The 1,800 Who Survived 22 Years (Only to Vanish in 22 Minutes)

Target just laid off 1,800 corporate employees after four years of essentially flat sales. The person orchestrating the cuts? A guy who started as a finance intern at the same company in 2003. The irony isn't the story. The pattern is.

The Email That Changed Everything

On October 23, 2025, at approximately 9 AM Central Time, Target employees received an email from incoming CEO Michael Fiddelke.

Not everyone got the same email.

Some got one that said: "Work from home next week."

Others got one that said: "Work from home next week. You'll find out Tuesday if you still have a job."

The cuts represent approximately 8% of Target's global headquarters team—1,800 actual layoffs plus 800 positions that will never be filled. Leadership positions were three times more likely to be eliminated than other roles.

Meanwhile?

Zero store employees affected. Zero supply chain workers cut. Zero distribution center roles eliminated.

Same company.

Same week.

Same financial pressure.

Completely different fates.

So what separated the headquarters team from the store team?

The Thing About Michael Fiddelke

Michael Fiddelke started as a Target finance intern in 2003 while studying business administration at Northwestern University. He got promoted or changed jobs within Target roughly every two years for 22 years—all the way up to his appointment as CEO.

He didn't job-hop.

He didn't leave for a competitor and come back.

He stayed.

And that's precisely why he knows exactly what to cut.

In his layoff announcement, Fiddelke wrote: "The complexity we've created over time has been holding us back. Too many layers and overlapping work have slowed decisions, making it harder to bring ideas to life".

Translation: I've watched us add bureaucracy for 22 years. I know which layers are theater and which ones actually matter.

Most people read that memo and think: "Oh, he's streamlining operations."

But here's what the memo actually says:

"I know where the bodies are buried because I helped bury some of them."

The Retail Bloodbath Nobody's Talking About

Target's layoffs aren't happening in a vacuum.

Retail job cuts in 2025 have soared 274% compared to the same period in 2024, with approximately 76,000 retail jobs eliminated through May alone.

Overall, U.S. employers announced 696,309 job cuts in the first five months of 2025—up 80% from the 385,859 announced in the same period last year.

Let's put that in perspective:

Retail is bleeding jobs faster than almost any other private sector.

Yet physical stores keep operating.

So where are the cuts happening?

Headquarters. Always headquarters.

The Two Targets That Exist Simultaneously

Target A: The Physical Experience

In 2024, Target customers took 350 million more trips to Target stores than they did in 2019. The company plans to invest $4 billion to $5 billion in stores, supply chain, and technology in 2025.

Target operates nearly 2,000 stores.

They're opening 20 more in 2025.

They remodeled stores throughout 2024.

Store traffic grew.

Digital orders fulfilled through stores: 97%.

Their value proposition: "We're where customers actually shop."

Target B: The Corporate Infrastructure

Target's headquarters in Minneapolis houses thousands of employees.

Marketing teams. Finance departments. HR divisions. Strategy groups. Analytics units. Project managers. Change management consultants. Innovation labs.

For the past four years, Target's sales have been essentially flat—full-year 2024 comparable sales grew just 0.1%, and second quarter 2025 saw comparable sales decline 1.9%.

Revenue growth: Nearly zero.

Headquarters headcount: Growing steadily until October 23, 2025.

Their value proposition: "We support the people who support the stores."

Guess Which Target Survived?

Most people get this wrong.

They think: "Target chose stores over corporate. They're prioritizing customer-facing roles over back-office overhead."

But that's not quite right.

Both groups are necessary. Both are valuable. Both contribute to Target's operations.

The difference?

One group's value is visible in every transaction. The other group's value is visible in... well, that's the problem.

When comparable sales drop 1.9% and operating income falls 19.4%, executives ask a simple question:

"Which roles directly generate the revenue we're trying to protect?"

And the answer is never "the team that manages the team that oversees the committee that reviews the strategy."

The Complexity Trap

Here's what happens in organizations that don't cut regularly:

Year 1: Company launches a new initiative. Hires a project manager.

Year 2: Initiative expands. Adds three specialists.

Year 3: Initiative needs governance. Adds a director and two coordinators.

Year 4: Initiative has grown. Needs executive oversight. Promotes director to VP, adds two managers.

Year 5: Initiative is now "business as usual." But the team remains.

Year 6-10: Repeat across 50 initiatives.

By Year 10: The company has layers of people managing initiatives that no longer need managing.

But nobody cuts them because:

• They're doing something
• Cutting them feels mean
• Their work isn't harmful, it's just not critical
• Everyone's been there for years
• The political capital required to eliminate roles is enormous

So the layers accumulate.

Target's last major downsizing was in 2015, when 1,700 employees were let go and 1,400 open positions went unfilled.

That was a decade ago.

Ten years of accumulated complexity.

Ten years of "we should probably have someone oversee that."

Ten years of well-meaning additions that gradually became dead weight.

And Michael Fiddelke watched all of it happen.

The Resume Test Nobody Teaches

Pull any resume from Target's laid-off corporate employees.

Now ask one question:

"If this person disappeared tomorrow, would a customer notice within 30 days?"

Not "would the company notice."

Would a customer notice?

• Store manager? Yes. Shelves look different, service quality changes.
• Supply chain coordinator? Yes. Products arrive late or not at all.
• Cashier? Yes. Lines get longer.
• District visual merchandiser? Maybe, after a few weeks.
• Senior Director of Strategic Initiative Alignment? ...

That's not a criticism of the role.

It's just reality.

When sales are flat and pressure mounts, companies protect roles with direct customer impact first.

Everything else becomes optional.

What the Layoff Memo Actually Said

Fiddelke's memo stated: "This spring, we launched our enterprise acceleration efforts with a clear ambition: to move faster and simplify how we work to drive Target's next chapter of growth".

Let's decode that:

"Move faster" = Too many approval layers

"Simplify" = Too many process owners

"Drive growth" = Current structure isn't generating revenue

The memo also mentioned: "By reducing the size of our team, fewer conversations will be required to make a decision, and each person will be more load-bearing and have more scope and impact".

Translation: Right now, too many people touch every decision, slowing everything down and diluting accountability.

This is corporate speak for: "We've been managing the managers who manage the managers, and it's killing our speed."

The Brutal Math of Flat Growth

Here's the uncomfortable arithmetic:

Target's full-year 2024 comparable sales grew 0.1%. Second quarter 2025 comparable sales declined 1.9%.

Operating income in Q2 2025 was 19.4% lower than the previous year.

Meanwhile, corporate headcount had been growing through 2024.

More people + flat revenue = negative margin.

Simple math.

Brutal implications.

Companies can absorb headcount growth when revenue grows faster.

But when revenue flatlines?

Every additional corporate salary comes directly out of profit.

And when net income drops 21%, something has to give.

Target chose to protect the stores and cut headquarters.

That's not a moral choice.

That's a mathematical one.

The Pattern Hiding in Plain Sight

Let's connect the data points:

Point 1: Retail layoffs up 274% in 2025, with major retailers including Walmart, Best Buy, Starbucks, Macy's, and JCPenney all announcing cuts.

Point 2: Coresight Research forecasts 15,000 store closures in 2025—twice the number from 2024.

Point 3: First-half 2025 job cuts totaled 744,308—the highest since 2020 and rivaling the 896,675 announced in first-half 2009 after the financial crisis.

Point 4: Target's cuts specifically target headquarters, not customer-facing roles.

See the pattern?

Retailers are cutting corporate infrastructure while protecting (or at least attempting to protect) customer experience.

They're betting that:

• Fewer strategists won't hurt sales
• Fewer project managers won't slow essential work
• Fewer directors won't collapse operations
• Fewer VPs won't eliminate critical oversight

Are they right?

We'll know in 12 months.

But the bet has been placed.

The Intern Who Became CEO (And Why It Matters)

There's something almost poetic about this situation.

Michael Fiddelke interned at Target 22 years ago and rose through the ranks without ever leaving the company.

He knows:

• Which processes are valuable vs. theatrical
• Which roles drive decisions vs. attend meetings
• Which layers add value vs. slow velocity
• Which teams generate revenue vs. generate reports

External CEOs often struggle with layoffs because they don't know what's truly necessary.

They rely on consultants. Outside consultants, including Accenture, reportedly came in to help decide which parts of the business would reduce headcount.

But Fiddelke?

He's been there for 22 years.

He knows exactly what can go.

Because he watched it accumulate.

That's not an advantage for employees. That's a disadvantage.

External CEOs hesitate because they lack institutional knowledge.

Internal CEOs who've climbed the ranks?

They cut with surgical precision.

Because they know exactly where the fat accumulated.

The Resume Signal Most People Miss

Look at any resume from Target's corporate headquarters.

Now look at accomplishments.

Do they signal:

Type A (Process-Oriented):

• "Led cross-functional team of 12 stakeholders"
• "Managed strategic initiative across 4 departments"
• "Coordinated alignment between business units"
• "Facilitated quarterly planning sessions"
• "Oversaw change management for new system"

Type B (Impact-Oriented):

• "Reduced store supply costs $4.2M annually through vendor renegotiation"
• "Built inventory optimization model cutting overstock 23% across 200 stores"
• "Launched same-day delivery in 35 markets, adding $89M revenue"
• "Redesigned checkout flow, reducing transaction time 18% and increasing throughput"
• "Optimized staffing model saving 12,000 hours monthly while maintaining service levels"

Both are legitimate roles.

Both require skills.

Only one survives flat revenue.

Guess which?

What Store Employees Know That Headquarters Forgot

Here's what's fascinating:

Target store employees weren't affected by these cuts.

Why?

Because their value is immediately visible:

• Shelves get stocked or they don't
• Registers get operated or they don't
• Customers get helped or they don't
• Deliveries get fulfilled or they don't

There's no ambiguity about value.

No quarterly review to "demonstrate impact."

No need to "align stakeholders on success metrics."

The value is binary and immediate.

Headquarters roles?

Much harder to quantify.

"I coordinated alignment" sounds important.

But when revenue is flat, executives ask: "What would break if we didn't coordinate alignment?"

And often the answer is: "Nothing immediately visible."

That's when the role becomes vulnerable.

The 10-Week Survival Test

Here's how to know if a corporate role would survive Target's cuts:

Week 1-2: Remove the person from all meetings and projects. Don't tell anyone else. Just ghost them from the organization.

Week 3-4: Watch what breaks. Not what people complain about—what actually stops functioning.

Week 5-6: Measure customer impact. Did satisfaction drop? Did sales decline? Did operations degrade?

Week 7-8: Measure internal impact. Did critical decisions stall? Did essential processes fail?

Week 9-10: Count how many people noticed the absence and why.

If critical things broke in weeks 1-4: Essential role. Survives.

If impact appeared in weeks 5-6: Important role. Probably survives.

If only internal complaints in weeks 7-8: Nice-to-have role. Vulnerable.

If nobody noticed by week 10: Role exists on paper only. First to go.

That's the test.

Cruel? Perhaps.

Accurate? Absolutely.

The Distance Between Impact and Visibility

Here's what makes corporate layoffs so brutal:

Many of the cut roles do create value.

They just create value that's:

• Diffuse across the organization
• Realized over long time horizons
• Hard to measure directly
• Invisible until it's gone

A strategic planner who prevents a bad decision?

Immense value.

But nobody sees the disaster that didn't happen.

An organizational development specialist who improves culture?

Real impact.

But culture changes take years to measure.

A process improvement manager who optimizes workflows?

Genuine contribution.

But workflows don't break immediately when optimization stops.

The problem isn't that these roles lack value.

The problem is that their value is invisible to the people making layoff decisions during a revenue crisis.

And in October 2025, with Target's operating income down 19.4%, invisible value became expendable value.

What This Means for Every Corporate Employee

Target's layoffs reveal an uncomfortable truth:

Corporate roles survive based on proximity to revenue, not quality of work.

You can be:

• Brilliant at your job
• Dedicated to the company
• Working 60-hour weeks
• Beloved by colleagues
• Delivering real value

And still get cut.

If your role is three steps removed from a customer transaction?

You're vulnerable.

If your impact takes six months to measure?

You're vulnerable.

If your value requires a slide deck to explain?

You're vulnerable.

That's not fair. But it is predictable.

The Resume Reframe (Again)

Take any bullet point from a corporate resume.

Now reframe through the "distance from revenue" lens.

Before (Process Frame):

"Led cross-functional initiative to improve organizational alignment across 5 business units"

After (Impact Frame):

"Eliminated redundant approval layers across 5 units, reducing decision time from 6 weeks to 8 days—enabling faster product launches that generated $12M incremental revenue"

Before (Process Frame):

"Managed strategic planning process for leadership team"

After (Impact Frame):

"Redesigned planning process, cutting meeting time 40% and reallocating 2,400 executive hours annually toward customer-facing initiatives—correlating with 7% increase in customer satisfaction scores"

Before (Process Frame):

"Coordinated change management for new enterprise system rollout"

After (Impact Frame):

"Deployed new system to 1,800 stores in 90 days (vs. 180-day industry standard), avoiding $4M in delayed productivity—system now processes 2.3M daily transactions with 99.7% uptime"

Same work. Different framing. Vastly different survival odds.

The first version says: "I coordinate things."

The second version says: "I drive measurable business outcomes."

When Michael Fiddelke is deciding which 1,800 people to cut?

He's keeping the second person.

Every single time.

The Thing About Timing

Target's layoffs aren't happening next year.

They're happening now.

Affected employees will be notified Tuesday, October 29, 2025. They'll receive pay and benefits through January 3, 2026, plus severance packages.

That gives them roughly 10 weeks to find their next role.

During a period when retail layoffs are up 274% and hiring remains "cautious" according to economists.

But here's the thing:

Those 1,800 people had signals.

They just didn't see them.

Target announced Fiddelke as incoming CEO in August 2025, specifically highlighting his establishment of an "Enterprise Acceleration Office to reshape how Target operates—removing complexity, expanding technology and enabling more flexibility".

That wasn't subtle.

That was a billboard that said: "We're about to cut complexity. Complexity = people."

During Target's second-quarter earnings call, Fiddelke explicitly stated: "At our headquarters, team structures and processes have significant opportunities to improve".

Again, not subtle.

The signals were there.

Most people just didn't update their resumes accordingly.

Or their LinkedIn profiles.

Or their internal positioning.

They continued framing their value around process and coordination.

While the incoming CEO was publicly saying: "We have too much process and coordination."

Pattern recognition is the first step to survival.

But pattern recognition requires looking.

The Tool Most Corporate Employees Are Missing

Here's the practical problem:

Most corporate employees understand intellectually that they need to reframe their value around revenue impact.

But they don't know how to:

• Identify which accomplishments actually matter
• Quantify impact that feels qualitative
• Frame coordination work as revenue-driving
• Position themselves for roles that survive cuts
• Test whether their resume signals "essential" vs. "nice-to-have"

They try to figure it out manually.

They spend 30 hours rewriting bullets.

They guess at what executives value.

They submit applications and hope.

There's a more systematic approach.

Platforms like CV by JD allow professionals to:

• Analyze resume positioning against corporate role requirements
• Identify gaps between current framing and market expectations
• Reframe accomplishments using impact-focused language
• Test multiple versions against different role types
• Optimize for both human readers and ATS systems

Not magic.

Just systematic reframing.

The kind that might have helped some of Target's 1,800 laid-off employees position themselves differently six months ago.

Before the ax fell.

The Three Corporate Positions That Survive

Based on Target's cuts and the broader retail layoff pattern, three positioning strategies consistently survive:

Position 1: The Revenue Protector

Signal: "My work directly prevents revenue loss or enables revenue growth."

Example bullets:

• Redesigned checkout experience reducing cart abandonment 12%, protecting $8.9M annual revenue
• Built fraud detection model catching 2,400 cases monthly, preventing $3.2M in losses
• Optimized pricing strategy across 400 SKUs, lifting margins 3.1% ($6.7M impact)

Why it survives: Companies under revenue pressure protect roles that defend the top line.

Position 2: The Cost Eliminator

Signal: "My work demonstrably reduces operating expenses that hit the bottom line."

Example bullets:

• Automated manual reconciliation process saving 1,800 hours monthly ($290K annual labor cost reduction)
• Renegotiated vendor contracts cutting supply costs $2.4M annually while maintaining quality
• Redesigned staffing model reducing overtime 31% across 200 locations ($1.9M savings)

Why it survives: When margins compress, cost eliminators become essential.

Position 3: The Crisis Preventer

Signal: "My work prevents disasters that would cripple operations or destroy reputation."

Example bullets:

• Designed backup systems preventing estimated $12M revenue loss during outages (system maintained 99.97% uptime)
• Built compliance program avoiding $8M in potential regulatory fines across 1,800 locations
• Created quality control protocols catching 94% of defects pre-shipment, preventing estimated $4.3M in returns/recalls

Why it survives: Companies won't cut roles that prevent catastrophic failures.

Notice what's missing from all three?

• "Coordinated"
• "Facilitated"
• "Managed stakeholders"
• "Led initiatives"
• "Aligned teams"

Those words signal process.

The market rewards outcomes.

The 30-Day Repositioning Plan (For Corporate Employees)

For anyone in a corporate role at any company, here's an immediate action plan:

Week 1: Audit Your Visibility

Monday-Tuesday:

• List every accomplishment from the past 2 years
• For each: "If I disappeared tomorrow, what would break and when?"
• Categorize: Immediate impact / 30-day impact / 90-day impact / Never noticed

Wednesday-Friday:

• Research your company's recent earnings calls
• Note every time executives mention: efficiency, streamlining, simplification, acceleration
• Assess: Is your role aligned with stated priorities or contrary to them?

Week 2: Quantify Everything

Monday-Wednesday:

• For each accomplishment, answer: "What revenue did this generate or protect?"
• If no direct revenue: "What cost did this eliminate?"
• If neither: "What disaster did this prevent and what would it have cost?"

Thursday-Friday:

• Rewrite every resume bullet with a dollar figure or percentage
• Add time saved, efficiency gained, or risk mitigated
• Remove all bullets that can't be quantified (or move them to the bottom)

Week 3: Test Your Position

Monday-Wednesday:

• Update LinkedIn with impact-focused accomplishments
• Use tools like CV by JD to test resume positioning
• Get feedback: Does your resume scream "essential" or whisper "nice-to-have"?

Thursday-Friday:

• Apply to 2-3 roles specifically to test response rate
• A/B test: Process-focused version vs. impact-focused version
• Track which gets callbacks

Week 4: Build Optionality

Monday-Wednesday:

• Identify 5-10 companies in your industry hiring similar roles
• Connect with recruiters in your space
• Start conversations before you need them

Thursday-Friday:

• Document your impact in a portfolio or case study format
• Create a "highlight reel" of measurable outcomes
• Position yourself as someone who drives results, not manages process

The Uncomfortable Truth About Corporate Loyalty

Michael Fiddelke spent 22 years at Target.

He's now eliminating 1,800 people, many of whom also spent years—sometimes decades—at Target.

The loyalty didn't protect them.

The tenure didn't save them.

The relationships didn't matter.

What mattered?

Proximity to measurable business outcomes.

That's not cynical.

That's reality.

Companies facing flat revenue and declining margins protect roles that visibly drive numbers.

Everything else—no matter how valuable, how hardworking, how dedicated—becomes optional.

The Last Thing

Target's affected employees will learn their fate on Tuesday, October 29. They have roughly 10 weeks of pay and benefits, then they're job-hunting.

In a market where retail layoffs are up 274% and hiring remains cautious.

They're not less qualified than store employees.

They're not less valuable than the people who survived.

They were just positioned further from revenue.

And in October 2025, with four years of flat sales finally catching up, distance from revenue became the only metric that mattered.

Everyone else watching this has the same choice:

Repositioning now.

Or job-hunting later.

The timeline doesn't matter.

What matters is understanding that corporate roles survive based on one thing: measurable proximity to business outcomes.

Skills might be world-class.

Loyalty might span decades.

But if a resume doesn't scream "I drive revenue, cut costs, or prevent disasters"?

It's in the wrong 1,800.

Share This

If you know someone working in a corporate headquarters role—at Target or anywhere else—send them this.

Not to scare them.

But because Michael Fiddelke spent 22 years learning which roles matter and which ones don't.

And he just showed everyone exactly what that looks like.

For those who choose to pay attention.

P.S. - The 1,800 who got cut at Target weren't less qualified than the store employees who stayed. They were just positioned at the wrong distance from the customer. In restructuring mode, distance is destiny.