Archived What Is It Like To Be An ETL

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ETLHopeful

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Feb 10, 2012
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I have an upcoming interview for an ETL position. I am not sure if this is a good position to have or not. I am looking for a position that I can build a career with and a company I can grow with. I would very much like to stay with the company and become a store or district manager. However, I have never worked for Target and don't know anyone who does.

Can someone here tell me how difficult or easy is it to get the ETL position? Any interview tips? What things do you feel I should know about the ETL job? What is it like to be an ETL? If you are an ETL or know alot about the position what are the pros and cons of the postion? Also, what is the turnover rate for this postion?

Thanks in advance!
 
Rock Lobster said:
Well first of all, to become an intern you need to talk to your STL and ETL-HR and see what they say, you will need to be about a year or two from graduating to be considered... You will have to turn in an app and interview, most likely with different people from the campus recruitment team! If you pass interviews, you will have to "quit" Target and basically be rehired as an intern... You most likely will move stores at that point and go to wherever they want you to within your district to train... The internship is a 10 week training program, and afterwards they will decide if you can be an ETL or not after you are done... Usually summer is over at that point and you go back to school, if you want to work part time during school you can, which is awesome because you are paid your intern wage doing TM work (usually around 15 bucks/hour)... After you graduate you will be sent to business college...

Business College is 6 weeks of training, half class room and half with your business college trainer in a store... You basically just get trained to be an ETL, but since you did the internship you will have a good idea of what is going on already.

The ETL - Guest Experience is an ETL only in B and higher volume stores. They are in charge of all things guest experience like people said, the front end, carts, guest service etc... but also they are in charge of the guest experience in all of the store! If electronics service is bad, if the salesfloor speed scores are low, they will be in charge of those as well!
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For starters...thanks rock!
 
Advice from a tl to a etl. Partner up with your tl. we like to be included and have great ideas were not here to challenege you or make you look bad. if we want to be promoted develope us it makes you look good and keeps us happy. let your tl know whats epected and hold us to it. i've seen so many etl's let tl's slack and get frustrated and the tl's have no idea. communication will make your life easy.

i have a really great etl above me we partner up and tackle everything together. she stays possitive when i'm not and i do the same for her. But really our partnership wouldnt be so epic if we didnt communicate like we do. as long as your honest with your tl and there honest back your good to go in that department.

let us know how it goes and if you get it and what section your over :)
 
Stuckinsoftlines said:
Advice from a tl to a etl. Partner up with your tl. we like to be included and have great ideas were not here to challenege you or make you look bad. if we want to be promoted develope us it makes you look good and keeps us happy. let your tl know whats epected and hold us to it. i've seen so many etl's let tl's slack and get frustrated and the tl's have no idea. communication will make your life easy.

i have a really great etl above me we partner up and tackle everything together. she stays possitive when i'm not and i do the same for her. But really our partnership wouldnt be so epic if we didnt communicate like we do. as long as your honest with your tl and there honest back your good to go in that department.

let us know how it goes and if you get it and what section your over :)
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Thank you for the advice. Much appreciated.
 
I tend to get frustrated at how much people bad mouth Target on this website, but if you don't take the above link seriously,you're as delusional as the original poster was when he first got the job. To answer you're questions "how easy is it to get an ETL job" ---very easy. When your ETL turnover rate is higher than 50% in the first year, the company tends to need a lot of replacements. You will have to make a sacrifice. You will either a) Have no work-life balance for a long time. or b) You will fail.

I'm not saying don't go for it, b/c there are people out there that are great at it, but take the warnings on this website seriously. These warnings aren't coming from lazy people who aren't good at their jobs. They are coming from posters who have been with the company for a looooong time. Since back when there were more than twice the number of ETLs doing the same amount of work, back when there were more than twice the number of TLs doing the same amount of work, back when there were hours available to maintain a great looking store So much will be expected of you and no amount of experience will do you any good, unless that experience is coming from another big box retailer. You will come into the position and be expected to fail. You will fail, for the first several months, AT LEAST Maybe then, will you figure out what it takes. If not, you'll leave, just like the ETLs that came before you.
 
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ETLHopeful said:
I have an upcoming interview for an ETL position. I am not sure if this is a good position to have or not. I am looking for a position that I can build a career with and a company I can grow with. I would very much like to stay with the company and become a store or district manager. However, I have never worked for Target and don't know anyone who does.

Can someone here tell me how difficult or easy is it to get the ETL position? Any interview tips? What things do you feel I should know about the ETL job? What is it like to be an ETL? If you are an ETL or know alot about the position what are the pros and cons of the postion? Also, what is the turnover rate for this postion?

Thanks in advance!
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Well...honestly what it's like depends a lot on the position, the store, and the volume of that store. I've heard some horror stories about ETLs and STLs on here that would never fly in my district. I also know that working in a low volume store is a lot more difficult than being in a higher volume store.

Target is definitely a good company to grow with but there's a big emphasis on driving green results before you are promoted. You also have to work 18 months in 2 different positions before you can be promoted to STL. If you're scores aren't green no matter what the reason is, there is little chance of you being promoted.

In terms of getting the job - Target likes upbeat, friendly people....age is not a huge factor as long as you have a lot of energy. Ideally they'd like to hire managers who can lead a team and motivate them to get the job done even during difficult times. So...if you're a people person and interview well, that's half the battle.

Once you have the job - again, it varies on the store but it's a delicate act of balancing task work vs leadership work. Your team wants to see you out making things happen but Target says spend most of your time on leadership tasks. Find a balance that works for you but make sure you spend a lot of time planning and setting your team up for success. Accountability is a big thing as well - hold your team leaders accountable for driving great results, if they're not performing then don't hesitate to let them know. You will fail if you don't have a good team.

...I guess that's it. Overall Target is a great place to work despite some recent cutbacks/changes. I don't really have a lot of sympathy for people who complain a lot about Target...there are tons of ways to share your opinions/thoughts if something's wrong. If I'm being honest, pay could be better especially for all that we have to do but you can interview for different pay grades as an ETL to earn more pay.

Hope this helps. Good luck!
 
Gtc to Isis & sf! I do miss the old days. I am losing another etl at my store. That would be 3 etl's gone in 2 months. A record for my store.
 
ETLHopeful said:
Yes I read that. However, no offense to that person, but it seemed that management wasn't really this person's forte. The writer of that post didn't seem to realize how much responsibility managers have to take on.

So I was looking for more perspectives and opinions.
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Just KNOW that no matter what they tell you in your interview, you will be putting in 12-14 hours a day. All our etls do. The ones who don't quickly disappear.
 
TargetOldTimer said:
Just KNOW that no matter what they tell you in your interview, you will be putting in 12-14 hours a day. All our etls do. The ones who don't quickly disappear.
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Eh this isn't true. Again it depends on the position and the ETL...If I'm anything other than Logistics or Salesfloor there's no way I'm spending a minute over 10 hours there, there's no need! Even as Salesfloor-GE I've found a balance that allows me to leave on time MOST days. Obviously there are times/weeks where it's balls to the walls and you've gotta do what you've gotta do. If you've got good routines in place, you're asking for help when you need it, and you've made good plans there shouldn't be an issue.
 
@salesfloor ETL.. You said working in a lower volume store is a lot harder than high volume stores? Could you elaborate because I know a lot of people that would disagree with that statement
 
Salesfloor_ETL said:
Eh this isn't true. Again it depends on the position and the ETL...If I'm anything other than Logistics or Salesfloor there's no way I'm spending a minute over 10 hours there, there's no need! Even as Salesfloor-GE I've found a balance that allows me to leave on time MOST days. Obviously there are times/weeks where it's balls to the walls and you've gotta do what you've gotta do. If you've got good routines in place, you're asking for help when you need it, and you've made good plans there shouldn't be an issue.
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Your right, I don't think I've ever seen our GE stay longer than 10 hours, but the LOG and HL etl...sometimes as much as a 16 hour day!
 
my store doesn't have high ETL turnover :/

ULV world problem maybe? lol.
 
Thank you to all who replied. The things I read on this site were helpful to me in my interview.

I asked about challenges on the job. She somewhat said many of the things I read here. Not word for word but she did point out that the first 3 months out of business college was when they were looking the most at the ETL's and that some teams have alot of change and have had to get used to new ETL's too often. She stressed that it was retail and you have to work nights, holidays, and weekends. She came right out and said it's an Asst Mgr position. I was interviewed by an STL and a new ETL. They pretty much made it sound somewhat like the people hear make it sound. But that was because of the questions I asked. In order, to answer my questions they didn't really have any other choice but to be direct. I could tell the STL was trying hard to not say too many things that sounded negative.

Anyway, I have no clue if I will be invited back for another interview. She told me the entire interview process but that doesn't mean anything. Both people were nice and seemed friendly.

Oh well I have other resumes to send out. But thanks again for all your help.
 
IamLegendTGT said:
@salesfloor ETL.. You said working in a lower volume store is a lot harder than high volume stores? Could you elaborate because I know a lot of people that would disagree with that statement
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The expectations for a low volume store are the same as at any store - brand, workload, guest service etc need to be 100% It's difficult to accomplish great results in those areas with fewer team leaders, fewer ETLs, less payroll, etc. For instance our store closes with 6 team members a night and we are running with around 330 salesfloor hours per week. When our DTL walks the store he expects the Softlines folds to be crisp, zone to be 100%, endcaps full and signed, etc, etc, etc. Most days team leaders are the only ones on the floor and therefore are first response to everything.

At a high volume store you have bigger teams to execute the same amount of workload as the low volume stores. Even if your team leaders are the ones doing all of the physical labor at least there are team members scheduled to respond to back up and take care of reshop.

I'm not complaining but the reality is it's more difficult to work at a low volume store because Target has yet to figure out a way to cater to those stores by reducing the workload to allow them to compensate for less payroll/manpower to get it done.
 
I got invited back for a second interview. I think I will be meeting with a district manager and team lead or something like that. Can anyone tell me what to expect with interview number 2?
 
Ok, so, I have had a 2nd and 3rd interview. The 3rd interview was with 2 people. During the interview I was told the position is about leadership and that they look for people who can lead. But when I asked how many people would be reporting to me I was told that everybody is equal. Ok, but who do ETL's "lead" if there are no direct reports? Can someone explain to me exactly what an ETL does because after 3 interviews and reading comments on the internet this position sounds like a grunt work position to me. Not that there is anything wrong with that but I really don't want to end up running a cash register and stocking shelves. I would really like to get some management experience. Please correct me if I have the wrong impression.

Thanks to everyone for your input so far.
 
Don't worry, Target doesn't like their etls to do, as you put it, "grunt" work. Great etls do occasionally jump in and help out, so as to lead by example......
 
ETLHopeful said:
Ok, so, I have had a 2nd and 3rd interview. The 3rd interview was with 2 people. During the interview I was told the position is about leadership and that they look for people who can lead. But when I asked how many people would be reporting to me I was told that everybody is equal. Ok, but who do ETL's "lead" if there are no direct reports? Can someone explain to me exactly what an ETL does because after 3 interviews and reading comments on the internet this position sounds like a grunt work position to me. Not that there is anything wrong with that but I really don't want to end up running a cash register and stocking shelves. I would really like to get some management experience. Please correct me if I have the wrong impression.

Thanks to everyone for your input so far.
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Ok. I have most of my experience at a ultra low volume Target. Things work differently at different volumes, but I get the impression this is how it works at a lot of stores. You'll have somewhere between 3-7 Team Leaders who report to you directly (it could be more or less though, honestly). Those TLs have team members who report to them, so you could also consider yourself over those TMs, indirectly. As a manager though, you are expected to be able to lead everyone in the store, and help out as needed.

Now here is the fun part. Your team/TLs have a workload that they need to get done each day and/or week. However, some weeks, there is not enough payroll to get the workload done. No amount of great leading will get it done. This is where you will be doing grunt work. You could be pulling product from the back room, stocking the shelves, doing price changes, running register, getting carts, etc. You have to be willing to jump in, b/c ultimately, it is on you if the work doesn't get completed. Sometimes, you'll have to work extra long days. Sure, you're allowed to leave when your shift is over at the 10hr mark, but will you want to if it means your work center will not have completed its tasks?

This job will get you the managing experience you're looking for, but it teaches you the hard way that it sometimes means getting a little dirty.
 
My store is a A volume and the current new crop of etls never do any of the things you describe. I guess it all depends on where you get a store.
 
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