129 Years of Family Serving Family: Sarah Faustin Charles, Hanscom Air Force Base

One in a series honoring the Exchange’s 129 years of family serving family

Who she is: Sarah Faustin Charles, Human Resources recruiting manager III, Hanscom AFB Consolidated Exchange

Years at the Exchange: Charles celebrated her fifth anniversary on Dec. 23.

Military connections: Charles’ husband has served five years in the Air Force, where he holds rank as a technical sergeant.

What brought her to the Exchange: As a military spouse, Charles looked to the Exchange to keep her career.

“I had planned for either my husband or I enlisted to the military. As he enlisted first, I decided to focus on school, the kids and a different career with the hope later on to serve the military. But then, I wanted to look for a job where I can build my career while supporting him and my family. After I did my research, I saw the best company to work for is the Exchange. One of my goals was to serve the military. Working for the Exchange has made me feel that I am on a mission to support our troops.”

Her Exchange career: Charles has a background in Business Administration, but she started her Exchange career as a customer experience associate at the Malmstrom Air Force Base Exchange.

“At the time, I didn’t see any management or accounting positions open but based on my research, I embraced the mission, vision and core values of the Exchange and I decided to apply for the customer experience associate position. I applied because I knew if I got hired, I could work and grow with the organization.”

A month after she started, Charles became a Human Resources recruiting manager I for Malmstrom and Fairchild Exchanges.

“After a month at the Exchange, I was presented an award as the Best Employee of the month. When the Human Resources recruiting manager I position was open, my boss, at the time, asked me to apply. I only held the customer experience associate role for a month, then I got promoted as Human Resources recruiting manager I at Malmstrom. My job now was to recruit employees, so I supported the community in different way.”

Charles later moved to Massachusetts to be with her children but came back to the Exchange after a recruiting position was opened at Hanscom Air Force Base.

“My kids were in Massachusetts with my parents, and I wanted to be with them. Before I moved back home to Massachusetts, I was looking for a position, but there wasn’t anything open. I really love the organization, so I wanted to stay but my kids needed me.

“I moved, but in three months, I saw they had the Human Resources position here. My former boss actually called me and encouraged me to apply. I qualified and I was selected for the position. I was more than ready to pursue my career with the Exchange again, to finish my job from Montana while being there for my loved ones.

“To support the Hanscom Exchange, the first thing I did was partner with other managers, a labor market analyst and connected with Veterans and military spouses in the community. I thought, ‘I am just going to keep doing what I love to do and following the road I am on.’ ”

Memorable moments: “Living in Montana, a spouse I hired cried after hearing I was leaving during a going away party. That showed me how I really support them.”

Since moving to Massachusetts, the most memorable moment for Charles was sharing her knowledge and support to hire a new Human Resources recruiting manager at the West Point Exchange.

“Going from Western region to Eastern region was one of the best moves I made. The way my team and leadership believe in me is amazing.”

Family Serving Family: “It means better together. I learned a lot by working for the Exchange. Leadership has always been there to mentor me and to help me succeed. We support each other, from the top to the bottom. We have associates that retire after 50, 40, 30, or 25 years and so on. Any human resources professional can tell you that if an organization has employees retiring after 50 years, then that organization is great. The Exchange has given me orientation and support with my career. I don’t regret joining this family.”