Hitting the Target Career

*All views are Rosen’s own and do not reflect the views or opinions of her employer. 

Rosen said that she became interested in Target because the company made her “feel like a person” throughout the application process. She described the retail giant’s “people-centric” environment with this example from her first day of interning: “I was challenged by the store director not to learn the equipment or the software, but instead to meet 20 people in the store and learn one interesting fact about them.”

 This appreciation brought her to accept an offer for a permanent job. Noting that the company has many opportunities for growth, she said that she would “love to [eventually] end up in a corporate position.”

Rosen said that her experiences at Hamilton helped prepare her and spark her interest in working in retail management. “I’m a psychology major, so I really like working with people, learning to make people satisfied, and learning body language and dealing with the people side of things. But also because I do have an economics minor, the scheduling, data, stuff like that also meshes with that side.”

She emphasized that working retail is often as difficult as it is challenging. “Retail stretches your brain in a different way than, say, doing your thesis, but it challenges me on a daily basis and has caused me a lot of personal growth both in terms of knowledge and skills and leadership,” said Rosen, who served as the president of Emerson Literary Society since the end of her first year at Hamilton.

According to Rosen, though people might not think about it every time they enter a store, all employees, “whether [they] are cashiers or in high-level management positions,” play an important role in serving thousands of people every day. She anticipates an engaging career that will regularly push her to communicate with others, remain outspoken and steadfast, and hold her own through various challenges — whether overseeing a store during COVID-19 or working the toys section in December.