Taylor Calaway

Responsibilities

I am considered a "business owner" in my department at Target. This means immediately after hire within my training weeks I am taught how to run me department completely without managerial help. They give some guidance but once out of training you are responsible for it. I merchandise all the stock within the department, new and old. I come up with ideas for new ways of to rearrange products within the department. I manage price changes. I look at sales numbers and forecasts and come up with strategies to boost sales. I inventory the department by using an RFID system. I back stock and pull from the back stock. It is also important to service guests in-between these tasks.

Accomplishments

I would say my greatest accomplishment would be learning how to complete a Visual Merchandising Guide for my departments. I had to completely redo my department including different layouts and fixtures. This was supposed to take one 8 hour shift and another 4 hour shift to complete. But I was able to finish it within one 8 hour shift. It took a lot of work and I did break a sweat that day but the end accomplishment was worth it.

Learning experience

The greatest lesson I have learned from this experience would be that you can try your hardest and put all your effort into a visual and some people might not love what you worked on. No matter how many people love what you accomplished there will always be at least one who isn't a fan. I had to learn to not dwell on that, and be proud of what I accomplished anyway.

What advice would you give?

My advice for future students would be to get your foot in the door early. Do not try and take filler jobs while in college if you want to be a fashion major. I decided to work for a place I love to shop at and there was room for growth. I am now in the process of being trained to become a leader.