Archived GSA questions and general know how!

[Jefmanly]

Hey its me again ....

And a GSA position is opening at the store i work at, that i have applied for i just wanted to know what is the day to day jobs they do. And for the people that remember the questions you go asked for the position what where they. And what could i do to stand out from the compaction.

 

[thecleaner]

Closing shifts for GSA and opening shifts are a little different, but the basics are getting change for TMs, backup cashiering, clearing reshop/hangers from lanes, zoning and filling end caps/trading card wall/One Spot, assisting with price checks for cashiers, speaking with angry guests (such as if they were denied a return), and doing restroom checks.

Closing shifts include ensuring defectives have been processed and closing down lanes. Opening includes pushing One Spot on truck days, resetting end caps, and stocking lanes with bags and such.

My store does not have a cart attendant other than during Holiday season, so some of these duties may vary by store.

I don't remember the questions asked during the interview specifically, but I know they like answers that are pro multi-tasking and making things right for the guest (within reason).

 

[redeye58]

Interview questions are in the "Tell me about a time you (handled a situation a certain way)" format:
about a situation you handled successfully/unsuccessfully
implementing a disliked policy
ways you completed a task successfully
-to name a few

 

[Retail Girl]

In addition to the "tell me about a time" questions, they also asked me why I wanted the position (correct answer should have been because I am crazy).

GSA responsibilities seem to vary a bit from store to store. At my store, we run the lanes/front end when we are scheduled as the GSA, because there is no GSTL there. If we aren't scheduled as GSA, we are scheduled as service desk or cashier, and then support who is ever running the lanes. At other stores, it seems as if the GSA is primarily support for a GSTL who is running the lanes.

We also have no cart attendant unless it is fourth quarter, so we are also responsible for the brand.

 

[paidtosmile]

I wouldn't spend too much time worrying about the interview. It's not a position that actually requires any formal interviewing so don't pull your hair out 🙂 Just be prepared to work hard for that extra 50-75 cents!

 

[mrknownothing]

Check out this thread: http://www.thebreakroom.org/index.php?threads/gstl-gsa.502/

 

[Cel]

75 cents?! I want my extra 25 cents now 🙁.

Umm, let's see, I'm probably the most recently promoted GSA around here, so I guess I should remember the interview process best, but they were done by 2 seperate ETLs in the literal 11th hour of a 15.5 hour day, so that made them a bit fuzzier. TBH for the most part the questions they asked me seemed exactly like the ones I'd been asked in my original interview as a hardlines TM by an ETL-HR who had since left the company. I will say that the thing that got me the job according to my ETL-GE over the other applicant had to do with the scope of my answers as far as understanding the importance of the front end in driving overall store sales. First & last impression of the store and the team, etc.

Disclaimer: My store is D volume so adjust expectations accordingly.

My responsibilities are similar to Retail Girl's. Discounting 15 mins-1.25 hours of overlap at the start/end of my shift sometimes, there's no GSTL around when I'm doing a GSA shift (or occasionally one at service desk). So we run the lanes independently same as a GSTL would. I also pretty often don't have a cart attendant (never one scheduled but sometimes cart certified cashiers every so often), so at times hours of my shift will be spent outside with the cart pusher and emptying trashcans. Restrooms, spill stations on opening shifts, all those cart attendant duties fall to us with some split with the SDTM based on how we work out things between each other.

In my store defectives are generally handled by the SDTM so that's one thing I haven't needed to deal with (yet. I have a closing service desk shift next weekend). I'm pretty global so I'm usually up front anywhere from 2-5 days a week, only 2-3 of which are usually GSA shifts.

Also GSAs handle cash office shifts, although my training isn't complete on that so I'll just tell you that when you observe a shift there you'll probably feel overwhelmed a bit like I did. According to target (this is on the GSA learning plan) it takes 23 hours of training to be cash-office ready. Real-world you'll probably need at least a few shifts there before flying solo.

 

[Retail Girl]

My store doesn't have GSAs doing cash office, but they are supposed to be training me for that now before hell freezes over. We'll see.

 

[Barcode]

RG you have old CO specialists grandfathered in still?

We had 1-2, one was Cashier, other was Starbucks...

Meant I only got 1 CO shift a week really.

 

[Cel]

I've still only had 1 CO shift to observe but we don't have any specialists left, just the GSAs/GSTLs. Supposed to be getting trained for it sometime.

 

[thecleaner]

We have one CO specialist that mostly does cashiering now because our STL is trying to follow the Best Practice guide that says GSAs should be doing it. I actually like it. It's quiet in there (aside from the cash counter), and I can drink my coffee while I work.

I had two shifts with a CO trainer and then I was on my own.

 

[paidtosmile]

We have an old CO specialist still with us. A couple of the leads want to performance her out and get me to start doing it everyday, though..

Once you get the just of CO it's pretty simple. I think they had me do 3 sales days worth of training and by then I was ready to fly solo... learning CO STRONGLY depends on the quality of your trainer.

 

[mrknownothing]

When specialists were eliminated, our old CO specialist became a GSA. He only works on the days that he's in 239, then he cashes for the rest of his shift and covers GSTL breaks.