charity shop volunteering experiences

after trying and failing to find any part time jobs in my local area, i am considering getting some experience via volunteering in a local charity shop for a few months (or maybe longer depending on how my job searching goes). There are a couple of nice ones in my home town (british heart foundation, childrens hospice south west) and a couple of more independent charity shops.
so i was wondering what people's experience of working in a charity shop for a couple of days a week is like?
what sort of things do you do?
how long did yo work there for each day?
and would you say not getting paid but getting experience is worth it in the end?

I am running out of money so need a paid job really, but i hope this would be a start at least.

thanks

Reply 1

Kevin De Bruyne

Original post by tgwktm

One thing I would say is that my sister volunteered at a charity shop and got lunch money, so if you made your own lunch.. it would be very small but still.

That was my main point really, I imagine a lot of it is organising stuff on shelves etc and manning the till.

Reply 2

Yatogami

I'm currently volunteering at the British Heart Foundation charity shop in my town on the weekends. I usually work at the till, but I've also done some manual labour type things, like shifting about boxes of donations and then sorting through them. My shift is usually six hours long, with a lunch break around noon. Of course I'm not getting paid but I've found employers, especially in retail, like to hear about you volunteering like this; the experience is valuable. And I guess you could even use the manager at the charity shop you'd be working at as a reference if you needed one for a paid job.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 3

tgwktm

McDonalds isn't anywhere near where i live, want to learn to drive and get a car to expand my opportunities but can't do so until i get a job, but atm it seems can't get a job until i learn to drive, so i am stuck in a loop atm.