Archived Good things and benefits with being an ETL

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Him

Him

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Ok so I've heard A Lot of stories about being an ETL for Target. I would like to actually hear the Good things about being one for a change. Those enrolled or interning to become one, please share your good vibes..
 
Hey!

ETL-AP here.

Here are some perks:
Salary - started at 61k, had experience in LP prior and have a masters (not sure if the masters part matters).
Comp days!!! (Free vacation days earned on a holiday. Labor day for example! Unfortunately, I work).
If you have a close ETL team, like we do, you can leave when the closing ETL comes (when you open). Finish your work first of course
You get every other weekend off. Considering you work in retail, this is pretty good. Holidays WILL be different though.
Development. You have a chance to move up - same chance as everyone else.
Your own office. Hopefully you don't get a closet.

Can't really think of much else at the moment. I hope you consider. It's not as bad as some people make it out to be. It is what you make of it!
 
Interned and got a job offer and the intern experience was great and the pitch they gave me when offering the job for ETL was icing on the cake.
-3wks paid vacation starting your first day
-unlimited sick pay
-401K benefits
-annual bonus
-annual raise
-you get flexible pay and if you're a trainer for the district you actually get a pay raise
-the recognition you get when you and your team do great work is actually seen by you and not just conveyed to you.
-you don't have to worry about your peers trying to stab you in the back because when your an ETL if you're failing then the entire team is failing so everyone is trying to help each other out
-constant development and opportunities to reach out to your peers throughout the district for help and hints with any problems you might encounter
-you can actually manage your own business. the STL doesn't care how you run your business as long as you're running it successfully.
-during ETL meetings you actually know 95% of what's going on in the store because of the other ETLs explaining what's happening in there workcenters.....the other 5% only the STL will know and they'll only explain it if need be....trust me
-you actually get to understand the business of target and not just zone, work strays, check out a guest

the list goes on......
 
Poohdini said:
Hey!

ETL-AP here.

Here are some perks:
Salary - started at 61k, had experience in LP prior and have a masters (not sure if the masters part matters).
Comp days!!! (Free vacation days earned on a holiday. Labor day for example! Unfortunately, I work).
If you have a close ETL team, like we do, you can leave when the closing ETL comes (when you open). Finish your work first of course
You get every other weekend off. Considering you work in retail, this is pretty good. Holidays WILL be different though.
Development. You have a chance to move up - same chance as everyone else.
Your own office. Hopefully you don't get a closet.

Can't really think of much else at the moment. I hope you consider. It's not as bad as some people make it out to be. It is what you make of it!
Click to expand...

Everything is the same at our store for the ETL's besides the own office. Our ETL's have to share one office. It's a small office and only one computer but they don't seem to mind.
 
I was told the only people who get their own computers are GE, AP, HR, and the STL. In my store each ETL gets their own office. The key carriers TLs share two offices and they even gave me one when I became an intern because we have so many. There's even an empty one that used to be for pharmacy before they crossed over.
 
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Litte info about me.. I once was a TL, but demoted myself as to still keep my job because quite honestly, I think I was going to be managed out. (My performance was subpar to say the least) Anyway I'm at a completely new store and have the "itch" to supervise again, only I see the true power in affecting change is in being an ETL. (As a TL, I also was placed not over 1 area, but several areas.. Sometimes within the same shift) You all can see my frustration as I really found I never was given a true chance I found to grow. This new store I am at, A TL is placed in one area.. And stays in ONE area. I.E. Backroom has one TL and that TL is only for the Backroom.
 
Him said:
Litte info about me.. I once was a TL, but demoted myself as to still keep my job because quite honestly, I think I was going to be managed out. (My performance was subpar to say the least) Anyway I'm at a completely new store and have the "itch" to supervise again, only I see the true power in affecting change is in being an ETL. (As a TL, I also was placed not over 1 area, but several areas.. Sometimes within the same shift) You all can see my frustration as I really found I never was given a true chance I found to grow. This new store I am at, A TL is placed in one area.. And stays in ONE area. I.E. Backroom has one TL and that TL is only for the Backroom.
Click to expand...

Unbelievable :eek:
 
Hardlinesmaster, I know. Smashandthrash, truly... I am currently speaking with my leaders now in regards to my proper development and to go back for an interview for a TL position as I doubt they would put me in a ETL position without me 1) having a degree and 2) being successful as a TL first. I figured I'd have to prove myself all over again and that's exactly what I'm doing.
 
CoquiAzul said:
My ETL-HR told me that degrees are no longer required to be considered for an ETL position.
Click to expand...
:eek:o_O:eek:o_O THAT'S ACTUALLY GREAT!!!! In my district, probably even my group whenever my DTL visits she'll inquire about which TLs are doing great, then she'll ask if they have a degree and when we say no, she'll make this huffing noise like she wanted to do more but couldn't. I think it's a group rule though because there's been 6 TLs in our district in the last 4 months to be promoted to ETL.
 
Him said:
Ok so I've heard A Lot of stories about being an ETL for Target. I would like to actually hear the Good things about being one for a change. Those enrolled or interning to become one, please share your good vibes..
Click to expand...
I started with an awful experience last year October. Put into a red store. Poor leadership team. STL and a couple ETL's were term'd shortly after my arrival. I was one of few actually working to save work centers. I was hired as ETL HR but kind of assumed all the sales floor myself then my DTL realized what was going on and brought in another ETL HR for support help so that I could focus more on the sales floor because of how I'd been improving. However a lot of it stemmed from me putting in 14+ hour days. I even had a couple opens where I got there at 5:30am and left with the closing LOD at 11pm-12am. I'd come in on my days off just to get stuff done without being LOD or without people having pre-planned stuff they needed from me.

On top of that I was taking online classes and it was killing me. I had no life, I was getting sick from stress etc. I broke down to my DTL when she came in to do a status with me since we still had no STL and she was semi acting as our STL. I told my DTL I knew I couldn't keep it up and that I wasn't willing to leave school completely behind and I didn't want to work and not be successful because I couldn't spend enough time at work. I just had no TL support or fellow ETL support. There was no pipeline/etc.

My DTL made special arrangements and got me moved to a different store that is 30 minutes from the school I wanted to go to. It's a store that isn't allotted an ETL AP - just an AP TL. However I'm "support helping" as an ETL-AP lol despite the fact this store runs very smooth. It's a lower volume store but it's one of the top performing stores when it comes to having its processes down in our district. I have a weird schedule for an ETL as my DTL made arrangements with my STL to keep my schedule as friendly as possible for my school schedule which is a pretty typical schedule. I work dayside 3 days a week and I close 2 nights a week but I come in later. The only tradeoff is some weeks I don't get my 2 days off a week because I come in on Saturdays/Sundays even when it's my rotating weekend off just because I only end up with about 40 hours during the week. My STL and DTL aren't expecting me to always be able to commit to the 50hour a week requirement but I usually hit it or get close.

I'm giving you my target life story to just explain that Target really wants people to successfully run its business. Target wants to invest in you if you will genuinely care and put in the time and effort needed to grow. I know I'm not the only one getting special unique perks like this. There are some standards/protocol but a lot of it can be flexible if your DTL and Group Leader want it to be. Despite being in a good store with great leadership, great TM's, and just in general having the right people in the right places I still give it 100% every day I'm in my red and khaki and it pays off.

Even when I was in my last store despite how horrible it was there were still some great things about it. Primarily some of my team. + just how much power you have at your fingertips to change things. I don't mean going on power trips. I mean that if you can learn how to really "run your business" how you can impact your work center and others. It's so rewarding to flip a disaster around for example. Then just the ability to build great relationships with your team. I already have team members from my first store who are always contacting me to tell me that they put me down as a reference or just to tell me about exciting stuff going on with them and/or checking up on me. It just feels great.

Here are some various perks that might be more relevant to the core of your post:

Great benefits - Target really has some great benefits in my opinion along with the 401k plan.

Mobility - I can literally move almost anywhere and there's a good chance I won't have to find a new job. If you are a known performer and on good terms with your superiors they'll be very happy to work with you as long as you bring value to the company.

Talent Development - to continue off mobility, ETL's are not hired to be ETLs forever.
Will there be a few lifer ETLs? Yes, often these are ETLs that as bad as it sounds to say would not cut it as an STL and instead will likely be ETL trainers/ Sr ETLs. Nothing really bad about that it's just being a good STL is a lot different than being a good ETL and being an ETL is a great job once you have it down and your work center locked down in a good state and the compensation potential is still fantastic.
However if hired as an ETL you will be watched closely at a store level and district level to observe your potential for development. This is even true after an STL is promoted granted there will be many more life-STL's than ETL's. There are many levels to Target leadership and ETL is often the first stepping stone for many of these.
People will bash Target's hiring methods here a lot however it has seemed to work thus far. Yes it sometimes hurts at the store level however the payoff is there as you move up the ladder.

Time Off - this is a kinda/sorta thing. Vacation/rotating weekends/etc are all part of the benefits but it's not as good as your typical monday through friday banker hour job but it's pretty great for any kind of retail.

Life experience - you literally can gain so much through your experiences at an ETL level, I can speak so much more for leadership, business, management, etc thanks to what I've experienced in not even a year at Target.

I didn't plan to write so much when I started this but now I have to go so ending it here.
In closing: Personally I love Target and I think the good far outweighs the bad being an ETL.

That said though ASANTS. It's sad but I've worked in multiple stores in less than a year and I've seen vast differences. If I was still in my original store and my leaders wouldn't have worked with me the way they had I probably would have left for my own sanity in the last few months. The pay is great but not worth ruining your life for.
 
Thank you everyone for sharing and continue to share your stories.. Like I have previously stated, I will continue to do all I can to move up unless I find something better outside of Spot... Sabria, your story is truly moving and inspirational! These are the sort of vibes I was hoping to instill not only in myself but for anyone else when I created this thread!!
 
sabria said:
Talent Development - to continue off mobility, ETL's are not hired to be ETLs forever.
Will there be a few lifer ETLs? Yes, often these are ETLs that as bad as it sounds to say would not cut it as an STL and instead will likely be ETL trainers/ Sr ETLs. Nothing really bad about that it's just being a good STL is a lot different than being a good ETL and being an ETL is a great job once you have it down and your work center locked down in a good state and the compensation potential is still fantastic."
Click to expand...

It's not always about not being STL material. There are quite a few ETL's who have no interest in being an STL (especially those who don't like to kiss ass, because quite honestly kissing ass gets you far with target). One of the ETL's that was in our district wasn't the best performing ETL, but she could kiss it and put on that sort of fake face around TM's and Guests, needless to say she was fast tracked to an STL role which she now holds (though to give her credit, she's really great at staying organized, but very strict to her plans and not open for much flexibility). When I went through training, I trained with the best ETL Logistics in our district, dude was a tank, but he had zero interest in being STL, he was more looking to go into the BP route (which I too am interested in).
 
I have an HRBP at my DC and that's the only one I've ever seen. I think.
 
CoquiAzul said:
We use de to have a Food BP but they cut that role a few years back.
Click to expand...
It'll probably be back with the amount of emphasis they're placing on grocery now and with the grocery director role opening up in all of the groups.
 
CoquiAzul said:
Business Partner. APBP, PMBP, HRBP. Not sure if there are others.
Click to expand...

Theres an operations BP as well. Not sure of the official title but they deal with a lot of logistics stuff and rollouts, general store stuff. Then there's all the group leader positions.
 
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