Archived Prospective ETL: should I send letters of recommendation to recruiter?

[ETLfonhom]

I'm in the initial stages of interviewing for an ETL position. I have 4 years (non-management) retail experience, but I'm coming from a first year teaching position at a private IB diploma school. I love the job, and they've offered me a new contract... but my wife is pregnant and teaching history doesn't pay the bills, nor does it provide much opportunity for growth of any kind.

Several of my administrators have offered to write letters of recommendation/ performance reviews for me as I search for a higher paying job this summer. Should I pass these along to the recruiter who I have been dealing with?

 

[RetailWorld]

Wouldn't hurt, but TBH, it probably won't help. Your attitude and "VIBE'ness" is really what they're looking for when they interview you.

 

[ETLfonhom]

So it would be better if I watched a bunch of target commercials?

 

[ETLfonhom]

I can practice smiling like the people in the ads too

 

[Mhugh220]

Look online for the questions they ask during the interview. They are STAR questions so being prepared with answers may have greater weight than recommendations. Also learn the lingo - guests, leadership not customers and management. Do some research on Target initiatives, current focuses, community involvement, and ask questions if they say "do you have questions?"

Make the interview more of a dialog and a casual conversation. Remember, a large percentage of ETLs are young, inexperienced, attractive, and bubbly. If you have leadership experience talk about it. Talk about the situation, your action, and the impact it had (STAR).

Letters of recommendation won't hurt.

My questions:

what degree do you have that you want to throw it away on retail management? Hopefully business or underwater basket weaving.

How's your current insurance? My wife and I specifically didn't get pregnant on Target insurance because it was $500 a month and a pregnancy was $8000 out of pocket. My previous insurance was free (military) and my current employer insurance covers pregnancy. Not all experience this with Target- this was just the coverage in my area.

$50k in retail is less than $50k in a normal job. I'd rather work 40 hours or less for $50k than 50+ hours. Time away from family wasn't worth it - that's coming from ex military who was deployed for 3 years of his 4 year enlistment. Target was more demanding.

 

[ETLfonhom]

Look online for the questions they ask during the interview. They are STAR questions so being prepared with answers may have greater weight than recommendations. Also learn the lingo - guests, leadership not customers and management. Do some research on Target initiatives, current focuses, community involvement, and ask questions if they say "do you have questions?"

Make the interview more of a dialog and a casual conversation. Remember, a large percentage of ETLs are young, inexperienced, attractive, and bubbly. If you have leadership experience talk about it. Talk about the situation, your action, and the impact it had (STAR).

Letters of recommendation won't hurt.

My questions:

what degree do you have that you want to throw it away on retail management? Hopefully business or underwater basket weaving.

How's your current insurance? My wife and I specifically didn't get pregnant on Target insurance because it was $500 a month and a pregnancy was $8000 out of pocket. My previous insurance was free (military) and my current employer insurance covers pregnancy. Not all experience this with Target- this was just the coverage in my area.

$50k in retail is less than $50k in a normal job. I'd rather work 40 hours or less for $50k than 50+ hours. Time away from family wasn't worth it - that's coming from ex military who was deployed for 3 years of his 4 year enlistment. Target was more demanding.

I don't know if it's smart to identify myself by naming my degrees or location... However I will say that I double majored in two fields and that being well educated is not so uncommon when you live in a college town.

No matter how you look at it, 50k a year is 20k more than 30k and I need to find a job that will get my wife and I out of this one bedroom apartment and into an area with better schools. That baby is coming, and this place isn't getting any bigger. My current employer graciously offered me a $600 (annual) pity raise and I had to fight for it. I'm not a certified teacher, otherwise I'd be moving towards the public school system... However I'm not planning to be a teacher for the rest of my life and pursuing a MAT or an M.Ed would lock me into teaching forever... Hence my gravitation towards retail.

I have an upgraded insurance package through the affordable care act and it's very good pregnancy wise. The premiums may go up if I earn more but the pregnancy expenses cap at $800 total so I feel like it's worth holding onto until the baby is born. If I ended up at Target, I could enroll in their plan after the baby was born.

I work about 55 hours a week as a teacher, the only difference is that I get to work casually from home for 15 of those hours... That being said, I'm not making enough money... if you divide the hours that I work by the amount of money that I make, you can see that I'm not doing very well. Also, unlike public school teachers... I don't get paid over the summer so I have to save enough during the year... This year, I was paying down credit card debt, and I didn't save enough. Now I'm stuck applying for crappy part time jobs doing manual labor hoping to make up the difference.

The most appealing position to me at Target is ETL HR. Either way, I need an income boost and some kind of non-academic work experience in order to move forward with my life... Being an ETL would put food on the table in a better neighborhood, I can figure the rest out later.

 

[PinkZinnia]

Walk around target stores during peak hours.. See how tl's, gstls' and etl's run around. Look at their faces.. Look at all of the employees faces.. Do they look tired? Stressed?
Etl's put in many many hours.. Sometimes closing then opening again. I think they have 10 hour shifts.. Don't quote me on that.. You can do that back to back.
The job is to put out fires with guests, team members, and your counterparts. Your stl and district people will come down on you if your numbers aren't up high enough or your color isn't right (meaning green or red scores)
It's a thankless job that has you running in a million directions..

You can have the administrators write you a letter, it might do good, it might not. If you want to advance in target, especially as an etl and higher, it not only take a long time but you will have to be mobile.. Most etl's are in their store approximately 18 months then they are asked to relocate.. I have seen them go to stores in the district, but it could be to other stores out of range of your home - willing to pack up and move on every two years? Unless you become a lifer in the position.. Then I don't think the raises come as fast and the ones who move.. You sort of stagnate..

And you have to do things targets way..use targets terminology , and can't reinvent the wheel. You are pretty much a puppet. A puppet who has to keep their numbers up, make sure the whole store understands that vibing and redcards are the only thing to live for..

I would never tell anyone to leave a job they loved to work in any retail establishment - no matter what the position is or how much money they offered. Do you know what the money is? Starting etl's don't usually make much. I want to say about 33,000.00 but that would depend where you lived. . Not sure of their increases but I would think it would depend on their performance and how the store does. Raises in our store this year ranged between 0 and 3% across the board.

If it were me who was in a job I loved, I would get a second job and a summer job to pay the bills.. In the long run you will probably make more money teaching, and have pretty much the same benefits.

I wish you good luck if it is what you want to do.

 

[ETLfonhom]

It's the same with any big box retail, I know it isn't glamorous.

I would have to see a significant pay increase to sign up with Target. Maybe not 50k to start, but I definitely wouldn't even consider for 33k.

 

[Mhugh220]

@ETLfonhom - if your store is in a larger city expect a minimum of $50K. The ETLs in my small hometown start at $48K and the store neighbors farms (PA). No joke. We started at $58k-72k depending on experience (military, retail, leadership). This is for the DMV area. Bonuses are similar to other companies 2-5% average. STLs can make 20-30% bonus with a starting salary of $105K. ETLs tend to cap out near $100K.

If it's money that you're after, retail is the place. Teachers are underpaid. You need to support your family. Hopefully everything works out during the interview process. I wasn't literal with my questions, just thinking out loud.

Target was a stop along the way. I got lucky with my current employer. Makes me believe God gets us to where we need to be. Sometimes we get lost along the way but eventually we find our way. Sorry for the religious stuff.

I wanted to be a teacher when I was in college. Then life happened and I wouldn't have been able to support my wife and future family (at the time). If teaching paid what it should then I'd be all over it.

 

[unknown]

I hated teaching. I got out after a couple years. Is Target perfect? Nope. I'm making more now than my last year teaching though.

 

[commiecorvus]

My wife taught, my daughter is a teacher, and many of my friends are teachers.
They love (d) their jobs and wouldn't want to do anything else even with all the drawbacks.
Despite that I wouldn't recommend teaching to most people.
It is not a good way to get rich and the only reason the public school teachers get paid during the summer is because they have their paychecks split up that way.
Most of them have to have summer jobs to survive too.
My wife taught summer school and my daughter waits tables.

Retail may be where the money is but in terms of quality of life, not so much.
And sure when I got home I didn't have to grade papers or worry if the girl in third hour was getting jumped into the Bloods tomorrow like my wife did but I sure didn't get the same satisfaction she did from my work.

 

[ETLfonhom]

One year of teaching has definitely taught me more than any other job I've ever had... That being said I feel as if I've already capitalized on the greatest portion of knowledge and experience available at any given time. In order to further refine the skill, and truly gain the wisdom of a teacher, I would need to dedicate a lifetime to the profession.

Its been an amazing experience, but I need to pay the bills.

 

[PinkZinnia]

It is a tough choice. You will not have the luxury of set schedules - that's for sure. You will miss out on a lot of you kids - future kids milestones. That family party. You might be working. Thanksgiving that you always spent with family - kiss that good bye with any retail job. Along with most holidays.

Most management jobs work long hours. Divide that into your pay and you probably won't be making much more then a team leader.

The recruiter will paint a beautiful picture for you. For every positive he or she says, look for the negative.

As I said. It's a tough choice. Surely there has to be other choices besides retail?
You can always try it. If you don't like it you can always make another move.
My mom made excellent money teaching. Had a great health plan, and a great retirement plan. Maybe because it was NYC schools

 

[paidtosmile]

Good luck! Like everyone else has said, though, the money of upper retail management comes at the cost of a work-life balance. My old ETL-HR worked 18 consecutive hours the day before thanksgiving, and 14 Thursday night-Friday morning. Followed by a 20 hour weekend. It's great pay, just know what kind of time commitment you're making with an executive schedule