Thread regarding Target Corp. layoffs

@k0 so you’re literally wasting another company’s time by interviewing for a spot some probably needs knowing you are turning it down? That’s madness.

If you stay too long at Target, you will get stuck. Target’s pay is not competitive. I left two years ago, started a new role, and got a $30,000 pay bump, and I no longer have to fight my leader to do challenging work like I did at Target.

Unless you’re one of the “chosen ones” who gets elevated (the golden children), just know: you’re the reason Target isn’t compelled to change. They know they can rely on people doing all the hard work and staying even when miserable, kept convinced through rally cries and “Target Together.”

If you want to exit, get your resume updated, look at external roles, and use AI to locate gaps in your resume. Take advantage of Target’s free courses while you’re there. But don’t rely on Target to fill all your gaps, fund your own growth by traveling to networking events. Many companies won’t cover this, so invest in yourself.

Go outside the company and do two or three interviews per year. I always did this as my fallback and to keep in practice interviewing. I would get offers but always declined. Feel free to correct me, but I believe most companies are the same. Only the name over the door is different

@da Agreed. In my lifetime, every role I've had came to me because of someone I knew or someone I made a sincere effort to connect with.

Coming into TGT new a few years back, I couldn't believe the number of my veteran TMs in corporate who did not have an active LinkedIn presence: the veteran TMs being people who TGT was their first role right out of school or they've been at TGT over 10+ years and didn't think they needed to be active or at least current on LinkedIn.

When I'd look them up to connect, they didn't have a profile photo, they hardly had any networking contacts outside of TGT - and it's like they are starting from scratch once they leave TGT.

Granted, LinkedIn isn't the final authority on networking but it's the industry standard for networking right now, and the most well-known. I get that most people stop interacting with LinkedIn when they are gainfully employed (makes sense), but one should at least be networking a few times a year with people outside the company, former classmates, former coworkers at previous companies or former TGT TMs at new companies, or even with people at companies you admire. You don't want to wait until the last minute when your efforts then come as not genuine or like you are only reaching out because you need something (ie: a job).

Really get serious about networking. I worked at TGT almost 25 years and that means thousands of experiences with other professionals. Stay in touch with people. Reach out to folks you have not talked to in a long time. If they don't have leads, they might know someone who does. In this market, it's going to be about who you know.

Take some time to evaluate your full set of experiences and skills. If you were a Target long timer like I was, you think, wrongly, that you have one lane. You don’t. It’s not even a pivot I’m talking about because I agree that’s tough right now. You likely have more than 1 legitimate lane to pursue.

@a7 Good callouts. That’s exactly why I haven’t taken previous offers. They weren’t quite the direction I wanted to take my career for one reason or the other. Has to be a logical next step based on what I’m looking for.

Try to figure out what are you optimizing for. In other words, what are maybe the most 3 import things to you? Comp, culture, location, industry, growth, stability, etc. Nail that down and then judge roles against what you’re optimizing for. I wouldn’t just say “I want to get out of here asap” because then you will just take whatever role hits first. Also remember, there are no perfect jobs and no perfect companies. Just figure out what is really important to you first because it won’t have it all.

I am seeing people getting external roles though, better to think about that instead of constant doom and gloom