Target reviews

Others here have described the culture clash between MBA hires and those growing up in the company. This is getting better but it is based on fear of those growing up in the company that they have no future without an MBA. Sr Management isn't doing much to change that perception. That being said, Target is a great company to work for either as an MBA hire Buyer or a Business Analyst. You have a lot of autonomy to drive a business and put your strengths to work coordinating a strategy. There is definitely a "game" to be played at Target and there are politics but no more than at other companies of a similar size. On to the biggest issue. Living in Minnesota. If you are coming from a large city and/or are relocating alone, think very hard about making a move. Minneapolis (weather aside) is not a large city and is comprised of mainly people who grew up there, went to college there (you don't even have to leave the "cities" to go to the U) and still live there. It is an extremely cliquey city and despite the term "Minnesota Nice", it's not really a very friendly city. In fact, most transplants know Minnesota Nice to mean just the opposite, very polite but fairly fake when it comes to friendliness. Minnesotans will tell you what a world class city they have with culture, theater, outdoor activities...I'm not arguing that though few of them have a comparison point...but making friends becomes an exercise in finding other transplants.

No work life balance. The company would tell you that they encourage a work life balance, but the culture said otherwise. I once had a District Team Leader (Person who manages a district of approximately 5-10 store locations) tell a group of ETL's that a minimum of 10 hours days was expected. During the holiday season, ETL's are expected to work six days a week. High turnover. I had a new supervisor at least once a year. I was considered a high potential for promotion with one supervisor and then had to start over with the next. **If you like to think for yourself, this company is not for you. Target is a big company and has already established the way things are done. Free thinkers and creativity are not encouraged and in many cases not allowed. For example, we had some MP3 players that got stolen all the time. Our security guy (Assets Protection) told us that the company would not allow us to lock up the product. This was not really fair to him or myself because our reviews had a component on Shortage/shrink. He further told me that the manufacturer of the MP3 player gave a portion back to the company when the product was stolen. This particular portion was given back to headquarters to help their reviews, but still our shortage looked bad. There was never much room for your own ideas. The people who got promoted were the one that sacrificed intellect and sometime ethics to get ahead. I was told to performance manage team members for some pretty unethical reasons. I can remember one team member that I was told to get rid of by my supervisor when I thought he was doing a good job. It got to the point where my supervisor said it was his job or mine. Of course I did what my supervisor said and I still feel bad for the situation. Some people can do this quite well. As for me, I was incredibly unhappy and sacrificed my personality while working at Target. Before you work at Target, make sure that you are not a free thinker, do not enjoy creating your own ideas and are willing to sacrifice a little integrity when managing your employees.