Applications will be accepted at a recruitment event to be held Tuesday, Aug. 25, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Community College of Rhode Island, Knight Campus, located at 400 East St., Warwick.
No experience is necessary for the positions. A high school diploma or GED is required for consideration.
Applicants should demonstrate customer service and communication skills, as well as hold certification from the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB).
Applicants who meet program requirements, but do not hold PTCB certification, may enroll in free pharmacy technician training at the Community College of Rhode Island or the Providence Skills Center. 
Individuals, who successfully complete training and receive certification, will be considered for employment as a pharmacy technician.
Pharmacy technicians provide customer service and assistance with prescription order processing, as well as problem resolution and inventory management, according to CVS Caremark. Chosen applicants will need to complete pharmacy technician training before beginning work.
In July, CVS Caremark, in a partnership with several state and local agencies, announced that the company would recruit and train certified pharmacy technicians for jobs at its new facility currently being built at Highland Corporate Park.
The facility, CVS Pharmacy Customer Care Center, is scheduled to open in December.
The center will staff 125 people to work as pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and customer service associates, who will answer phone calls from pharmacy customers and other agencies.
“We are pleased that our first Customer Care Center will be located in our home state of Rhode Island,” said Larry Merlo, president of CVS. “We are launching this innovative pharmacy service program to enhance the service provided to individuals who call our pharmacies, as well as to provide more time for our pharmacy teams to spend serving customers in our stores.”    
As part of this effort, CVS is partnering with the Community College of Rhode Island and the Providence Skills Center to train applicants as pharmacy technicians.
The Rhode Island Economic Development Corp., the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training, Workforce Partnership of Greater Rhode Island and Workforce Solutions of Providence and Cranston are offering recruitment and training support. 
“Producing a qualified and prepared workforce is imperative to Rhode Island’s future,” said J. Michael Saul, interim executive director of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corp. “One of the RIEDC’s initiatives for 2009 is to work with local agencies and educational institutions to equip workers with skills that ready them for new and higher paying jobs. This collaborative partnership across state agencies, academia and private industry is a stepping stone in the right direction.”
“We want to thank all of our partners in this project.  Their support and cooperation is critical to our ability to create these new jobs in Rhode Island,” said Merlo. “We plan to grow our Pharmacy Customer Care Center further in 2010, which will create additional job opportunities.” 
For more information about becoming a pharmacy technician, visit www.cvscaremark.com/careers or call (888) 616-5627.