Target Is Hiring: Harder Than Getting Into Harvard?

Early this month, hundreds of job seekers lined up in the California sun, some as early as 6:30 a.m., in the hope of scoring an hourly position at two new Target stores. While other companies are growing cautiously, Target is continuing a rapid expansion that has hardly paused for breath in 50 years -- this time with its sights on America's urban neighborhoods.

But even an hourly job on the floor of the country's second largest retailer isn't an easy win these days, especially in a state like California, which still has double-digit unemployment. The Target store set to open in Los Angeles had already received over 4,000 applications for 250 spots, when the Los Angeles Times reported on it, so just 6.25 percent of applicants would get the job if no one else applied -- a lower acceptance rate than Harvard University.

Target's hiring process for its new stores has been designed with military precision. Applicants take an on-spot assessment test, interview with two current employees, and are then escorted to the bathroom for an on-site drug test. If all goes well, they'll get a job offer, assuming their background check comes up clean.

Shannon Rosales, the hiring manager for the upcoming San Francisco store, told SFGate that they're looking for a "can-do attitude." Jessica Stevens, a Target spokeswoman, told AOL Jobs that Target looks for "a friendly and upbeat attitude" -- typically desirable traits for a worker sometimes tasked with appeasing frazzled customers.

Applicants would also be wise to showcase their teamworking chops, she adds, and "how they would put our guests first."

"The majority will know if they have a job on the same say they apply," the L.A. store's new manager, Simone Tatro, told the L.A. Times. "We have this down to a science."

Target is a proponent of the behavioral interview, with questions focused on how you handled specific challenges in the past, like "Describe a situation where you had trouble with a co-worker," "Name a situation where you had to defend your position," or "Tell me about a situation where you made a mistake."