Archived GSA as a stepping stone

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Bob Marley

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I've heard a lot of people say GSA is a good stepping stone for becoming a team lead, but at my store none of the team leads in any department (that I know of) were originally GSA's. So as a GSA myself, I'm wondering if anyone has had GSA's transition to become TLs for other departments, and what was the transition like?
 
One of my stores GSTLS was a GSA for like 9 months, until the last GSTL went on LOA and never came back and he got the position.

My other GSTL claims she's been a GSA...
 
The only GSAs who move up at my store are the 'pets'; the others languish.
 
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I was GSA for about a year before being a GSTL. At my store every free GSTL spot gets filled with a GSA. One of them is put in the pipeline and thought of as the organic first choice for GSTL. I've not seen GSA switch to any TL role other than GSTL but I'm sure it happens.

To be the GSA that gets chosen, you have to build strong relationships with leaders as well as perform well. Be persistent.
 
I was a GSA for 2 years before I became the Starbucks TL. I felt that GSA was a good stepping stone, but that's mostly because I had a great STL and ETL-HR at the time and they both helped develop me on their LOD shifts.
 
We've had GSAs to GSTL, SFTL, and one to the ETL bench.
 
Our GSA become a CTL and then a sr TL over 3 months.

The reason GSAs (Good ones) get promoted is because more they are pretty much gstls without the pay and coaching ability.

It helps as a GSA if you can drive sales starting with the front lane end caps.
 
Our GSA become a CTL and then a sr TL over 3 months.

The reason GSAs (Good ones) get promoted is because more they are pretty much gstls without the pay and coaching ability.

It helps as a GSA if you can drive sales starting with the front lane end caps.
Can you expand on other ways a GSA can above and beyond?

I was talking to our cashiers and it seems like the gsa's currently don't keep ads and red card brochures at every register, so she takes a brochure every Sunday and prepares herself goth e week by clipping all the % off coupons and keeping those in a pile and then doing the same with the gift card ads. I thought this was really clever because of a guest challenges a sale or coupon deal, she's all organized and good to go to just fact check without calling over a GSA/GSTL (which everyone's more than welcome to do, but it's also never a bad thing to be an independent cashier if you can). I could do this for every register, right?

And do you just mean by keeping those end caps zoned and full?
 
At my store I've only ever seen one GSA promoted to GSTL in the three years that I've been there. I remember once a GSTL left and we had 3 GSAs and everybody assumed one of them would get the position but it turned out none of them did. Target hired someone outside the store. You could see the defeated look on all their faces after that. Most of them quit after they get burned out and then we hire a new crop of them. Rinse and repeat. Sounds like other Target stores promote from within more often than mine does.
 
And do you just mean by

Yes but also i specifically remember this GSA worked with Plano and ended up setting the front lane end caps with chips and salsa for the super bowl when we had something dumb up their like la croix. It showed he can think about the business on a larger scale
 
gsa is a good role because you're a manager, but only paid the same as flow/electronics. we've had a lot of tl's who are good at working but not good at being a manager. we've also had a lot of good gsa's toiling away as a good manager and not made tl.

Target doesn't give you a ton of manager experience. I learned a lot from being a gsa. It made being a tl a lot easier.
 
It is a good stepping stone for getting another management position outside of Target. For example, I currently am a Head Cashier (GSA equivalent, but I make GSTL pay) at Lowe's Home Improvement. If Target offers a TL position, you should absolutely take it. But more often than not, they will just dangle that carrot over your head, and you will be stuck in the GSA role indefinitely.
 
I've only seen one GSA actually promote to TL. Everyone else in that role that wants to promote seems to get a bigger head than their neck can support and ends up disliked by their cashiers and are a point of annoyance to leadership.

Sorry, but I don't think GSA is a good path. There's only so much you can do performance-wise. You're stuck at the lanes, you're graded on performance by a metric that you have no control over, and your store and process knowledge is usually limited to that small corner of the store.
 
can support and ends up disliked by their cashiers and are a point of annoyance to leadership.

That is true. The 3 GSAs who promoted at my stores were all huge kiss ups to lesdership. I am sure that didn't hurt
 
My old GSTL was promoted from a gsa to the position. I went from a gsa to SrPPTL. Depends on your experience and ability to lead a team what you can do. After almost a year they moved all of us TLs around and now I'm back at the front as SrGSTL.
 
basically the gsa is you get to pay someone the same as electronics/flow/and other paygrades to be a manager. so how do you lead a team and how do you handle guest complaints.

that said anyone else can be identified without having to be a manager for 50 cents more an hour and having to impress.
 
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