Questions to ask?
Gsa:
Are you guest friendly? Get red cards? Drive your team?
Pa:
Sales driven? Detail oriented? Self motivated?
^THIS. When I look at a 'good GSA' in our store, I'm looking for somebody who's a guest service powerhouse. They're constantly soliciting feedback to team members, motivating them to provide great service and talk about the REDcard, can be an authoritative decision maker, and can resolve escalated guest concerns quickly and with ease. I want somebody who can mann the checklanes, drive service, manage the dozen-or-so team members that are working for you at that time, and ultimately make sure our guests leave with a good impression of our store, culture, and service.
When we look at a 'good PA', from the understanding of what our consumables TL looks for, is somebody who is logistics and process focused. Are you going to lead a fast and efficient FDC truck? Are you going to drive for FIFO'd perishables? Drive for amazing merchandizing that minimizes dollar amounts of food that goes bad before it's sold?
Both jobs have quite a bit of pressure put on them, because if you're a GSA you're going to be the GSTL's right hand, and if you're a PA you're the CTL's right hand.
I'd say another big difference to think about; Target is putting an enormous focus on our service and our GE experience, and GSA falls more directly under that. So "the spotlight" will pretty frequently be on you and the front end team, so to speak. PA obviously comes with a lot of pressures to, but I'm not as familiar with it. I know ours spends the majority of his day f**king around and doing things he shouldn't be doing (-_-).
On the subject of paygrades.... GSA is N07, PA is N09. So PA, according to the standard target payscale, would be .25 more than GSA. It's a difference, but even if you're working 40 hr's/week that's still only a difference of about $40/month before taxes. So, in my opinion, I wouldn't make the pay your primary reason for going with one over the other.
I've been in both the GSA and GSTL roles for several years in multiple stores. If you have any questions about what the GSA position might look like, my inbox is wide open!
@Retail Girl is also a strong (and more importantly, long-standing in the position) GSA on this forum, she would be a great resource as well.
Hopefully this helped a little bit! Again, let me know if you have any questions about the GSA role.
-PTS