I started working for Target at a new store that opened up in my home town back in 2009. I just graduated high school and was taking classes at a local community college. Target was giving me steady hours at the time, about 30-35 hours/week. So for me, it was hard to keep up with school and I couldn’t find a good balance.
About a year later, Target offered me a promotion to their loss prevention team. It gave me a raise to $11/hr which was okay for me at the time back in 2010.
I worked and worked, getting the results, building my rapport with the store and district leaders. By 2015, I transferred to a different store out of state and was promoted to an undercover investigator. My wage then went to $16/hr.
From 2016-2019, I was the #1 investigator for Target stores in the entire southeast region (about 500 stores). My wage increased about $1/year until I was up to $20/hr in 2019.
I was then offered another “promotion” to store-level manager at a new store. I passed all my interviews with flying colors and they were ready to offer me the position.
For the area at the time, store-level managers (what are called Executive Team Leaders, ETLs) were salary based positions starting around $60k/year and some starting a litter higher. One of my old bosses, an ETL-AP (Asset Protection) was making over $95k, for Target! That’s why I kept grinding my way with Target – to get there. Knowing the work these managers did, I knew most of it inside and out but just needed a few final touches before getting there.
I was finally given an offer of $21/hr for the new managerial position at the new store. I offered them that I wouldn’t accept anything lower than $30/hr. They came back saying they couldn’t increase by even a penny. They did not want to negotiate at all. So that’s when I found out how much I was worth to Target after 10 years. I knew I was replaceable. So I kept my current position and showed them how much results they’d get with how much they were paying me. Did my results drop? Hell yes they did.
Not even 2 months later, I was terminated. They tried each and every way to get that. And they eventually hired externally for the new manager position at the new store. The new manager was brought on at $17.50/hr and had already violated multiple policies to get terminated! And guess what, they weren’t.
I was terminated in February 2020, right before COVID, I got my share of UI for awhile.
I currently run my own business and couldn’t have asked for more – making six figures and working about 1-2 hours/day from home.
Getting terminated from Target was the best thing to ever happen to me and I wish it happened sooner.
The way they treat you to think you can make it to the top is just a scam. They don’t value you at all.
FUCK TARGET.