Got my first software engineering offer from Target's Technology Leadership Program (TLP) last spring. Documenting what actually moved the needle on prep because when I was looking, the info was scattered.
What the process looked like for me: Campus recruiter contact at a career fair -> brief Hirevue (3 video questions, 1 coding challenge) -> virtual onsite with 2 rounds.
The Hirevue coding part was LeetCode easy-to-medium level. Two problems, 45 minutes total. One array manipulation, one string problem. Nothing graph-theory. If you can do Blind 75 problems comfortably at medium difficulty you're fine.
The video behavioral questions were: tell me about a project you're proud of, describe a time you had to learn something quickly under pressure, how do you handle conflicting priorities. Very STAR-friendly. They cared about clarity and specificity, not flashy stories.
Virtual onsite (2 rounds, each 45 min):
Round 1 was coding + light design. Medium LC problem on arrays/hashmaps, then a discussion like "if you were building a product search feature for Target.com, what would you think about." Not expecting a full system design, more testing how you think about real product constraints.
Round 2 was behavioral. Two engineers, asked mostly team collaboration and conflict situations. They seemed genuinely interested in what I'd built, not just looking for keywords.
What actually helped prep-wise: Practiced talking through my thought process out loud before solving, not after. They noticed. Read about Target's retail tech priorities. They have same-day delivery, order pickup, and digital fulfillment as three huge platforms and any candidate who knew that seemed to impress. Prepped 5-6 solid STAR stories covering: learning fast, conflict, ownership, collaboration, failure. Used them across both rounds by adapting the frame.
What didn't help: Grinding LeetCode hard problems. Not their bar for new grads at all. Memorizing company values verbatim. The interviewers clearly preferred examples to recitations.
The program (TLP) includes rotations, which is nice for early-career folks who don't know exactly what they want. Overall pretty solid process, treated me like a real candidate not a number. Good luck.