Archived Team Leader interview advice

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Hello everyone first let me introduce myself, Ive been in grocery retail for 15 years and came to Target within the last couple of years. Both Target and I made good impressions with each other and I soon found myself being entrusted with a ton of a responsibility from store leadership in the fom of Food Service Assistant. I lead the food push team, food avenue, work all the market shifts and basically am the go to person for Steritech visits. All the while doing my core roles to the best of my ability. My first team lead interview was last year and they felt I needed more experience and examples from within Target. Suffice to say I probably did not do the best at my interview because I am an old school person and behaviour interviews are somewhat simplistic and alien to me.

I understand that the "tell me about time" questions are designed to get short, straight to the point and relevant answers. Can anyone give me advice on a certain time limit to answers... and what in your opinion defines a sufficient answer. I realize my request is broad but I do appreciate any feedback. Thank you very much! Been lurking here for quite some time you are all very helpful!
 
It sounds like you are set to go for the interview. There is no known time limit. Don't give out life story answers. Does your tl support or given you any feedback on your leadership development?
The old days are gone, it suggested to know the new mission statement & your core roles. Good chance, all you once knew has done a 360.
 
It sounds like you are set to go for the interview. There is no known time limit. Don't give out life story answers. Does your tl support or given you any feedback on your leadership development?
The old days are gone, it suggested to know the new mission statement & your core roles. Good chance, all you once knew has done a 360.

Yes I was mentored by a 14yr TL veteran that recently was promoted to SR TL, also our new CTL and HR have been tremendously helpful.

I think 99% of the leadership team has confidence in my abilities to lead its just my STL I have yet to knock the socks off of, she is an incredible leader and respects my work ethic but in the 18 months Ive been with Target I have yet to convince her of my leadership abilities.

I have the leadership expectations and have 20+ leadership examples of my work at Target but I lack the confidence in the interview and am hoping I am just making this more difficult than it really is. Thanks for the feedback both in PM and here!
 
I was told that answers should be no more than 2-3 minutes, as long as they're concise and to the point. A lot of it is more about your ability to think quickly about a question, and your confidence in your answer, than it is about the answer itself. Of course the answer is important, but they want you to be able to speak confidently, regardless of what you say.
 
I was told that answers should be no more than 2-3 minutes, as long as they're concise and to the point. A lot of it is more about your ability to think quickly about a question, and your confidence in your answer, than it is about the answer itself. Of course the answer is important, but they want you to be able to speak confidently, regardless of what you say.

Frizzo that is extremely helpful thank you!
 
I don't mean to give you conflicting advice, but I would partner with a leader in your building that has been through interviews lately. They can recommend what kind of tactics to take to your STL/DTL. From experience, I know my DTL is all about team culture, so obviously I would want to highlight my collaborative efforts. I practiced my intro and all my situations / questions in front of my mentor several times and they helped me tweak what I wanted to say. It was less about how long my answers were and more about the quality of the answer. I had my DTL interview in 4th quarter so I just went through them. If you have any non-what-are-the-questions questions, gimme a shout! Good luck!
 
Yeah, going by the feedback I got today, you probably shouldn't take my advice when it comes to interviews...
 
Being a leader can mean many different things, but in terms of Target it means two things (in my opinion):

1) Development - How are you working to improve others? You can only be there for 40 hours, so what about the other 100 or so hours the store is running? How do you make sure that it runs at the same level as when you're there? You may be a rockstar, but if you aren't creating other rockstars, you're just a good TM, not a leader. Leaders, in terms of Target, are meant to go higher, go further, so when you become a SrTL, ETL, STL, etc. who steps in your place? You have to show how you can breed success beyond yourself.

2) Inspiration - The fact of the matter is our TMs, even the long term, great ones, aren't making more than 50% above minimum wage. How do you make them care? I try to be personable, get to know them, mostly because I do genuinely care about people, those I work with and people in general, but it helps to motivate people. Most folks are more willing to go the extra mile for someone they know, like, and respect, that's my angle. What's yours?

Green scores, high guest survey numbers, profitability numbers... that's well and dandy, but how do YOU lead? That's what they want to know. Not how quickly you can set a sales plan.
 
I whole heartedly agree with naterstx. I will be helping a GSTL candidate with interview tips this week and will make sure that she knows that being a lead is about development and inspiration. Going from GSA to GSTL I soon came to realize that being a lead isn't so much about doing the work as it is making sure you are helping others be their best self. (Sorry for the corporate term, I just got done writing my reviews...)
 
Being a leader can mean many different things, but in terms of Target it means two things (in my opinion):

1) Development - How are you working to improve others? You can only be there for 40 hours, so what about the other 100 or so hours the store is running? How do you make sure that it runs at the same level as when you're there? You may be a rockstar, but if you aren't creating other rockstars, you're just a good TM, not a leader. Leaders, in terms of Target, are meant to go higher, go further, so when you become a SrTL, ETL, STL, etc. who steps in your place? You have to show how you can breed success beyond yourself.

2) Inspiration - The fact of the matter is our TMs, even the long term, great ones, aren't making more than 50% above minimum wage. How do you make them care? I try to be personable, get to know them, mostly because I do genuinely care about people, those I work with and people in general, but it helps to motivate people. Most folks are more willing to go the extra mile for someone they know, like, and respect, that's my angle. What's yours?

Green scores, high guest survey numbers, profitability numbers... that's well and dandy, but how do YOU lead? That's what they want to know. Not how quickly you can set a sales plan.

Speaking in leadership expectations, its how well you manage talent and how you can engage and inspire others :p

There are other things they look for, but in general what they watch for is specific to YOU... Your leaders probably already have a general idea of what your strengths and opportunities are and they watch for those in your interviews... If they feel you may not demonstrate courage and challenge your peers, they will ask questions about that... If you haven't managed the execution of a team before, they may bring that up etc... Its important to be able to assess yourself honestly so you can be prepared for these types of questions!
 
Just an update and a thank you to all those that responded and messaged, all my interviews were excellent and I am now officially a HLTL. Again thank you to all for this great resource, your advice and feedback. Between this board, my mentors and store leadership you all have been very helpful.
 
Just an update and a thank you to all those that responded and messaged, all my interviews were excellent and I am now officially a HLTL. Again thank you to all for this great resource, your advice and feedback. Between this board, my mentors and store leadership you all have been very helpful.

Woo-hoo! Congrats!
Soon you'll realize what you've got yourself into & run screaming into the night.
Reality check in 5......4.......3.....2......
 
Woo-hoo! Congrats!
Soon you'll realize what you've got yourself into & run screaming into the night.
Reality check in 5......4.......3.....2......

Com'n redeye, reality is a nice place to visit but FoodDude doesn't want to live there.
Congrats dude.
Remember,
Illegitimi non carborundum
 
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