Brittany Blair, Campus Liaison for Target

One of the best parts of interning at a major company is that you get to be part of a large class and can network without being overly "ambitious." Obviously there are some down sides – competition for a mentor, the general awkwardness of interacting with contemporaries early in the morning – but the drawbacks are limited and not actually that bad. Today we sit down with Target campus liaison Brittany Blair to talk about what it's like to intern at Target, the company with the name people loveee to mispronounce and also the largest plastic jack-o-lantern merchant in the world.

Intern Memo: What’s the "aim" of an internship at Target?

Brittany Blair, Target: Target's Executive Internship position is designed to give the intern an overview of Target Stores' operations and company programs. Throughout this experience, the intern will develop and strengthen their leadership skills. Within a store, there are multiple Executive Team Leader positions, each leading a different department. Some of the Executive positions include; Human Resources, Logistics, Sales floor, Guest Experience, and Assets Protection. The intern will shadow each Executive to gain a better understanding of the positions and the store overall. The intern will also work on a special project throughout their internship. For this project, the intern will find a problem or an area of opportunity within the store and then create a fun and innovative way to solve the problem. The projects should also include an action plan for maintaining its success in the future. At the end of the summer, each intern will present their special project to the other interns and their store managers. The project is a great way for the interns to show off what they have learned through the program.

IM: How long is the internship? Are interns paid and/or is school credit offered?

BB: Our summer internship is 10 weeks long and 40 hours per week. It is paid hourly and the current rate is $14 per hour. We have no problem with it counting for credits! However, it is up to the intern and the school to decide if course credits will be granted for our internship.

IM: Will part of the intern's job be getting coffee and making copies for people?

BB: Absolutely not! Our interns will never be someone's coffee runner! Our interns are Executives in the building and are therefore treated like one. The purpose of our program is to give the interns experience with leading teams and to provide them with the appropriate training for our Executive Team Leaders position.

IM: How many interns apply for positions and how many are accepted?

BB: We do not hire a designated number of interns each summer. Having stores all over the country allows us to hire as many qualified intern candidates as we feel necessary.

IM: Do you hire former interns for full or part-time jobs? If an intern isn't hired but did well during their internship, can they ask for a letter of recommendation?

BB: At the end of our program we re-interview all the interns. If we were impressed by the work the intern did over the summer as well as their interviews, we will offer them a full-time Executive Team Leader position upon graduation. It is also possible for the interns to continue working in their store during the school year either part-time or full-time.

IM: What have former interns gone on to do?

BB: Many of our former interns have gone on to be amazing Executive Team Leaders and are well on their way to a successful career with Target.

IM: Do you have any advice for a student looking to intern with Target?

BB: My biggest piece of advice would to be to own your internship experience. Whether you intern with Target or another company, be sure to get everything out of the experience you can. If you find that you are doing tasks that are not challenging you and/or providing you with a beneficial learning experience, speak up! Make sure that you voice your questions and concerns early on in your internship so that any problems can be averted. At Target, we are constantly working to make sure that our internship program is innovative, hands-on, fun, and most importantly, a learning experience.

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