They don't accept my voluntary work

It's not, actually.

A lot of unpaid / charity work is done on a casual or voluntary basis, where the worker may be able to come and go as they please as there's no firm requirement on them.

Paid work is usually a lot more structured and rigid than this, requiring people to turn up on time and abide to a set amount of hours.

It could well be that this employer has had trouble with workers in the past who haven't turned up when they said they would, and therefore put this limit in place.

It doesn't make them bad people or bad employers.

This is simply untrue. Unpaid volunteers can, and do, dip in and out of work without compunction - the need for them is, by definition, greater than their need for the role. I don't say they all do that (they don't) but a significant proportion do and thus unpaid work is a poor model for paid work where reliability is required.

A person has said that they have been discriminated against for not having the required experience for a position. In this case, we can say that the phrase discriminated against clearly is meaning ‘acting upon a presupposed prejudice’.

When in contexts such as this, implying what you called illegal discrimination, then we don’t bother using the word illegal before it because everyone should know what kind of discrimination is being suggested.

We? Should? Ha! That isn't high-handed at all. Oh no!

'Discrimination' never means 'illegal discrimination'.

In my C.V. under ‘Voluntary Work’ I have justified working hours and contracts. Which I would also mention in any covering letter or application form. They are ASSUMING the basis of my voluntary work if they chose not to hire me because of it, just because the word ‘voluntary’ is used does not automatically equal: zero hour, flexible, short term, etc.
It is bad on the behalf of the employer because they do not know what the persons previous positions in voluntary work actively involved. Mine have been exactly like paid work - set hours, rigid in structure and under strict authority.

Edited post.

Don't highlight it as voluntary work. You put it under Experience - because it is, and you give your role as the job title, eg Shop Assistant, not volunteer. Then the whole issue doesn't arise.

Don't highlight it as voluntary work. You put it under Experience - because it is, and you give your role as the job title, eg Shop Assistant, not volunteer. Then the whole issue doesn't arise.

Nearly , until they ask and then you have to decide whether to spill or not. In the context of a parcel sorter then I think it is a bit silly.

If they ask, then you've already got to interview, which is the point of a CV. Of course it's fairly irrelevant in this particular case, it's an entry level job and any sort of 'turning up and doing what you are asked/told' should be pretty relevant. However, on the wider issue, you don't get into this situation where employers can be over judgemental if you don't tell them so explicitly what was paid and what was unpaid work.

But that’s exactly my point - it should not be an issue? I’ve been told from 15 that volunteering is such an important experience to put on your CV, why would so many people say this if it’s an issue?

It's a good thing because it is relatively easy to get into and it gives you evidence of relevant skills.

However, as some people have highlighted, some volunteering opportunities and some volunteers are flakey and not really representative of the workplace, and some employers are wary of it.

So the answer is to volunteer and get the useful working experience, but not present it explicitly in your CV as volunteering work, but what it equally well can be represented as, Experience.

Some, but relatively few employers put a prestige on some volunteering as showing a social conscience, in which case you would split it out, but that's about knowing your employer and tailoring your CV properly.

By and large though, volunteer to get experience, but put it under Experience in your CV and don't highlight that it was volunteering.

Is that not lying? If I put I worked for the police they’d be expecting a paid position and therefore quite prestigious but it’s voluntary (as many jobs in the police are) and therefore is just a conscious effort to get involved in the public sector?