Bookshop Volunteer – Kensington Charity Shop

Why We Want You

We are recruiting for a friendly, approachable, and customer-orientated Saturday Volunteer to join our FARA Kensington Charity Shop team as soon as possible. You will join a vibrant, and busy charity retail environment where no two days are the same and the local community is at the heart of everything we do.

By volunteering in one of our shops, you will help the team process donations from the community more effectively which will help FARA raise as much money and awareness as possible for our work. You will also help us make sure the items FARA can’t sell find the right home, maximising our contribution to a sustainable economy.

FARA has 40 Charity Shops in London and 30 years of experience in Charity Retailing. Our charity shops are tailored to each local community and we aim to respond to our customers’ needs by providing excellent customer service, a pleasant shopping experience, great value for money, a very creative stock display, and visual merchandise. All this can only be possible with the help and dedication of our fantastic teams, from Volunteers to Shop Managers who bring into their everyday roles unique and amazing skills.

Working times

• Location: FARA Kensington,  SW7 4RB
• Shop Opening Hour: 10:00– 18:00
• 4 hours per week

Opening hours will differ slightly between shops but essentially they are all structured around a 4-hour morning and afternoon shift. However, shops will try to be as flexible as possible to allow you to volunteer when you are able.

The Volunteer Role

As a Shop Volunteer, you should be friendly, approachable, reliable, and able to follow agreed shop processes and work with Staff & Shop Volunteers to assist the team in running the shop. Shop Volunteers are generally recruited to undertake specific tasks in a shop but if you bring additional skills that you would enjoy contributing, we will do our best to utilise them.

This is likely to include:

• Someone who has a passion for books
• Someone who is friendly, approachable and enthusiastic
• If you have worked with books before or are in a book club that is a bonus
• Sorting book donations
• Pricing books
• Identifying valuable and collectable books
• Some lifting of books onto shelves
• Book displays
• Greeting and assisting customers
• Accepting donations and promoting Gift Aid

In return we can provide a positive experience, work experience and a safe space to learn and further your skills.

FARA is committed to being an inclusive employer. If you need any reasonable adjustments during the application process, please let us know.

What’s in it for you

Our shops are run by friendly, collaborative teams where everyone works together. You will gain experience volunteering with a team that supports each other to develop, challenge and celebrate their contributions with FARA.  Full training will be provided.