Ok, so I've been with the Spot for going on 10 yrs. Was there 2yrs straight out of high school before I was promoted to TL logistics(BR) at 19. I have now been a TL for one of the best backrooms in the country, have been offered many positions to other locations. No promotions, but when that happens its usually ends up coming down to my store giving me more $ to stay. Now my ETL in Logistics may be leaving the company soon(15+yrs) and has told me that he will push to have me promoted with no diploma. The only thing is that I need to turn in the best self-review that I have ever written, this year. The pressure is a little overwhelming, and I want to get this right. I'm just not sure if I can write this. Will it be best to write a bullet point review or a few paragraphs per section. Any and all opinions will be greatly appreciated.
Hate to tell you this, but your ETL-LOG is full of it. He has basically zero ability to get you promoted to ETL for the following reasons:
1. He is leaving the company. That alone puts him on the STL & DTL sh** list. Once someone has announced they are leaving the company, their opinion about who should be in management positions pretty much means nothing to anyone above them. Actually, their opinion about who should even be cart attendant or cashier pretty much no longer means anything either, let alone who should be an ETL.
2. He is an ETL. He has zero authority to change company policy on the requirements for people to hold a position. (especially for someone holding the same "level" position as him) If it is policy in your group/district (which it sounds like it is) your DTL/GTL isn't going to simply change it because an ETL (especially one who is on the way out the door) wants them to.
3. The fact he is leaving the company pretty much means he is already no longer on favorable terms with his higher ups and/or the company, or he wouldn't be on his way out the door.
4. You have basically been a TL for 10 years. Ask yourself this - if they truly want you to promote so bad that they are talking about trying to find a way around company policy (the degree requirement), why the hell have they not already at least made you a Sr TL, which would be *much* easier for them to do without a degree?
5. They actually told you that it is all going to come down to your self-review? Wow, they are not even trying that hard to make the carrot and stick believable anymore. Dude, if they wanted you that bad, your damn self review wouldn't mean a damn thing. After 10 years, they should already know if they want to promote you or not. Or do you think your self review will actually tell them something they haven't already seen? You know what this is? It's called laying the groundwork to screw you. It will be "Oh gee, we really were going to promote you to ETL... but gosh, your self review just wasn't written that well so we can't do it anymore. But hey, work really really hard over this next year and maybe you can write an even better review so we can promote you to ETL!"
Sorry, but this has all the signs of the famous Target "carrot and a stick" garbage that they pull with damn near everyone. Take a look around this forum, read how many people have been promised that they are on the fast track to promote to GSA/TL/SrTL/etc and that all their leadership tells them that they want them so bad.... and then suddenly at the last minute the rug is pulled from under them and they are told "Oh don't worry, you are on the fast track in just a few more months!"
Dude, they are playing you. It is basically against company policy to promote someone to ETL without a degree. That's the sad reality of it. Want ETL that bad? Get a degree. If not, start pushing them for SrTL (which, btw, many people would say is better than ETL for several reasons anyway...).