Archived New Sr. Team Lead

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Hello Red and Khaki faithful!

I have been with Target almost six months now and it has been both a fun and interesting experience. I am a recent college graduate who applied for ETL but was offered the job as a Sr. Team Lead to get some management/leadership experience.. When I was offered the job they told me I would be in Hardlines however a few weeks before my start date they decided to give me softlines instead.. Right now I am the only guy on the softlines team, and sometimes feel a bit odd working in Womens departments (Intimates, RTW, Active Wear).. I am wondering if there are other stores that have men working in these departments as well?

Also... Despite being offered the job as a Sr. Team Lead my goal is to still work my way up to ETL.. So I am wondering if anyone has seen a Sr. Team Leader advance to ETL? ..and how long it took for them to advance? Any tips would be great too!
 
Greetings and salutations.


Never seen it happen myself.
Anyone else?
 
I have seen it. Not often, but it can. Expect it to take at least 18 months because Spot wants you be successful in your current role before even considering it and they are getting pretty strict about enforcing 18 month rotations.
 
Yes I have been told about the 18 month rotations.. However I feel it doesn't make much sense. My Store's ETL - Hardlines took a social work job for 6 months right out of school before applying for ETL.. and got it! However I have to work for a year and half getting actual Target experience right out of school? Would it make more sense to leave and then re-apply for ETL later?
 
Had a male Softlines TL at my store. He seemed to do well, but IIRC he told me he hated being in softlines lol. He was a Sales Floor TM before he became TL.
 
Welcome to The Break Room!

Had a male Softlines TL at my store. He seemed to do well, but IIRC he told me he hated being in softlines lol. He was a Sales Floor TM before he became TL.

We have a male softlines TL too. He used to be a cart attendant. To think that he went from cleaning up **** to hanging cardigans (well, with a few developmental stops in between).
 
My fiance was moved to softlines TL. He said he liked it better than hardlines because he didn't have to deal with as much political bull**** and coverage issues.
 
Welcome to the break room... Can't say I have any advice on the TL to ETL situation but our store also has a few men in SL. Granted the department is largely staffed by women but that seems to be the norm most places.
 
Thank you sir.. It's good to be here!

It seems like noone really has much advice as far as TL to ETL... I'm guessing it doesn't happen too often. :(

Haha and that's good to hear that you have some men working in your SL.. Glad I'm not the only one!
 
Thank you sir.. It's good to be here!

It seems like noone really has much advice as far as TL to ETL... I'm guessing it doesn't happen too often. :(

Haha and that's good to hear that you have some men working in your SL.. Glad I'm not the only one!


LOL, I'll take the "sir" in military fashion, but RightArm is actually a ma'am. And, no, you're not the only one. Someone else on here was talking about their SLTL being a man and one of my SL-ETL's was a man. *Sigh* we actually do miss him. His new store's gain was certainly our loss. :(
 
Haha sorry RightArm.. :)

Actually the TL who trained me in SL was a guy too.. and he was really cool! Maybe they just put really cool guys as TL's in Softlines?? ...totally kidding btw
 
No worries... just thought it was funny. :) And I wouldn't call that a kidding comment. In my experience thus far (which isn't necessarily saying a lot) it does take a cool guy to work in Softlines. Stick around unless you get a better job offer somewhere else... the management experience isn't such a bad idea. At least when you do advance you won't be so clueless as to what those working for you are going through. I think that's one of my biggest peeves with many of our ETL's. Most of them haven't any idea what they're asking from their team... or what they're team goes through on a daily basis just to accomplish the things they do accomplish. In the long run you'll be a better manager for it.
 
Thank's for the support! I actually do feel a lot better about being in SL now.. :)

Yeah the management experience will look very nice on my resume. But I think I'm still going to stick it out for a while to try and make ETL.. and YES having this experience is going to make me a lot different than most of the ETL's that Target hires (If they do ever decide to promote me).. After spending six months reshopping intimates and folding shirts, I think I'm willing to do anything now.. Haha yeah we have a few clueless ETL's at my store too!
 
Glad I could help :) The experience will definitely make you a better manager, not only that but your people will respect you more knowing that you've really 'been there done that' as they say. And if 'reshopping intimates' makes you willing to do anything... imagine what stacking the panty bins will do. :laugh3:
 
someone at the store i work at went from softlines Sr. TL to ETL in less than 7 months. I think it had something to do with one of the ETL's bailing on us so the position was vacant.
 
I think it has to be a year to 18 months. My mentor went from team member to team lead to senior team lead to ETL. So I have seen it before. She's mentored a guy who has done the same and hopefully I'm next lol. If you show strong results with great notice from your ETLs STL and DTL there's a chance you can go to ETL within 1 year. A ETL who was recently placed was senior TL for 13 months before being promoted.
 
I have jumped from regular TL to ETL after 12 months and getting my degree. I have seen multiple male TM's in softlines, most guests/tm's dont mind as long as you are respectful to guests while in those areas and arent immature to your TM about it. I dropped back down to TL just after a year because being an ETL sucks and the life of them is short. But I was recently promoted to Sr TL, and I can tell you that i have seen many go to ETL if they have a degree, but this just means they have doubts about you, you need to prove to them you can act like an ETL before they give it to you, thats targets philospohy, do the job first, then you can get it. I'm staying a Sr TL, becuase that means I still get every other weekend, less bs work, easier visits, decent pay, and almost guaranteed 35 -40 hours a week (ie not 50-60) youll almost wind up making more hourly than an ETL if youve been there a while
 
Yeah I've heard from a couple sources that the minimum amount of time before promotion for an internal candidate varies by district.. A girl I work with said that at her old store a Sr. Team Leader in Hardlines got promoted to ETL-AP after just 8 months.. However she said she has a friend who has been a Sr. Team Leader for over a year and has yet to even go for ETL interviews.

It's kinda hard for me to stand out to my STL/DTL because I took over a Softlines Department that has been Green for many years.. Even tho it has remained green under my supervision, I haven't really improved anything.. It's just kinda stayed the same..
 
Tgt4Life thanks for the post! I'm glad to hear that there are other male TM/TL on the carpet with me! The only time guests have given me some weird looks is when I have been zoning the underwear bins in intimates.. and really I don't blame them! I think it's kind of weird too! lol

Yeah I agree that working the 50 - 60 hours a week sucks! But folding clothes and doing reshop for 8 hours gets to be pretty long too! I think there's pros and cons to both positions, and it really just depends on what you want.

You said you've seen many TL's with a degree get moved up to ETL? Just curious if you know how long it took before they were sent for interviews?

Haha and it's funny you bring up pay. One day me and my ETL Hardlines broke down our salaries and it turned out he was only making 90 cents more per hour than I was!
 
Look through best practices is your flow team pushing to adjacency?? If not develop the softlines pushers and next DTL visit let her know projects your working on.
 
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