Team Target is full of people who have built decades-long careers working good jobs, with great people who care deeply about their continued growth. We see their stories as proof of a simple truth: however you want to build your career, there's a path for you at Target. Keep reading to hear these stories and join us in celebrating our longest tenured team member, Jackie G., a guest advocate at T-0048 Arvada, Colorado.
Jackie started working at Target in 1970 and over the years, she’s balanced raising a family while continuing to grow her career — ultimately stepping into an Executive Team Lead role, where she led teams for 35 years. Her path reflects both personal resilience and the meaningful career mobility available within our stores.
This is my home. I’m going to stay here the rest of my life.
She continues to bring unwavering warmth, service and dedication to her role, guided by her motto:
If I can make you happy as a guest, I will.
Lessons along the way
Our commitment to supporting career growth is reflected in stories like Jackie’s, and the many long-tenured team members who have built impactful careers at Target. Now, those experiences help them play a key role in developing the next generation of talent to carry on their legacies.
Finding a calling
I did carts, cashier, whatever they needed me to do, but I worked a couple nights a week at T-997 Grossmont and didn't have any expectation of a career. You know, I hadn't even really decided what I wanted to do in life at that point in college. I think I was a sophomore and fell in love with retail.
When Justin H. accepted a part time job at a Target store in San Diego while attending college, he expected it to be temporary, but he quickly discovered that Target was a place where he felt energized by the work and connected to the people around him.
From those early days learning how to pull ads and stock shelves, Justin grew into store leadership, eventually opening new stores and leading multiple districts. Along the way, he was guided by mentors like Store Director Steve T., who taught him honesty, clarity and the importance of leading through others. “It wasn’t just about getting a result — it was about having an impact on others,” Justin says.
Today, Justin is the Group Vice President for the Pacific Northwest — a role he describes as a dream job.
It wasn’t just about getting a result — it was about having an impact on others.
Doing the work
Steve T. store director of T-1410 Mission Valley in San Diego, and one of Justin’s first mentors, also finds the possibilities at Target to be one of the most rewarding aspects of his job — not just for himself, but for all the careers he can help develop around him.
“I want to be a great coach. My whole career is: ‘How can I help others succeed?’”
In his 22 years at Target, Steve has helped dozens of team members believe in and achieve their goals. “To me,” he says, “success is seeing my team grow.”
I want to be a great coach. My whole career is: “How can I help others succeed?”
Loving the growth
Honestly, the growth Target has. When I started here, we only had half of this building here. Now if you look at Target now there's six distributions within like what a 40 mile radius. Just the growth of what Target has done, and then also just the teammates the growth with the teammates. I like to get with the teammates and just see how some of them have grown. I really enjoy all of that.
For Melissa E., who has spent 36 years at DC 553 and will soon celebrate her 37th, Target has been both a workplace and a family. She began her career in inbound and eventually found her home in warehousing, where she has spent three decades. Along the way, she met her husband at Target and welcomed multiple relatives into the building as fellow team members. “Honestly, the growth is what keeps me here,” she says. “When I started, we only had half this building. Now look at how much Target has grown — and how much the teammates have grown too.”
Melissa credits several leaders with believing in her potential and encouraging her to step into leadership. Today, she pays that encouragement forward, advising new team members how they might build a Target legacy of their own.
Honestly, the growth is what keeps me here.
Celebrating the power of a great place to work
These stories are proof of how we empower our team members throughout their career journeys. Whether you want to build your career in your home store, like Jackie, or you want to experience roles in all parts of our business — there’s a path for you here.
Our investments in our team come straight from the heart of our “care, grow, win together” culture, and their long Target careers show they feel it. And we know listening, learning and evolving to meet our team’s changing needs is how we continue building — and keeping — the best team in retail.
