Question about policy on promoting to PML

[Jlogg]

Hello all!

Last November our PML promoted to Remodel ETL for our district, I applied for his position (with his indorsement) and everything went well and I got great feedback from my interviews! (I've worked for the company for 7.5 years working in everything from Inbound, Gen Merch, Backroom, POG, Remodel, Electronics etc and have both prior management and construction experience) however they went with a different applicant and the only reason that I was given by HR is because our district PML doesn't like promoting within the same store. This is confusing because the PML who I was trying to replace was promoted to PML from AP within our store!

I was told there would be a number of PML positions opening up at other stores in our district within this year and our DPML had a specific store in mind for me, the PML at that store was supposed to be retiring but at the last minute he decided to delay his retirement to sometime this fall. I've just found out that after a year of waiting he has decided to delay his retirement yet again to mid 2024! Obviously I'm not going to waste anymore of my time waiting for this position at target (and I can't go for TL because our district is over headcount on managers) however something that's been bugging me is the reason given for why I wasn't promoted.

I know that TLs cannot promote to ETL within their same store but is this Targets policy for PMLs? Is there anything policy wise that would prevent a TM from promoting to PML within their own store?

Thank you for your time!

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

welcome!
did you apply for pml?

 

[Yetive]

Was the other applicant already a TL? If they were over headcount, that might be a reason. ETLs promote in their own store all the time.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

politics

 

[Zxy123456]

I have seen TL at my store promote to ETL and stay at my store.

 

[Ringwraith917]

I've worked for Target for 18ish years and they really don't like to promote from team member to leadership within the same store. AP team member may have been different because it's considered a more respected leadership adjacent position. Even promoting to team lead usually requires being assigned to a different store. This is my observational experience. ASANTS

 

[MrT]

They wanted the other person and made up an excuse. Hopefully you can get the next one. Generally they probably already had that person in mind long before they got promoted. Keep asking about other positions as they open up

 

[KarmaToBurn]

When I applied for PML I was told I wasn't diverse enough for the position....

 

[HInbound]

Majority of our ETL's were internally promoted from TL's. That's not a corporate directive.

 

[Zxy123456]

I've worked for Target for 18ish years and they really don't like to promote from team member to leadership within the same store. AP team member may have been different because it's considered a more respected leadership adjacent position. Even promoting to team lead usually requires being assigned to a different store. This is my observational experience. ASANTS

Definitely ASANTS. My store always promotes from within.

 

[JohnSith373]

I know that TLs cannot promote to ETL within their same store but is this Targets policy for PMLs? Is there anything policy wise that would prevent a TM from promoting to PML within their own store?

Thank you for your time!

I’ve been with Target since 2017 within backroom, fulfillment, and receiver position and now been PML for about 1.75 years.

There isn’t a particular policy the DPML (officially called PMBP) from promoting within the same store. My DPML doesn’t like promoting the same store due to the everyone knowing the PML and allowing the PML to get “comfortable.” AP doesn’t interact with the store team and has some leadership characteristic already so it makes it easier choice.
Are you a “valued” team member that everyone in your store knows about your work? A PML position opened in my district but my SD asked if the DPML could find another candidate. This delayed my promotion for about a year and frustrated me when I found out. I quit Target for a 3 months and returned to a store B for a 2 months then got promoted to PML to a store C. When I quit, I told the DPML that I am still interested in the position.

Since COVID, it’s been more popular to internally promote TL to ETL then hiring externally or doing a transfer.

 

[Ashfromoldsite]

There’s no policy against it. That’s just the excuse they used to dangle the carrot.

 

[Jlogg]

welcome!
did you apply for pml?

Yes? Sorry but I thought that was apparent in my OP lol

Was the other applicant already a TL? If they were over headcount, that might be a reason. ETLs promote in their own store all the time.

No the other applicant was an external hire, his previous job was a tech team member at Best buy

I have seen TL at my store promote to ETL and stay at my store.

We've never had a TL to ETL in my store, they've always been either external hires or TLs from other stores

I've worked for Target for 18ish years and they really don't like to promote from team member to leadership within the same store. AP team member may have been different because it's considered a more respected leadership adjacent position. Even promoting to team lead usually requires being assigned to a different store. This is my observational experience. ASANTS

Almost every TL we have in my store was promoted from here

They wanted the other person and made up an excuse. Hopefully you can get the next one. Generally they probably already had that person in mind long before they got promoted. Keep asking about other positions as they open up

Honestly I'm pretty much done with Target at this point, I've seen too many good employees get passed over in favor of unqualified individuals who then run the store down even more until they can't handle the pressure and quit just to be replaced by the next unqualified person who's been here about 5 minutes.

I’ve been with Target since 2017 within backroom, fulfillment, and receiver position and now been PML for about 1.75 years.

There isn’t a particular policy the DPML (officially called PMBP) from promoting within the same store. My DPML doesn’t like promoting the same store due to the everyone knowing the PML and allowing the PML to get “comfortable.” AP doesn’t interact with the store team and has some leadership characteristic already so it makes it easier choice.
Are you a “valued” team member that everyone in your store knows about your work? A PML position opened in my district but my SD asked if the DPML could find another candidate. This delayed my promotion for about a year and frustrated me when I found out. I quit Target for a 3 months and returned to a store B for a 2 months then got promoted to PML to a store C. When I quit, I told the DPML that I am still interested in the position.

Since COVID, it’s been more popular to internally promote TL to ETL then hiring externally or doing a transfer.

In the first few years that I started I would say no I wasn't the best employee. A combination of stresses in my personal life and a bad work environment caused me to be a very irritable person and led to a few arguments so my "attitude" was lacking.

However in the last 5 years or so I've worked really hard to turn that around. I'm a trainer in almost every department, I've worked on 2 remodels and in the most recent I received glowing recommendations from everyone involved. During that remodel hey promoted a completely unqualified individual to a temp TL and had them run the overnight half of remodel and I supported (basically baby-sat) that TL and trained them on how to do the job they got promoted for (not the first time).

We had a change in SD half way through that remodel, the previous SD didn't want to promote me (to TL) because she said I wasn't a team player however our current SD has also endorsed me for PML and in my development conversations has stated that she doesn't think the issues put forth by past SDs are issues anymore. She's also stated that there are a number of our current leaders promoted by our previous SD that she would not have promoted herself.

At this point I've just accepted that I won't get promoted at Target, I'm not a chipper bubbly personality I expect people to do their jobs and I can be very blunt when they don't, but I also treat people with respect until they show me they deserve otherwise. I've got more relevant experience and time than most of the leaders in my store and I've done more work to get promoted than them combined.

I'm done propping up horrible leads and teams while others get the reward

 

[Planosss]

As a PML you have to hold the leadership accountable. That means challenging TLs/ETLs and SD on best practices. You have hold their feet to the fire
If you are promoted/become PML at a store you are working in, it could cause conflict of interest and you not being able to do your job..

Edit: This is not a Target policy , but a choice that a wise PMBP and PMD would make.

 

[allnew2]

Hello all!

Last November our PML promoted to Remodel ETL for our district, I applied for his position (with his indorsement) and everything went well and I got great feedback from my interviews! (I've worked for the company for 7.5 years working in everything from Inbound, Gen Merch, Backroom, POG, Remodel, Electronics etc and have both prior management and construction experience) however they went with a different applicant and the only reason that I was given by HR is because our district PML doesn't like promoting within the same store. This is confusing because the PML who I was trying to replace was promoted to PML from AP within our store!

I was told there would be a number of PML positions opening up at other stores in our district within this year and our DPML had a specific store in mind for me, the PML at that store was supposed to be retiring but at the last minute he decided to delay his retirement to sometime this fall. I've just found out that after a year of waiting he has decided to delay his retirement yet again to mid 2024! Obviously I'm not going to waste anymore of my time waiting for this position at target (and I can't go for TL because our district is over headcount on managers) however something that's been bugging me is the reason given for why I wasn't promoted.

I know that TLs cannot promote to ETL within their same store but is this Targets policy for PMLs? Is there anything policy wise that would prevent a TM from promoting to PML within their own store?

Thank you for your time!

I got promoted to Etl and stayed in my store . I should better say my Sd didn’t want to give me up .

 

[Nauzhror]

I've worked for Target for 18ish years and they really don't like to promote from team member to leadership within the same store. AP team member may have been different because it's considered a more respected leadership adjacent position. Even promoting to team lead usually requires being assigned to a different store. This is my observational experience. ASANTS

My store currently has 6 TL's that promoted from TM in the same store, plus two more that recently quit.

 

[happygoth]

My store currently has 6 TL's that promoted from TM in the same store, plus two more that recently quit.

It's happened quite a bit in my store as well. In fact all but two of our current TLs were promoted from within. We've also got an ETL that was promoted through the ranks here.

 

[HInbound]

I just went through and looked at all our TL's & ETL's on our picture board and every single TL was promoted from within. ~85%+ of the ETL's were as well. Only our AP ETL and Closing ETL are outsiders from other stores. 110 mil+ store, so we have lots of leaders.

 

[happygoth]

Looks like that myth is busted, lol.

 

[lucidtm]

There isn't an official company policy regarding internal promotions. It is all at the discretion of your SD and DSD.

At our store, most of our TLs (including myself) were promoted internally. For ETL, it is essentially the same but we don't have a ton of ETL turnover. For both roles, they prefer not to promote from within the same department (for example, a style TM couldn't be a SS TL and a SS TL couldn't internally move to a SS ETL).

In terms of ETL they've gone off the rails lately and hired one ETL from outside Target. It lit a dumpster fire that has been going on entirely too long. The effects would be comical if my department weren't directly hit by it. 🫠 They'd have been better off promoting a TL from within the same department even. What a mess.