"My store had trouble finding "good" hourly TMs - so we started a referral program. $50 gift card for each referral who makes it past 90 days."
We actually had this going at my store before the recession hit.
Believe it or not, Target used to actually be a place that people below ETL level made a career out of. Around 1990-2004 most of the people at a store had worked together for many years, and it wasn't at all unusual for many family and friends to be working at a store.
In the early 2000's this was the setup of my store: (and yes, I had worked with many of these people for years. Everyone knew each other)
Sales floor TMs: Out of a regular staff of 15 or so, 10 had been with the company for over 5 years.
TL's: Every. Single. TL. Had been with the company at least 5 years. Many of them had been with the company 15-30 years.
ETLs: Same as the TLs. At my store in 2000, a 21 year old ETL would have been unheard of. All of them were in their 30s-50s.
Cashiers: Lots of short term employees here, but we had about 6 or so cashiers I remember that had been with the company for many many years.
Logistics: *Tons* of long term employees - Almost all of them had 5-10 years in.
Specialists: Our MMB spec, electronics spec, cash office spec, jewelry spec, receiving spec, signing spec, all had over 10 years with the company.
Miscellaneous employees: We had a TPS with over 20 years in the company and retired, our HR specialist was in over 20 years and actually retired, a guest service TM also had over 20 years.
Can you imagine a store like that today? Pretty sure they don't exist anymore, but for you people here who are new to Target - this actually used to be the standard store until HQ decided to make major changes during the years that caused many people to leave or otherwise forced them out the door. Go to my store today? Of all those people I listed above - only 2 are still there. Yes, literally only 2. Everyone else is brand new. I left my store only a few months ago for a new job, and already 90% of the staff at my old store I don't recognize whenever I go in there.
Sometimes myself and some of the people I used to work with get together, and some of us actually have old pictures from the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s of us at our store. It is pretty awesome seeing ourselves so much younger in (what would now be considered) an old style Target store. One of my favorites has us in soft lines with neon Target signs in the background. (For those who don't know, many years ago instead of the hanging roof signs that are up now for electronics, toys, ready to wear, etc.... we used to have neon lighted signs for every department. They were hot pink, neon green, all different colors.... and the words were actually custom made neon fluorescent light bulbs)
Anyway, it was an awesome time. Working at Target was a career back then. You didn't have to meet a new TM, spec, TL, ETL every few weeks.... everyone knew everyone both at work and outside of work, and the team/family feeling was incredible. Best of all? Everyone was a professional - not only at their job, but pretty much any job in the store. Every TM was like a TL in skill level. Set a planogram? Work guest service? Work back room? Almost everyone could do it all. Our specialists were incredibly knowledgeable about their departments.... They were not "specialists" in name only - they actually KNEW their **** and were passionate about it.
You guys that are new to the company don't know what you missed.