Archived ETL with no degree

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I have a couple Army (reserve)buddies still working on their degrees but have many years retail management experience and are looking for new careers. What is the policy now for people with tons of experience landing an ETL position with Target? I would assume they need to complete the degree before any promotion though.
 
In some ETL positions, they ask for "4 year degree or equivalent" - which if I remember right, equivlaent is experience. As well, for job postings that say a 4 year degree is required my STL told me last year it is possible to get a ETL position without a degree, but you'll need to blow them out of the water (he told that to me, I have no management experience). So it's worth a shot. Likely will at least get a interview since it's external. Depending on what year they are, they could become a ETL-intern or a executive intern if they are in there third year of college. Which also would be good.
 
Officially its 4 years management experience or a 4 year degree however our old Dtl required a 4 year degree even for senior TLs.

So while Target has loosened up and is accepting experience, it seems to be on a case by case basis whether they will choose you over someone with a degree.
 
It does seem to be very group driven how accepting they are of potential externals with no degree. Previously I had put off re-joining Target because the geographical markets interested despite my lack of a degree were not very appealing. While going through the interview process recently, the East Coast recruiting team (VA/NC market) did not seem interested in moving forward when they found out I did not have a bachelors, but in the Midwest they did not bad an eye at it, instead focusing on my 15yr retail experience.

In chatting with a few of the field based leaders about it, it seems that Target is finally starting to understand the need for balance, but it is not fully across the company yet. Fresh out of college execs certainly offer value, and are in some cases more malleable to the Target way versus some set in their way retail vets, but if that's all you hire you'll end up with a lack of leadership experience (despite titles).

In previous roles I tried to balance hiring internal talent for their experience with the brand, experienced externals offering new perspective, and a healthy shot of fresh "give 'em a shot" raw talent from both the in and outside to inject some fresh passion and energy. It seems like Target is finally starting to'get' this, but culture change moves slow. They do also seem to have a preference for vets, so that combined with their retail experience could be of strong interest to the hiring team....depending on the market.
 
I disagree. While you can pay these people less, the turnover and dissent they create must outweigh their value.

But as sky said, they are "malleable". You can form these people in your image (the company/HQ image). Less pay is only an added bonus. Retail vets may come in with their own mindset.

That's the value that the company probably sees, but as you pointed out, are the potential issues that arise with new college grads worth it?
 
I disagree. While you can pay these people less, the turnover and dissent they create must outweigh their value.

The turnover and dissent comes in due to poor leadership or development of other team members, not from hiring someone who went to college. And just to clarify, when I said value I didn't mean bargain pricing of their salary, but the benefits of hiring someone with the dedication to see through their education, the skills that gave them, the enthusiasm of landing in many cases their first professional job, and the blank slate of a lack of poor habits from other retailers.

As an example, in my former life, to staff a revamped department with a more competitive sales team, we promoted two associates already trained there, hired an external with years of sales experience in that category, and hired a kid fresh out of high school who had never before had an official job. Three months in, top sales associate in the STORE was the rookie, because we were able to train him the right way from day one. Experienced external did well, but took longer to break of bad habits, and the internals took two different paths - one embracing the change and excited for the new responsibility, the other jaded on change and sticking to their old ways.

If we only hire execs out of college, the turnover is rightful when associates see there is no possibility for advancement. If we balance it out with clear development plans and follow through for team members who want to progress, then it is on them if they can't handle someone coming in with a different background than their own.
 
The turnover and dissent comes in due to poor leadership or development of other team members, not from hiring someone who went to college. And just to clarify, when I said value I didn't mean bargain pricing of their salary, but the benefits of hiring someone with the dedication to see through their education, the skills that gave them, the enthusiasm of landing in many cases their first professional job, and the blank slate of a lack of poor habits from other retailers.
What about my dedication to see through my education? AA degree and technical certificates, including one for EMS? So I must not have dedication because it's not a shiny bachelors degree in musical arts. Baloney, I had to work my ass off for those. Just because it wasn't a bachelors, doesn't mean it was handed to me.

It irritates the living daylights out of me with this new age thinking that unless you have a bachelors degree, your a dimwit. I know tons of people who are more intelligent and have more common sense than people with four year degrees.

Hiring people pretty much solely because the have a four year degree creates dissent because your passing up people who've shown dedication to the company for years, for people who might possibly not have any actual retail experience to speak of.

Finally, what a dumb decision it is to put people with little experience in charge of a massive retailer, when you have other large businesses who look to hire managers with a proven track record of good leadership and successes, even if they only have a high school education. Way to limit your pickings Target.
Maybe being a DTL or high should require a degree, but at the store level, it's meaningless.
 
A 4 year degree now is more about finances than education. Anyone can get a bachelor's if they can pay, there is literally nothing you'll learn in a 4 year degree that you can't learn yourself in a book, on the internet, or via job experience.

Not to say there aren't some exceptions, but on the whole a 4 year degree is largely worthless in determining anything about an individual. A graduate degree is a much better indicator.
 
And in order to get one of those you need a ....

TBH if you have a graduate degree, unless you are an STL you really are over qualified for Target.

True, but 4 year degrees are handed out for essentially no effort these days (barring some study areas)

A graduate degree requires a lot more work and dedication.

Like I said there are exceptions, but there are a lot, (like a whole lot) are really uninformed, ignorant "college graduates"
 
True, but 4 year degrees are handed out for essentially no effort these days (barring some study areas)

A graduate degree requires a lot more work and dedication.

Like I said there are exceptions, but there are a lot, (like a whole lot) are really uninformed, ignorant "college graduates"

Good point. I just showed up and they let me graduate with honors (non-stem)
 
And in order to get one of those you need a ....

TBH if you have a graduate degree, unless you are an STL you really are over qualified for Target.

I think I agree unless you are working as a senior ops manager or higher in a DC. Probably some higher positions at HQ too.

I see the value of something like an MBA there.
 
Well, I would imagine if you just showed up you would have still gotten a degree. You deter mined your own level of effort.

Probably not. I went to school with some of those people and they didn't last more than a year.

No, you're right. They didn't come to class.
 
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