# How Target turns it's back on ETL's/TL's leaving the company...



## SeniorAP (Feb 20, 2012)

Have you ever witnessed an extremely high potential ETL/TL who ends up leaving target for another company? Recently, we had a whole bunch of really talented ETL's leave for other retailers. Prior to them leaving, they were always glorified for all the excellent work they have done, and were doing interviews for business parners / Sr.ETL roles. Suddenly, they had better offers coming their ways and declined the two routes and put their two weeks in. All of a sudden, everyone from upper leadership turned their back on them as if they were the worst people ever because they decided to leave the company. You could sense this tension in the air. The upper leadership was no longer acknowledging them for their hard work, and you could just sense this awkwardness in the air. Anyone have any similar experiences?


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## bikebryan (Feb 20, 2012)

Honestly, what else would you expect?  Upper management feels they put in the time and training to further these folks along, and for a reward the up and comers decide to take their talent elsewhere.  Of course sour grapes would be forthcoming.  This is true in almost ANY industry and is not unique to Target in any way.


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## StateofTarget (Feb 20, 2012)

bikebryan said:


> Honestly, what else would you expect?  Upper management feels they put in the time and training to further these folks along, and for a reward the up and comers decide to take their talent elsewhere.  Of course sour grapes would be forthcoming.  This is true in almost ANY industry and is not unique to Target in any way.



Sorry, but if upper management wants loyalty they have to give loyalty.  The fact is anyone above ETL level would easily knife an ETL in the back if it benefited them to do so.  ETLs see this behavior, and they are supposed to want to stick around and be loyal?


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## invictustaylor (Feb 20, 2012)

talented etls?  is this thread some kind of sick joke?


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## tgtfla (Feb 20, 2012)

Bikebryan is right about this,there is also the fact that management is so paranoid that the stl or dtl would be afraid that the departure will reflect badly on them and their judgement in hiring or promoting that person will be questioned.When and etl or tl is fortunate enough to get a good job with another company the should serve out their notice with class and honesty,if the store leadership wants to act otherwise,well that is up to them but these things do get noticed and talked about even at store level.


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## SeniorAP (Feb 20, 2012)

Well in all honesty, people are free to work wherever they want. Perhaps the turnover rate wouldn't be so bad for ETL's if there was more room for advancement within the company. Many of the talented people get tired of waiting or having the carrot waving in front of their face. Being they have degrees, experience managing million dollar stores, and are fairly well developed, they can go into another company as a really high-up executive, perhaps STL/DTL ranking. Why should they settle for anything less than they've earned? Plus loyalty has no place within corporations.. as their only loyalty is to the stockholders.


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## spikegrouchy (Feb 20, 2012)

bikebryan said:


> Honestly, what else would you expect?  Upper management feels they put in the time and training to further these folks along, and for a reward the up and comers decide to take their talent elsewhere.  Of course sour grapes would be forthcoming.  This is true in almost ANY industry and is not unique to Target in any way.



Yep.  Target is not unique when it comes to "shunning!"


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## nib (Feb 20, 2012)

The reality is that all of big business and corporate america doesn't appreciate anyone below the STL/DTL level.  While this post focuses on mostly the ETL level, most would agree the people coming out the work are the TM, SPEC (ex), TL, and RG level employees.  





SeniorAP said:


> Have you ever witnessed an extremely high potential ETL/TL who ends up leaving target for another company? Recently, we had a whole bunch of really talented ETL's leave for other retailers. Prior to them leaving, they were always glorified for all the excellent work they have done, and were doing interviews for business parners / Sr.ETL roles. Suddenly, they had better offers coming their ways and declined the two routes and put their two weeks in. All of a sudden, everyone from upper leadership turned their back on them as if they were the worst people ever because they decided to leave the company. You could sense this tension in the air. The upper leadership was no longer acknowledging them for their hard work, and you could just sense this awkwardness in the air. Anyone have any similar experiences?


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## StateofTarget (Feb 20, 2012)

tgtfla said:


> Bikebryan is right about this,there is also the fact that management is so paranoid that the stl or dtl would be afraid that the departure will reflect badly on them and their judgement in hiring or promoting that person will be questioned.When and etl or tl is fortunate enough to get a good job with another company the should serve out their notice with class and honesty,if the store leadership wants to act otherwise,well that is up to them but these things do get noticed and talked about even at store level.



How would it reflect badly on an STL or DTL?  If anything, the fact that another company wants that ETL (especially if it is a company outside of retail) speaks volumes about leadership.  It says that ETL was able to develop enough at your store that they are now wanted by other companies.  Now, if your store was full of ETLs that no other company would touch that would reflect badly on an STL/DTL - because it says you haven't done sh** to develop them in to better managers.

The only two ways I could see ETLs leaving making an STL/DTL look bad would be

1. The ETLs all leave telling everyone the STL/DTL is a scum bag.

or

2. The STL/DTL keeps screwing up and classifying those ETLs as bottom performers when in fact they are high potential and thus are forced to leave to another company for advancement.


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## invictustaylor (Feb 20, 2012)

It could also mean jack squat.

It doesn't say volumes about a person if target wants them to be an etl at their store.  It just means target saw an idiotic person with ZERO job experience that they can brainwash and mold.


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## StateofTarget (Feb 20, 2012)

"It doesn't say volumes about a person if target wants them to be an etl at their store. It just means target saw an idiotic person with ZERO job experience that they can brainwash and mold. "

Exactly.  You may know that, I may know that, and anyone who has ever worked for Target may know that.... but everyone else does not know that.

I honestly believe at least some (clever) ETLs know that "Executive Team Leader" looks good to other companies on a job resume.

Think about it.... if you never worked at Target in your life, would you have any freaking clue what an "Executive Team Leader" was?  Chances are, most other employers don't have a clue either.  I know I sure as hell did not when I first started with the company.

If an ETL was working at Wal-mart their job title would be "assistant store manager".  Everyone knows what that is.

But let's say you are hiring people for Shell Oil and you are looking for a human resources big wig.

All of a sudden you get a resume for someone who is an "Executive Team Leader of Human Resources" with Target.  You never worked at Target in your life.  Therefore you think this person must be some kind of huge corproate executive at Target in charge of Human Resources across five states.  You schedule them for an interview right away, because they must be extra awesome to have such a job with Target!

They don't know an ETL-HR means they sit in an office in the back of a Target store, order take out, and hire/fire minimum wage employees all day.

I have a pretty good feeling that when a lot of ETLs take off for some other big shot position at another company, they milked the hell out of the "Executive" part of their title.


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## mrknownothing (Feb 21, 2012)

invictustaylor said:


> talented etls?  is this thread some kind of sick joke?



As crazy as it sounds, there are still good ETLs out there. At least a couple of them are at my store.


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## lovecats (Feb 22, 2012)

mrknownothing said:


> As crazy as it sounds, there are still good ETLs out there. At least a couple of them are at my store.



Most of them at my store are good.  They all help on the floor when needed and most of them will hop  on a register if we're in backup.


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## invictustaylor (Feb 22, 2012)

StateofTarget said:


> "It doesn't say volumes about a person if target wants them to be an etl at their store. It just means target saw an idiotic person with ZERO job experience that they can brainwash and mold. "
> 
> Exactly.  You may know that, I may know that, and anyone who has ever worked for Target may know that.... but everyone else does not know that.
> 
> ...



Yeah, I'd use it to get my foot in the door as well.  But you'd think the truth would come out during the interview.  "Wow so you were at the executive level.  I was a CEO at my uncle's company 5 years ago let's compare stories."   Etl breaks into tears  "It was all a lie, a big fat sham, I was an assistant manager, nobody respected me, the team members talked s**t to my face and I took it!"


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## filmer88 (Feb 24, 2012)

^This! ETL and CEO are not even in the same ball park. Even General Managers (When I worked at Old Navy) were like 5 steps above at Target ETL. I think Spot just likes giving their assistants managers  a big head by having the word "executive" in their title. Next thing you know they will be calling Team Members "Specialists" or something like "Sales Floor Experts".


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## daninnj (Feb 24, 2012)

Don't give them any ideas...


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## naterstx (Feb 26, 2012)

filmer88 said:


> ^This! ETL and CEO are not even in the same ball park. Even General Managers (When I worked at Old Navy) were like 5 steps above at Target ETL. I think Spot just likes giving their assistants managers  a big head by having the word "executive" in their title. Next thing you know they will be calling Team Members "Specialists" or something like "Sales Floor Experts".



I have, what we'll call a friend, who was an ETL at Target (and failing) and got a job at Old Navy as the store manager (GM I guess) just before being termed at Target. Old Navy is a **** company, Target is better in every way imaginable. Now if you want to talk The Gap, or Banana... well that's a different debate on that umbrella.


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## naterstx (Feb 26, 2012)

invictustaylor said:


> It could also mean jack squat.
> 
> It doesn't say volumes about a person if target wants them to be an etl at their store.  It just means target saw an idiotic person with ZERO job experience that they can brainwash and mold.



Predictable poster is predictable.


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## PlainAndSimple (Apr 21, 2020)

invictustaylor said:


> talented etls?  is this thread some kind of sick joke?


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## PlainAndSimple (Apr 21, 2020)

Oxymoron ............ [     it means  "Like   uuumm  ...Moron "   ]


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## Asuras (Apr 21, 2020)

filmer88 said:


> ^This! ETL and CEO are not even in the same ball park. Even General Managers (When I worked at Old Navy) were like 5 steps above at Target ETL. I think Spot just likes giving their assistants managers  a big head by having the word "executive" in their title. Next thing you know they will be calling Team Members "Specialists" or something like "Sales Floor Experts".


Not trying to further necropost this old thread like PlainAndSimple but had to laugh at this post and what ended up happening with our titles  😅


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## Bosch (Apr 21, 2020)

naterstx said:


> I have, what we'll call a friend, who was an ETL at Target (and failing) and got a job at Old Navy as the store manager (GM I guess) just before being termed at Target. Old Navy is a **** company, Target is better in every way imaginable. Now if you want to talk The Gap, or Banana... well that's a different debate on that umbrella.



truth there. Old navy the only job I ever walked out on. Telling the store manager to take her idiocy and shove it somewhere in her person sideways dry.


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## PogDog (Apr 22, 2020)

Asuras said:


> Not trying to further necropost this old thread like PlainAndSimple but had to laugh at this post and what ended up happening with our titles  😅



I just like to commend @filmer88 for moving up the ranks and ending up on the Corporate Modernization Planning Committee. 👏🏻


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