Archived Am I ready for TL bench interviews?

[SweatyShirts]

So I've been here at Target 4 months now and I've had my eye on trying to move up for the past month so I've been putting in a lot of effort to check off as many boxes as I can to make that move more palatable as far as my current management cares.

What I mean by checking off as many boxes as possible is;
Perfect attendance (no call out's, no ncns, not even late clock ins)
Open availability
Have taken every call in so far
Have gone so far as worked 2 weeks straight via being called in on days off, in general being reliable and dependable if extra workloads comes up for whatever reason
Demonstrated willingness to learn and ask questions, complete malleability. Like a lot of questions, everyday I learn something new.
I work fast so I can finish my core workload and have time left over to seek out supplemental workloads
Completely polite with everyone from coworkers and bosses or guests, and have had guests leave positive feedback about me with LODs
Coworkers seek me out when they need advice about their workloads.

The only thing I haven't fully done is be a leader in my workcenter, I coordinate with people to try to get work done but I haven't directed anybody to certain tasks. Mostly because I'm still trying to transition to that mindset here at Target but also because I'm still a TM and I'm sure my fellow TMs might not appreciate that kind of interactions.

There's still a good deal I have to learn but I got this nagging suspicion I don't necessarily have to wait till I know everything before I move upwards.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Do you do look for opportunities to make sales, build salesplanners, get red cards & think outside of the box?

 

[NKG]

So I've been here at Target 4 months now and I've had my eye on trying to move up for the past month so I've been putting in a lot of effort to check off as many boxes as I can to make that move more palatable as far as my current management cares.

What I mean by checking off as many boxes as possible is;
Perfect attendance (no call out's, no ncns, not even late clock ins)
Open availability
Have taken every call in so far
Have gone so far as worked 2 weeks straight via being called in on days off, in general being reliable and dependable if extra workloads comes up for whatever reason
Demonstrated willingness to learn and ask questions, complete malleability. Like a lot of questions, everyday I learn something new.
I work fast so I can finish my core workload and have time left over to seek out supplemental workloads
Completely polite with everyone from coworkers and bosses or guests, and have had guests leave positive feedback about me with LODs
Coworkers seek me out when they need advice about their workloads.

The only thing I haven't fully done is be a leader in my workcenter, I coordinate with people to try to get work done but I haven't directed anybody to certain tasks. Mostly because I'm still trying to transition to that mindset here at Target but also because I'm still a TM and I'm sure my fellow TMs might not appreciate that kind of interactions.

There's still a good deal I have to learn but I got this nagging suspicion I don't necessarily have to wait till I know everything before I move upwards.

What are your thoughts?

Target loves with a capital "L" people that are gobal. Learn all work centers because as a TL you might be expected to grab a call box or back up cashier.

 

[SweatyShirts]

Do you do look for opportunities to make sales, build salesplanners, get red cards & think outside of the box?

Well I'm backroom evenings so I'm not gonna be in a position to close on red cards. When I am on the salesfloor pushing items, I do help guests find things and occasionally help them figure out what they're looking for so yeah I do drive sales.

And yeah I do think outside the box.

But as far as sales planners go, I don't even know anything about making those.

 

[SweatyShirts]

Target loves with a capital "L" people that are gobal. Learn all work centers because as a TL you might be expected to grab a call box or back up cashier.

I did get some small amount of Hardlines training but my SrTL has been filling up my schedule so I haven't even had the hours to cross-train...

 

[HRZone]

Target loves with a capital "L" people that are gobal. Learn all work centers because as a TL you might be expected to grab a call box or back up cashier.

This, at my store TLs are first responders to guest service and backup cashiering.

We did have a team member get to the bench in exactly one month but it was a deal where she was overqualified and we wanted to keep her.

Getting a TL position is a mix of luck, favoritism, hard work and opportinity. We have someone who my leaders are dying to make a TL but we were already over head count because we dropped org charts.

Keep up your hard work but realize after 4 months you have waited a lot shorter than most

 

[NKG]

You can be TL material but its about passing the bench interview. That's what Im struggling with right now. If you feel like that's your next step just talk to your TL or ETL to see what advice they can give you.

 

[monkeyman90]

every store is different. but most likely tm > tl takes a year or so for bench. i had to go seasonal cashier, guest service, gsa, tl. i only made tl because 2 etls at the time said i needed to have the bench interview and one who grabbed me once i passed.

 

[IWorkAtTarget]

I'm not a TL (yet) but I recently got on the bench, my advice would be to talk to your TL or ETL as a first step. It sounds like you are a good team member but being a leader means more than that. Your leadership should help you develop and show off your leadership skills. For the interview they will want situations in which you took leadership, so I think it's important to "own" an area or process. It can be awkward and uncomfortable leading your peers at first but it gets easier especially when your peers see that your leaders are supporting you. This was probably the hardest thing for me, leading people that are older than me or have been with Target longer as a TM was terrifying but I knew it was important for my development especially since I want to stay at my store as a TL. As backroom TM I'm not sure what you can do to "own" or lead an area but your TL/ETL should be able to set some situations up for you. As a flow TM I started out running the softlines side of flow and then eventually ran truck on occasions where my TL was on vacation or sick.

 

[BackroomBear]

For backroom, you can do a few things, though ASANTS.

Own transition. Try and communicate with PPTL to know when big transitions are coming: OneSpot, BacktoSchool, lawn and patio, holiday candy, Christmas, etc. these transitions bring in mass amounts of freight (I had 60 pallets for Christmas) - this takes planning both on working with other TMs, the unload team, and space management.

D-Code. Anyone can run the detail report. Learn it. Partner with the SF TLs and ETL(s) to merchandise the discontinued freight out of the back.

Instocks. Try focusing on an area like diapers, paper, or water. These are groups I feel like lose out on easy sales because counts are off, capacities are wrong, or are just zoned like shit.

 

[phibot]

You have the right attitude, you just might need to build more knowledge/experience.

POG and Electronics are one way tickets to learning most things.. whether you like it or not

 

[TM2]

As backroom, ask to get some training hours with the receiver. Volunteer to come in early and help flow with the unload. As others have said, you need to be global. Have an understanding of every process in the store, and the underlying business that drives them all.