Archived After 4 years I'm officially done.

[VonGrauten]

I've always lurked on this forum but have never posted. I recently hit the 4 year mark at Target a week later I gave my notice. I found a job at a competitor one that gives me 40 hours. I started as a Specialist I truly enjoyed my job. Then they cut the position and cut hours. I worked as hard as I could, I was told I was a great example of a leader but when I went after a TL position I was told, "you're not leadership material". After that I decided to self motivate. I worked harder, led more. Recently my TL was shipped off to another store to help with a P-fresh retrofit, since the store I worked in was a pilot P-fresh store. So I took on the workload that my TL left behind. I was told over and over again I was doing a great job and that I was being looked at to be a TL. Then one day a position opened up. I applied and was told "you're not ready to be a leader." So I started looking for another job. My last few months I was a bit frustrated but I continued to work. I was offered a job with another store in a leadership role. I took it since it was quite a bit more money, and more hours. My STL tried to keep me by telling me that the next time a TL position was available I'd have it, but he could in no way match the pay. That's where I decided it wasn't worth my time to stay. They have no ability to retain talent, and no inclination to promote unless they're forced to. My last day was Friday and I'm looking forward to my new job. On a final note, the line "you're not ready to be a leader" bugged me due to the fact that in the past I was a store manager at another retail establishment but when it merged with another company I disliked the new culture. I wish all of you luck at Target, and considering from what I have heard, read and seen Target will most likely continue to cut even if a store is performing well when it's competitors are spending more on payroll because they realize that service is the most important sales generator in the service industry.

 

[RednTacky]

Carrot on a stick, that's how they motivate. It works on people with nowhere else to go, but most wise up like you do and head for greener pastures.

We had a TL that got promoted just about month ago over several other applicants that had at least 2-3 years experience more than him. He just put in his two weeks notice after receiving a better job offer.

Best of luck to you outside of Target, and congrats for escaping the pull that keeps so many of us in.

 

[pfreshdude]

Ya im not sure what they look for exactly...or rather...how the choose for TL....our store hired 3 people for TL bench a couple months after the holidays and one seasonal hired flow team member somehow got on for TL. The other 2 I was allright with since they had been at the store for a while and were actually good leaders. Just kinda weird someone who had been FLOW of all things being promoted to a TL position

 

[GlobalTargetTM]

I've always lurked on this forum but have never posted. I recently hit the 4 year mark at Target a week later I gave my notice. I found a job at a competitor one that gives me 40 hours. I started as a Specialist I truly enjoyed my job. Then they cut the position and cut hours. I worked as hard as I could, I was told I was a great example of a leader but when I went after a TL position I was told, "you're not leadership material". After that I decided to self motivate. I worked harder, led more. Recently my TL was shipped off to another store to help with a P-fresh retrofit, since the store I worked in was a pilot P-fresh store. So I took on the workload that my TL left behind. I was told over and over again I was doing a great job and that I was being looked at to be a TL. Then one day a position opened up. I applied and was told "you're not ready to be a leader." So I started looking for another job. My last few months I was a bit frustrated but I continued to work. I was offered a job with another store in a leadership role. I took it since it was quite a bit more money, and more hours. My STL tried to keep me by telling me that the next time a TL position was available I'd have it, but he could in no way match the pay. That's where I decided it wasn't worth my time to stay. They have no ability to retain talent, and no inclination to promote unless they're forced to. My last day was Friday and I'm looking forward to my new job. On a final note, the line "you're not ready to be a leader" bugged me due to the fact that in the past I was a store manager at another retail establishment but when it merged with another company I disliked the new culture. I wish all of you luck at Target, and considering from what I have heard, read and seen Target will most likely continue to cut even if a store is performing well when it's competitors are spending more on payroll because they realize that service is the most important sales generator in the service industry.

That's basically what happened to me. I won't miss the culture at all.

 

[Pfreshbackroomguy]

Well i feel for you. Just curious, who are you now working or going to work for?

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Good luck! Stay in touch.

 

[Rarejem]

. Just kinda weird someone who had been FLOW of all things being promoted to a TL position

I always find this regard for flow tms strange. A good flow team member has a better understanding of how all of the processes in the store work together and can easily recognize opportunities in a department. It is the largest team in most stores so a tm that is able to stand out as a leader must be pretty good. What is the weirdest thing about this to me is that the flow tm's are the highest paid (along with backroom)tm's in the store. For that person to be given a higher paid position is very weird.

 

[spikegrouchy]

I've always lurked on this forum but have never posted. I recently hit the 4 year mark at Target a week later I gave my notice. I found a job at a competitor one that gives me 40 hours. I started as a Specialist I truly enjoyed my job. Then they cut the position and cut hours. I worked as hard as I could, I was told I was a great example of a leader but when I went after a TL position I was told, "you're not leadership material". After that I decided to self motivate. I worked harder, led more. Recently my TL was shipped off to another store to help with a P-fresh retrofit, since the store I worked in was a pilot P-fresh store. So I took on the workload that my TL left behind. I was told over and over again I was doing a great job and that I was being looked at to be a TL. Then one day a position opened up. I applied and was told "you're not ready to be a leader." So I started looking for another job. My last few months I was a bit frustrated but I continued to work. I was offered a job with another store in a leadership role. I took it since it was quite a bit more money, and more hours. My STL tried to keep me by telling me that the next time a TL position was available I'd have it, but he could in no way match the pay. That's where I decided it wasn't worth my time to stay. They have no ability to retain talent, and no inclination to promote unless they're forced to. My last day was Friday and I'm looking forward to my new job. On a final note, the line "you're not ready to be a leader" bugged me due to the fact that in the past I was a store manager at another retail establishment but when it merged with another company I disliked the new culture. I wish all of you luck at Target, and considering from what I have heard, read and seen Target will most likely continue to cut even if a store is performing well when it's competitors are spending more on payroll because they realize that service is the most important sales generator in the service industry.

You are so better off getting out. I wish I was young and had a chance at finding something else. But at 55, my options are limited and I know I would never make the money somewhere else that I am making at Target. My goal is to make it another five years and then retire.

I hope you kicked the "Target dust" off your shoes as you left your store for the last time. The company is so messed up because they hire snot-nosed punks as ETL's and feed them with delusions of godhood. I wish you a sincere "good luck."

 

[invictustaylor]

I always find this regard for flow tms strange. A good flow team member has a better understanding of how all of the processes in the store work together and can easily recognize opportunities in a department. It is the largest team in most stores so a tm that is able to stand out as a leader must be pretty good. What is the weirdest thing about this to me is that the flow tm's are the highest paid (along with backroom)tm's in the store. For that person to be given a higher paid position is very weird.

Logistics is wayyyy harder work than sales floor or cashier. Cashier's get my sympathy because it's a tuff job standing in one place and it requires you to give the guest attention pretty much constantly, but yeah logistics is also the backbone of the store. If you didn't have people willing to start at crappy hours and work their ass off the whole shift, you wouldn't have anything on the shelves to sell guests.

 

[Formina Sage]

Logistics is wayyyy harder work than sales floor or cashier. Cashier's get my sympathy because it's a tuff job standing in one place and it requires you to give the guest attention pretty much constantly, but yeah logistics is also the backbone of the store. If you didn't have people willing to start at crappy hours and work their ass off the whole shift, you wouldn't have anything on the shelves to sell guests.

This. While some flow/early backroom tm's may look scary and dumb at the same time, 95 percent of them work their ass off to be Great by 8 (especially in 4am stores); starting at 4am or overnight is no piece of cake, and there's plenty of physical work involved. No reason these people shouldn't be a couple paygrades higher than Guest Experience and Salesfloor TM's. Work the push side of the line where the grocery pallet is and it won't take you long to understand

 

[Rarejem]

When I commented that I found it weird to pay them more I was talking about the fact that they actually promoted a higher paygrade tm to tl. My experience has been that the higher the person's pay is, the less likely they are to be promoted. Ding!Ding!Ding! Payroll saved. Another thing about the flow tm's. Many of them are working the early a.m. as a 2nd job and go to their primary job from Target. IMO - smartest team in the store. Go logistics! (yes, I am a log tm - lol)

 

[commiecorvus]

I wish everybody had to work at least a couple of weeks of every kind of shift before they could even be considered for TL.
Understanding Logistics from the bottom up is going to make running Softlines much easier.

 

[Red11]

Congrats on the new job. You're doing the right thing I have little doubt on that. You have to fit into the culture to get promoted and from what I have seen over the years, you still wont last long after promotion. Its a dead end job.

 

[pfreshdude]

I wish everybody had to work at least a couple of weeks of every kind of shift before they could even be considered for TL.
Understanding Logistics from the bottom up is going to make running Softlines much easier.

This is more of what i was getting at with my comment. I have no hostility to flow, ive worked a couple flow shifts and helped push here and there. Our store is a 4am store so its rediculously hard to get everything pushed before store opening if the truck is larger than average. Just seemed weird to me that a flow team member that hadnt been there that long that hadnt worked in any other department being put on the bench for a team leader position. He eventually moved to another store for overnight TL during pfresh remodel I think.

 

[Bullseye Flow TM]

First congrat's on your new job. I wish you the best. Secondly, I'm sorry you got the run around concerning a TL position. I've had issues with that myself some years ago. IMO, they already know who they want for the TL and the interview process is just a formality. Our STL wanted me to remain on flow because I was a good worker, was reliable, and knew all areas of the position so I was turned down. Another ETL that interviewed me said he pushed for me to get the position, but it didn't happen and I'm still Flow.

I also want to thank all those before me for all the positive comments about Flow. You each gave me a reason to today. In our store Flow is rarely recognized for the work we do.