Amy Rout
February 9, 2011
LA 200 Essay
Fast, Fun, and Friendly: My Summer Internship at Target
Finding an internship can be tough, especially with our current economic conditions.
Not only that, but we go to an extremely competitive school where there are always thousands
of students competing for the same positions. We are constantly being told that internship
experience is a desired qualification for almost all companies, but how does someone go about
finding and obtaining an internship? My essay will focus on my internship with Target this past
summer. I obtained a ten week position as a Store Executive Intern right outside of Pittsburgh,
PA. I would like to share both my experience as well as how I went about getting my internship.
Since many of the LA 200 students have an assortment of majors, I am going to begin with
some background about myself.
Background
I am currently a senior Sociology major and business minor. I spent my first two years of
college as a Marketing student, but had a change in heart and decided to focus on Sociology. I
was never quite sure what exactly I wanted to do after graduation which made it difficult when
it came down to finding an internship last summer. I used the liberal arts website along with
nittany lion career network to search for opportunities that might interest me. Many of the
internships were unpaid which was discouraging because I was looking to earn some money
over the summer. Additionally, several companies were looking for specific majors where I did
not qualify.
Once I decided to secure an internship, I took on a process that included three distinct
steps: finding internship options, applying for them, and succeeding in the interview stage. It
was already March and I still had not found a summer internship.
Internship Search
Throughout my searching, I found an information session held by career services that
was an inside look at the retail industry. At this point I was pretty desperate, so I decided to
give the session a shot. There were only a few other students there in addition to
representatives from Macy’s, Kohl’s, and Target. The information session began providing a
brief background of how the reps got into retail and what the industry entailed. Next, we were
able to ask questions relating to the retail industry, specific jobs, and what opportunities were
available for internships and entry level jobs. Also, the three companies all encouraged
everyone to attend the career fair, which was taking place the following week. The Q&A did a
great job at providing me with a better understanding about these companies. The
representatives warned us that retail is not for everyone; however, many people learn to love it
once they get past the stereotypes. Finally, at the end of the session we were able to give the
reps our resumes as well as get their business cards for any further questions.
Applying
After the representatives had advised us to go the career fair, I figured I should start
prepping myself by researching some of the companies. I had never been to the career fair
before so I got a lot of my information from career services website,
http://studentaffairs.psu.edu/career/. I choose to visit Macy’s, Kohl’s, JCPenny’s, and Target’s
booths while at the fair. Since I ultimately ended up choosing Target, I am going to speak
mainly about my experience with them. Everyone was extremely friendly so it was hard to feel
intimidated. The Target recruiters spoke with me about what I was looking for and which area.
They also quickly skimmed over my resume and then sent me over to another woman to talk a
little bit about my background. I introduced myself, my major, and a few of the things I was
involved in and a few minutes later I was scheduled for an interview the next day.
Interviewing
My first round interview consisted of a thirty minute interview focusing on behavioral
questions. I was interviewed by a Store Manager along with their campus liaison which was a
student here at Penn State. The first question was the standard “tell me about yourself” where
I talked about my extracurricular activities and fall internship. Next, I was asked five situationbased behavioral questions which all began with “tell me about a time when…” Target is
completely focused on leadership so they wanted to hear answers which talked about me as a
leader and how I approached various challenges. Also, they looked for responses that were
high scope, effort, and complexity. For example, working on a required group project for class
would not have been scored as high as managing a new project and committee for a club while
reaching set goals.
One week later I received a call that I had made it to the next round of interviews. This
time the Target campus liaisons also sent out helpful hints and advice for what to expect during
the second round. Coincidentally, the setup for the first round of interviews is identical to the
second; however, the behavioral questions are different. They advised me to really focus on
ways I had been a leader and what I specifically had done rather than a group. During the
second round, I interviewed with two store managers and the Pittsburgh district manager who
is responsible for all of the stores in Western PA. The interview went really well and they told
me I would hear back by the end of the week since I was also in the process of interviewing
with other companies at that point. Target’s internship program was ranked 9th in 2009, so I
was excited about working for such a well recognized organization (Gerdes).
Store Executive Intern
I began my internship during the last week of May as a Store Executive Intern. I had
been assigned a mentor who was an assistant manager at my store and for the next three
weeks I would be shadowing him as I learned the store areas and operations. At orientation I
got to meet the other interns for the Pittsburgh district; surprisingly, I had another intern
assigned at the same store as me. The internship program at Target is structured over a ten
week course. The first three weeks are designed to train you for the assistant manager position
and the remaining seven weeks are spent working on a project as well as taking “leader on
duty” shifts which basically means you are responsible for the entire store during that time. The
district manager even flat out told all of the interns that as long as we did what they asked and
had fun, we would all be getting job offers in August.
On my first day as an intern, I was challenged to lead the morning team huddle and
answer to any walkie talkie calls to assist the team members. From this day on I knew that
Target was going to give me a lot of responsibility over the next two months. While I was
learning the areas of the stores I shadowed the ETL’s (otherwise known as assistant managers)
in assets protection, logistics, human resources, hardlines (toys, electronics, etc.), softlines
(clothing) and guest experience, which was the cash register and front end of the store. In
addition, I had to complete online training modules which focused on safety, diversity,
leadership, and the above mentioned store areas. Every Friday I would meet with my mentor
and the Store Manager for a feedback session known as “Feedback Friday”. The purpose of this
was to help me grow as a leader. At first it was difficult because I was being told what I was
doing well and what I needed to work on, but after the initial few times I really enjoyed learning
how I could improve.
While I was in the “training” portion of the internship I was still expected to act as a
manager. The management team continuously challenged me to respond to problems even the
store even when I did not know what the best option would be to do. For example, there was a
time when they sent me to the front to deal with an angry customer who wanted to speak with
management. Additionally, I was coached on how to delegate tasks to team members and
provide them with feedback about what was going well or what was not. If a team member was
not doing a task properly, it was my responsibility to “coach” him so the correct technique was
done. Another part of my intern experience consisted of attending meetings with upper level
management and leading store visits when executives from headquarters came to visit the
store. This was something that was out of my comfort zone, but it helped me with my
opportunity of demonstrating courage.
Once I had been appropriately trained for Target’s standards, I was allowed to conduct
interviews for team members. This was probably my favorite part about my experience
because I was finally able to be on the other side of the table as the interviewer, not
interviewee. Also, it allowed me to understand what companies truly look for during their
hiring processes. A lot of thought is put into the different traits and skills employees need to
have in order to make a company successful. Lastly, the interviewing permitted me to assess
talent. I had to carefully analyze each candidate’s answers and think about whether or not I
would want them to be on my team.
Another aspect I performed upon training, was acting as the “leader on duty” during the
night shifts. This meant that I was responsible for the store, except for using the keys because
unfortunately, Target cannot give interns this privilege. However, I was given access to reports
such as daily sales, compliance, surrounding stores’ reports, and headquarter news which is
located in Minneapolis. I also had to ensure that all employees completed their tasks for the
night, shut down the registers, and prepare the store for the next day’s opening.
Finally, the last part of my internship was choosing an area in my store that was
struggling and picking a project to fix it. Overall, my store had very few problems, but one area
was the credit card conversion rate. My project, which focused on increasing the rate,
concentrated on retraining store employees properly, as well as creating more credit card
awareness in the store. By the project’s end, the credit card conversion rate rose 14%. This part
of the internship was really cool because you could choose an area that you were interested in
working in. For example, some of the other interns chose to focus on logistics problems while
others tried to hire seasonal staff for the upcoming back to school season.
Likes and Dislikes
Overall, my experience as an intern at Target was truly rewarding. I learned a lot about
the company as well as myself in a short ten weeks. Everyone at Target wants you to succeed
which was nice to have such a supportive group of people at all times. Additionally, the
feedback allowed me to grow as a leader by assessing my strengths and opportunities. I also
really enjoyed the fact that no day was ever the same. This made my days go by fast and kept
me from being bored sitting behind a desk; although, there were some days when I spent a few
hours typing reports on the computer. The entire group of interns got to spend a day at the
distribution center, a “fun” day of laser tag and games, and present all of our projects to top
managers during our “graduation” ceremony. By the second week in August, I had been
offered a job which made my internship pay off completely.
One thing to keep in mind is that retail is not for everyone, but I would say to give it a
shot because a lot of the stereotypes you have in mind probably are not true. My only real
complaint is the hours because you do have to work about every other weekend at Target. On
the other hand, you do get days off during the week which is nice because the majority of
America is at work so running errands and getting things done is much more convenient.
However, I feel that as a college grad this idea is less rewarding because most of my peers will
be working 9-5 jobs with every weekend off. I am hoping the pay, benefits, and vacation time
will make up for this though.
About Target
Target is known for its “Fast Fun and Friendly” culture. They currently have over 1,750
stores in 49 U.S. states. Recently, Target just announced, “it has agreed to pay C$1.825 billion
to purchase from Zellers Inc., a subsidiary of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), the leasehold
interests in up to 220 sites currently operated by Zellers Inc. This transaction will allow Target
to open its first Target stores in Canada beginning in 2013” (Target: Investors). This expansion is
expected to be huge and will be the first international stores Target has opened.
Additionally, Target usually does better financially than comparable stores. Target,
“reported that its net retail sales for the four weeks ended January 29, 2011 were $4,383
million, an increase of 2.2 percent from $4,289 million for the four weeks ended January 30,
2010. On this same basis, January comparable-store sales increased 1.7 percent” (Target
Relations). Also, they have done better year-to-date, despite the harsh economic times.
Lastly, anyone interested in applying for internships or full time positions can go directly
to www.target.com and click on the “Careers” link at the bottom of the page. There is a search
engine that allows all available opportunities to be searched for by location or position type.
Furthermore, there is a list of recruiting events and links for college students to find out more
about what Target has to offer. I would encourage anyone who is interested to apply because
Target focuses more on your leadership ability rather than major.
Bibliography
Gerdes, Lindsey. "Best Places to Intern - BusinessWeek." BusinessWeek - Business News, Stock Market
& Financial Advice. Web. 10 Feb. 2011.
<http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/dec2009/ca2009129_394659.htm>.
"Target : Investors : Financial News Release." Web. 20 Feb. 2011. <http://phx.corporateir.net/preview/phoenix.zhtml?c=65828&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1515822&highlight>.
"Target Reports January Sales Results - Yahoo! Finance." Yahoo! Finance - Business Finance, Stock
Market, Quotes, News. Web. 10 Feb. 2011. <http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Target-ReportsJanuary-Sales-bw-2529894915.html?x=0&.v=1>.