there's not a whole ton of buckets on when it comes to decision making. There's right? I mean, it's pretty simple.

 

Jennifer Chavez  23:54

What I find fascinating about the human brain that I think a lot of people don't understand, everyone thinks that you when you make decisions that your mate using logic, decision base is always emotion. And so we just have to know that and know that we're emotional creatures. And you know, you have to manage your emotions and you have to manage emotions in the workplace. And everybody's responsible for doing that for themselves. But as a leader, you have an extra responsibility to help people. And so all that's normal, that's just part of being human. So we just have to help each other out. Right?

 

Leighann Lovely  24:27

Yeah, absolutely. You know, as a sales professional on top of, you know, my audience knows that I have now transitioned into being an entrepreneur, myself sales professional. I tell people constantly, people do not buy on logic, as much as you try to explain to them this is a really logic like, this is a logical decision. It's going to help your business. You're talking to a wall, you might as well be, you know, If they don't like you, they're not going to buy from you. They buy on emotion, justify on logic. Right? Exactly. And of story, it's same with, you know, you go to a clothing store, if you put something on that makes you feel beautiful. You are going to justify why you're spending that money. Even if you don't have it. When you get up to that register, you're going to find a way to justify it. Well, I, I need it or I, I, you know, I have to have this because, you know, then you go home and your husband or your wife is like, what are you doing? Well, I had to buy it because yeah, no, you didn't. Right. It's it's an emotional, why do you think that they put all of the you know, candy and the, you know, the quick, emotional? Oh, chocolate, that'll make me feel happy. At the restaurant, anyways. Okay, I digress. And I do all the time.

 

Jennifer Chavez  26:06

That's part of life. It's fun. Right? Take side side roads.

 

Leighann Lovely  26:10

So you had mentioned another organization that you're part of lead? What is the name of it? Women who lead women who lead? Yeah, so tell me. Tell me about that. More? Yeah.

 

Jennifer Chavez  26:27

Yeah. So women who lead is sponsored by Vanguard veteran, my friend, Kathy galettes. And what its mission is, is really to equip civilians, to support veterans, and specifically women in particular. And so this is a monthly meeting, it is free, and it is virtual, that really has different individuals that can come on and share some of the information that they have, from their perspective, to share with the audience. And as long as it supports the mission. There's all kinds of different topics that we talked about. So I'm actually going to be presenting on September 13, that women who lead and I'm going to talk about leading yourself through transitions. And so it's really it's for everybody, but really, it is also specifically some tips and tricks in there, for helping civilians on how they can support military individuals who are going through transition, whether they're coming out of the military, maybe their military spouse who's experiencing a transition, or you know, any number of other types of transitions and careers that people go through. But it's really just a great group of people that get together and share ideas and information about how to best help and support that community and get connected with other people who are like minded and additional resources. And so anyway, it's I can also share the information about how to get connected with that if anybody would like to, you know, check out the content and attend. It's free, and it's virtual. And it's also in person. So if you're in the Phoenix area, they have a monthly networking opportunity there as well.

 

Leighann Lovely  28:08

That's great. That's absolutely awesome. And it's in in you said it's also virtual, so anybody can join online. And that's yes, that's great. Yes,

 

Jennifer Chavez  28:18

all you have to do is register, and they send you the link to dial in from zoom and the information to attend in person. So it's your choice.

 

Leighann Lovely  28:28

Well, that's great. That's absolutely awesome. Yes. So I want to refocus. When you and I talked, you had mentioned something that I find Well, I find wildly fascinating because again sales and it's not just sales that you have to do this and there's many different fields that you have to do this in but for me, it's you know, sales and I I'm like a dog with a bone when it comes to this kind of stuff. But you had mentioned to me that you love to negotiate.

 

Jennifer Chavez  28:59

Yes,

 

Leighann Lovely  29:00

I have. I love like a negotiation battle with you. Because it's, you know, it gets my heart pumping like okay, how can I and again, not like an in a in a I was gonna say violent you know, I don't think there's violent negotiation but like in that in that sport way of like, okay, how can I you know, do that? Yeah, sure that competitive nature how can I do the best for my client if I'm negotiating on behalf of my client and in the recruiting industry? Obviously my background in recruiting one of the things I always used to explain to my candidates when when working with them was hey, you know, tell me what your what your base level like I can make it if I'm making this much money, what is your I would love to make you know this much is that's really a great number. What is your absolute like, this would make my life fabulous, I could go on and extra vacations. And then I would say, look, the more money you make, the more money I make. Right? But I also have to do right by my clients, right? And make sure that I'm not pricing you out of the market. And they're like, Oh, okay. And when you explain that to them, all the sudden they're like, Oh, so you're not the enemy. You're not going to try to undercut me? No, of course, I'm not going to try to undercut you. I want you to make as much as you possibly can. But you also can't price yourself out of the market so that they immediately go to the other candidate and say, Yeah, their way. They're asking for way too much. Absolutely. And then it was like, I'm ready to go. So tell me about your negotiation. Itch.

 

Jennifer Chavez  30:52

Yes. So I have always loved to negotiate. My parents taught me from an early age to negotiate. I'll explain a little My mom was a yard sale queen, and she absolutely loved yard saleing. And she would take me with her, I was very little. And I remember the first negotiation I ever did was at a yard sale. And I had $2 of allowance money that I had to spend. And I had seen two things that I wanted, there was a book and there was this cute little yellow sundress with a little jacket. And I just wanted that dress so bad. But I didn't have enough money for both so and went to my mom. And I was like, Well, you know, shout him to her. And she goes, Well, you have your allowance money. How much does it cost? And how much do you have? And so I was like, not enough. She's like, Well, why don't you go? She goes, the lady over there is running the yard. So why don't you go talk to her? And just ask her maybe if she would take us for it. Like, oh, how much should I offer her? She goes, Well, how much do you have? Anyway, I went and I talked to the woman. And so I tried to negotiate with her. And I ended up getting not only the dress, but the book for my $2. So I learned an important lesson that day, right? But it was she made it you know, fun. And it was an opportunity for me to learn in a pretty safe environment. But I kept practicing. And, you know, my dad was also used car salesman saw my first car and negotiated on my own with his assistants. So I'm just I've had that training and background. So that's kind of what spurred me to really just, I just do without thinking about it all the time. I negotiate everything, whenever I can, just because I love it right. And it's fun. Most people think it's more like going to the dentist. And so what I've learned is that 20% of women don't negotiate anything ever. Because they even feel that talking about it or even bring it up is just not something they're comfortable doing. And so I just have a super passion for helping people understand. All negotiating is is talking to someone and coming to an agreement mutually for something that you both want, right?

 

Leighann Lovely  33:16

You know, it's so funny, because let me see, I was I think I was 22. And I was driving down the highway, my car had been totaled, and then rebuilt at almost totaled. The front end had been been rebuilt. And and I knew it wasn't gonna last, but the insurance company wouldn't total it out. So I'm driving down the highway and my timing belt just broke. And instead of dropping out the bottom of the car, for some reason, it went up into the car. And if anybody knows anything about vehicles as they're listening to this, what happened was the car completely seized and the engine just basically. I mean, everything just started, you know, water squirting out and I'm like the car is done. There is no coming back. And to try to go back to an insurance company like this was probably a year and a half later, to try to go back and say, Well, this was from the original accident would have been a nightmare. I didn't have the funds to go and fight it. I didn't have right. Well, right down the street from me, probably about a mile and a half down the street. was a was a Ford shop and I was driving a Ford. I owed $263 in note $223.63 on that car. I quickly looked up how much I owed on the correct. So I called the dealership and I said can you come and tow my car to your dealership? And they said yeah, we can do that. And I'm like, thank you. They gave me because it was like right down the road and they were available they like they're like we're not going to charge you for it. And I was like, excellent. Basically, they said, We're not going to charge you for it. If you're gonna get it fixed, you're great. I get there. And I said, You know what, I'm not going to fix it, I'm going to junk it. And actually, I'm not going to junk it. The sales guy came up to me and I said, I'd like to talk to you about buying a car, and he goes, Okay, and I said, I'll do it today. But you have to give me $223 $223.63 For my car, and he goes, that's a really specific number. I said, Uh huh. And he goes, Why so specific? I said, because it's exactly what I owe for a car that will not drive sitting on your lot right now. And he goes, Oh, okay. He goes, What do you mean, it won't drive? I said, the engine is cease. Right? I said, it is undriveable. And it will never drive again. Right? I'm like, you basically have an engine block that is done. And he's like, how do I know that? And I'm like, because I've had this happen before. I've had a lot of crappy cars. Oh, no. And he's like, Well, we're gonna have the guys look at it and see what we can do. And I'm like, what you can do is strip it and sell it for parts or use it for parts, right? And he goes, Well, I don't know if if they're gonna, if if they'll pay you that for your car. That doesn't work. And I'm like, well, then I'll walk and I'll go buy a car somewhere else. And he goes, really? Over 200. Nice. Yep. over that.

 

Jennifer Chavez  36:30

And he feels principle of nothing.

 

Leighann Lovely  36:32

Exactly. It comes down to the principle of it. And I said, But in the meantime, I'm going to go look on your lot. And I'm going to find a car that I want. And I'm going to drive away with it today. If you agree to my terms. I found a car. I think they came down about to two or $3,000 on the sticker price. It was a brand new car. I mean, remember, this is years ago. And he goes, Okay, you know, we're going to offer you the $223.63 for your car. I got my finance manager to agree to it. I'm doing quotes right now, because the whole finance manager crap is just irritating. So, um, so you know, now we're negotiating the price of the new car. And I'm like, Well, I'm not going to pay the sticker price, you know, blah, blah, blah, and we go over that we go over that we sit down, he goes, Wow, you are really, really, really asking for a lot. And I said, I am not asking for a lot. So we get to the whole negotiation parties like Okay, so are you ready to sign in? I said, I actually not yet. I said, I know that you can throw in some free oil changes. And he goes, what? And I'm like, hot. Come on. This is not my first time. I know. I'm young. But this is not my first time buying your car. I said I bought this new car, like three years ago. And I'm like so and I had worked at a dealership. By the way. I had worked at a car dealership. Oh my goodness. So he goes, Okay, fine. We'll throw in some free car washes. And I said, Okay, so for a year to cover on my car, what not car washes, oil changes, right for a year, he covered all my oil changes, got a whole bunch of tickets for that so I can bring it back and get my oil changes. And then as I'm signing all the papers, he goes, God I feel like you're you're just basically robbing me blind. And I said no, robbing you blind would say I would be robbing you blind, I would tell you that you need to take the Ford shirt off that you're wearing. So I can walk up this walk out with some swag from Ford. And he started laughing. And he goes, I do have some swag. So I walked out of there with a brand new car. They paid off my other car. And he gave me some swag and oil changes.

 

Jennifer Chavez  38:40

Oh my gosh, that's awesome. I'm going after my own heart. Right.

 

Leighann Lovely  38:44

And I've been I was only like, 20 I don't know what year is that? That had to have been like 2223. And I remember when I got home, my dad goes, you bought a new car? And I'm like, yeah, and he goes, Well, you should have let me come there. And I said, Oh, no. Dad, and I told my dad that story. He was like, Oh my God.

 

Jennifer Chavez  39:04

That's an awesome story. And I love it. And you

 

Leighann Lovely  39:07

know, every time I've ever bought a car from now on, you know, I've always I've always because, you know they do so many run arounds and and all you have to do to you know to them is hey, I'm walking. I'm gonna go across the street and buy a car over there. But you just have

 

Jennifer Chavez  39:25

to actually pick up your feet and leave and then they come running after you.

 

Leighann Lovely  39:29

Correct. And I've done it. I've walked out the door and I don't need this car. Well nowadays. Right? You might, but I mean back then it was I can go across the street. I can drive 15 minutes down in given that I've always had a really high credit score, that there's other people that don't have the luxury of having. But yes, that was that was my My first real hardcore like negotiating for. And again, I had inside knowledge, I know how much commission they make on new cars versus, you know, used cars which used cars way more commission at that time. You know, it was just

 

Jennifer Chavez  40:19

so had all the secret sauce

 

Leighann Lovely  40:21

I've never been, I've never been a woman who was who was shy to be like, No, I'm gonna see what I can get from, you know out of this.

 

Jennifer Chavez  40:31

And so if you can imagine Lian, every woman in the world doing what you and I just talked about negotiating their own car deals, not taking it when people give them a price, you know, try to negotiate down whenever you can. And I mean, everybody is, you know, some things are negotiable. And some things aren't. But it doesn't hurt to try. But I can say it was no, my dad's favorite saying that he always taught me and this is going to be the name of my book is find out what they won't take.

 

Leighann Lovely  41:03

Yeah, it's everything. Well, obviously, you can't walk into a store and be like, hey, I'll give you $25 for a $50 item. But you know, the price is the price, but everybody will pay a price for something. And there's always a way to bring a price down. If somebody is willing, or somebody wants to sell something. It's just, you just got to find the common ground. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah, absolutely. I am 100%. with you on that. Well, we are no, we've got a little bit more time. So tell me about let me see. So you've got quite a few different groups that you support. Tell me about steps and WSN.

 

Jennifer Chavez  41:58

Yeah, so those were the two initial groups, the women's leadership groups at CVS stops was started on the retail side of the business. And WSN was the women's success network. And that was on the pharmacy benefit management side of the business. And I was a leader in both and I was responsible for bringing both groups together as one to have one integrated women's support network. So anyway, I've always just felt super passionate about helping other women, I have had a lot of super strong, wonderful female mentors in my life, that have given me lots of great career advice and help along the way. And so I've always been very passionate about giving back. And being a part of those two organizations then led me to start network of executive women, which is something that I started in the Phoenix region with a couple of other really great ladies that worked for other major companies in the Phoenix area. And we started it and I led it for 10 years as a logistics officer. And I was a speaker for them and mentor. And so it just it led me to a lot of really amazing things, just you know, kind of following my passion and trying to help mentor other female leaders and help them grow in their careers. So longtime passion,

 

Leighann Lovely  43:24

and what are the main types of roles that you place people in?

 

Jennifer Chavez  43:30

Yes, so that's a great question. My focus is largely I have a few different areas of expertise. So healthcare and Pharmacy Benefits Management biopharma is really my my main one, I spent 23 years and in that area, certified pharmacy technician and all kinds of experience there. But also, when I started this went into senior living. And that's really the same skill sets and same profile for hiring for a lot of individuals in the healthcare industry in its healthcare, Jason. So I placed a lot of people in those areas. And then also my clients have been franchise owners. And so that kind of has led me and I'm a franchise, female franchise, entrepreneur myself. So that's really also led me to really understanding how franchises work and really being able to specialize and help them from a recruiting perspective. Because usually, especially when you're first starting, you are both working on the business and in the business as an individual owner. And then you may grow over time. Some people start off with more than that, but there's a pretty specific challenge to that. And so because I really understand that and can help people in a lot of different ways from a recruiting perspective, that's been really successful for me too. So those are my main three areas. And then I'll just throw in there that my husband is a shop and the general manager for his entire career, and we're a significant foodie, so I've spent a lot of time in the restaurant business have no expertise there, too.

 

Leighann Lovely  45:02

Awesome. So we are coming to time, I want to ask you the question of the season. What what do you think will go down in the history books, from what has what the world has experienced over the last three years?

 

Jennifer Chavez  45:18

Well, LeAnn, I absolutely love that question. And I think the answer is AI, artificial intelligence. And, I mean, there's a lot of things that have been really impactful, right. But I've just seen so much energy about artificial intelligence, especially recently, and I'm dabbling into it myself, as you mentioned, from a sales perspective, you know, that's what I do all day. And so there's, especially for recruiting and sales, there's really a lot of applicability of some of the capabilities that artificial intelligence has. And I know a lot of people, there's a lot of fear and things out there too. But I think it's probably like any other tool that we have, we will learn more about it, it will, you know, mold and shape over time, but I just really feel like, you know, the, I've been using it for applications even like, Okay, write me up a press release chat. GPT. What does that look like, I'm I'm not a press release expert. I don't know what the format is and how to write them. I call it my virtual assistant. So, you know, just to do things that, you know, maybe we would have spent a lot of time doing that aren't value added. So we can move up the ladder and be more strategic in the way that we spend our time. And I really feel like that has a lot of help for business. And I don't think, you know, I know, there's a lot of worry out there about it replacing people. But I'm sure everyone thought, you know, probably when the internet came out, or you know, when monster.com came out, you know, that everything, you know, humans were no longer going to be needed. But what I've learned over time is just that, you know, technology is really what you make it and I think that you know, you can use it for good or you could use it for not, but it does really help us it has a lot of influence. So for me, history books, that's that's my vote.

 

Leighann Lovely  47:12

Absolutely. So if somebody wanted to reach out to you, how would they go about doing that?

 

Jennifer Chavez  47:17

If they want to reach me, my phone number is 623-387-8995. That's probably one of the easiest and most direct ways to reach me. I also have my email address is my first initial and my last name. So J Chavez Cha V as in Victor E z at G R n. And that stands for Global recruiters network. So grn Moon valley.com. So J Chava. Is at grn valley.com.

 

Leighann Lovely  47:45

Perfect. Jennifer, this has been such an amazing conversation. I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me.

 

Jennifer Chavez  47:52

Absolutely. Man, you've been a wonderful host and thank you so much for kindly inviting me and allowing me to share my message.

 

Leighann Lovely  48:00

Thank you again for listening to Let's Talk HR. I appreciate your time and support without you the audience this would not be possible. So don't forget that if you enjoyed this episode to follow us, like us or share us. Have a wonderful day.

 

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

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SUMMARY KEYWORDS

car, military, people, negotiate, feel, transition, absolutely, working, companies, veterans, jennifer, years, led, expertise, talk, grn, sales, arizona, spent, recruiting