Any charity shop bods around? Job advice

[Somebodyotherthanme]

Have an interview for charity shop manager, I have retail experience but not in the charity sector.
Been a sahp for a long time so confidence low and having a wobble about being able to do anything non parenty.
Would welcome any tips.

Your staff will be volunteers, so expect Qs about how you'd manage them as it is different to having paid staff with contracts.

Research the charity too, as there'll be specific fundraising initiatives or seasonal stuff (eg Macmillan daffodils).

I've had a look at the charity itself and had a look at the shop, stock is terrible, window dire.
I'm amazed they can even stay open.

Great that you know the shop

So... how will you improve things there without upsetting the volunteers? How will you improve the stock, when it's reliant on donations? Couch it all as plans for improvement, rather than direct criticism of the existing.

There are comparisons between being an sahp and a charity shop manager. In both you manage unpaid people, generally though volunteers are more enthusiastic! In both you have to be good at prioritising your tasks. If you are good at Christmas decorating you will be good at displays Inc window displays.

Where this differs is in the shop you use this for marketing. Look around shops and see what themes or special displays strike you. Ie valentine's day just featuring, Easter coming up. Etc.

They will wa t to hear your ideas on the 4 Ps. People, Product, Pound and Property. How will you make people feel motivated for example. What items do you think will sell well in your shop (thankfully the taste of your customers usually matches that of your donors) check what the cometition prices at and find out what your charity's pricing policy is. Maybe think of a new layout for your shop to get optimum space use. The more units of shelves/racks you have the more chance to sell, but keep it comfortable for the customer.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Just realised you have retail experience. Apologies if I was stating the obvious.

Thanks all, I shall hopefully have better ideas once i have spoken to them.
I'd like to get a prs ? music licence so that it's not too quiet, but of radio 2 or classical stuff perhaps. I think the customer base might be quite old and church going. I think some of the job might involve a lot of chatting to the lonely?

Hi, I'm a charity shop volunteer. We recently recruited a new manager.

Expect to be asked about the aims of the charity. Do a bit of research online. Also stuff about working in a team and dealing with people who don't have to be there as they are volunteers. You might also be asked about how you'd go about recruiting volunteers.

You could certainly talk about improvements you'd make - we have a music playing licence but we use CDs donated to us rather than the radio. The policy is easy-listening stuff nobody can object to. Some of the most played CDs are those "hits of the 60s/70s/80s" compilation things.

I'd also ask what sort of management information they have. We have a computerised till which churns out lots of data about how much we're selling in each category which allows the manager to identify trends - for example she worked out that we had 50% of floorspace dedicated to books, but books were only 15% of sales. So she reorganised the shop to cut down space given to books and increase space for bric a brac, craft and children's toys. Shop display - there are lots of instagram and facebook pages sharing ideas between charity shops and other retailers which you can use for inspiration. Ask also about their social media strategy.

If you have retail experience you can do this. Volunteers are by and large lovely, willing to help. I think the key is to show you are friendly, approachable and willing to give lots of things a try. Good luck! You've got this :-)

You may be asked how you would recruit and retain volunteers, (and how you would deal with 'difficult' unpaid people) also how you might improve the donations. Good luck!

Well I had my 'interview ' yesterday.
She didn't ask me a single question? Just talked at me for over an hour. I could barely get a word in.
The shop is underperforming but she couldn't/wouldn't say how much they are doing.
The stock is dire, they have 2 shelves of those glass GU pudding things.
She also wants to extend opening hours by an hour each day and one of the reasons I applied was because of the hours.
I have a feeling they are going to offer me the position but she's given me the wobbles with it.
It all seems a bit chaotic, lots of enthusiasm but there are a lot of practical obstacles.
I think she wants me to be Mary Portas.

Oh and they appeared to have a 'broom' behind the counter which was obviously used for self defence

Sounds grim - do you really want the job??

I really need a job.
I thought it might tick all the boxes, not daft hours and I would be doing something useful.
Dh says I should view it as a new challenge if they offer.

Eeek not the best start!

I think in your case I’d be itching to get in there and overhaul it all, but you need to make sure you’d not be being exploited and expected to work longer and longer hours.

There are lots of things you can use the glasses for, maybe have a craft section.
Or fill them with something, so they become gifts.

Give it a go.

Part of me feels like that, but most of the stick appears to come from some warehouse. There's no vehicular access to the shop so donations to the shop from the public are apparently few and far between as we are in the wrong side of town.
Ach, I should stop worrying until I get a firm offer really

*stock

Would the charity support you to do a collection in a few local offices? We’ve had that at work before and people have donated lovely stuff, just need a van to go and collect it.

Is the shop part of a chain? One of the shops in our chain has similar issues with stock - their store is in the middle of a large pedestrian precinct, no parking. So every 6 weeks or so they send a van and we fill it with our excess. That sort of thing goes on a lot with charity shops.

I'm sure you could make a really big difference to how they operate, but it's often not easy!

It is part of a small chain and it is stocked from a central location from what I can gather.
I think it gets everyone's left overs , the clothes and everything are awful.
I will enquire about a van for collections from offices in the area, not holding my breath.
I need my questions answered by someone in there who isn't doing a sponsored talkathon!