British Heart Foundation Employee Reviews for Shop Assistant

Great group of ladies to work with. Very understanding and supportive. Great as a 1st job, to gain work experience and also to develop your own personal skills. Looks great on CV and University applications. Break times and tasks are completely set at your own pace, little pressure applied. You can work as often or as little as you like. Very flexible. Highly recommend!

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Official response from British Heart Foundation

2 December 2023

Thank you so much for taking the time to leave us your thoughts on your experience volunteering for the BHF. It's really lovely to read you would highly recommend it as a 1st job to gain work experience & develop personal skills. We simply couldn't run our shops or stores without your gift of time - THANK YOUClare - Volunteering Team

A very good place to gain retail experience and a great team atmosphere.

Shop Assistant (Former Employee) - Canterbury - 11 November 2023

What is the best part of working at the company?Very friendly atmosphere. Responsibilities are professionally and clearly shown and explained to the new employee.What is the most stressful part about working at the company?If the store has a lot of visitors, it is a bit complicated to restock the shelves.What is the work environment and culture like at the company?The working environment is very safe and the mutual culture is at a high level.What is a typical day like for you at the company?The store manager tells each employee the specific tasks and departments. Most often, they are the selection of new stocks and replenishment of store shelves.

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Official response from British Heart Foundation

14 November 2023

Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. It's great to hear how positive you found your time with us in terms of job role and culture. Thanks for being a part of helping us raise funds for lifesaving research

Jobs at British Heart Foundation

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Sales Assistant - Home Store

Huddersfield

30+ days ago

Sales Assistant - Home Store

Great Starter

Volunteer Shop Assistant (Former Employee) - Liverpool City Centre, Merseyside - 29 October 2023

Great for gaining retail experience and looks good on a CV. Staff were welcoming and good at training you for working the shop floor. It also gives you stories of dealing with customers (good and bad).

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Its a fun environment and a good way to get your foot into the working world

Volunteer Shop Assistant (Current Employee) - Lichfield - 21 October 2023

What is the best part of working at the company?The staff are Nice and you get to serve a variety of different people What is the most stressful part about working at the company?Sometimes when the que gets long and people try to cut in or just start talking to you when your in the middle of serving someone else What is a typical day like for you at the company?Busy, I serve lots of different people, and make sure the floor is tidy

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Productive, fun, and motivating

SHOPFLOOR ASSISTANT VOLUNTEER (Current Employee) - Walsall, West Midlands - 5 October 2023

Volunteering for the BHF is really rewarding, fun, and motivating! You have plentiful opportunities to develop crucial retail and interpersonal skills. This includes customer service, self confidence, operating the till, time management, collaboration, and communication. It is a wonderful opportunity for you to contribute to society!

Pros

Staff discounts, retail experience, reference from staff

Cons

None

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Official response from British Heart Foundation

17 October 2023

WOW! Thank you so much for your amazing comments. I am so pleased that you find volunteering for the BHF fun, rewarding, motivating and a way to contribute to society as well as develop really useful retail and interpersonal skills. Your gift of time is REALLY appreciated - Thanks again.Clare - Volunteering Team

Insights into British Heart Foundation

Based on 796 survey responses

What people like

Feeling of personal appreciation
Clear sense of purpose
Inclusive work environment

Areas for improvement

Fair pay for job

Fun and relaxed

Volunteer Shop Assistant (Current Employee) - North Finchley, Greater London - 17 September 2023

Customers are generally friendly. Management is also easy to work with and caring. The branch is on the bigger side though, so there can be a big workload due to insufficient volunteers.

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Official response from British Heart Foundation

20 September 2023

Thanks for taking the time to leave us your feedback and for donating your spare time to us - THANK YOU. I'm so pleased you feel the shop has an easy & caring atmosphere. Could you possibly spread the word on how rewarding you find volunteering for the BHF and see if anyone can join the team!Clare - Volunteering Team

good place

Shop Assistant (Former Employee) - Stirling - 30 August 2023

The hours are flexible, the co-workers are exceptionally nice, and it's a lot of fun to work together. Being able to help each other, I think it's a great place to work on your skills.

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Friendly management

Volunteer Shop Assistant (Current Employee) - Exmouth, Devon - 16 July 2023

Overall management is very friendly and supportive. However, the training was essentially irrevelevant! Most of what I have learnt has been on the job.

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Official response from British Heart Foundation

27 July 2023

Thank you for your comments. Please be assured we do try & ensure our training modules reflect the tasks that we might ask our volunteers to complete. Our shops, stores and people are all wonderfully unique and it isn't always possible to train for every possible scenario. We do welcome any feedback and if there is anything specific you feel volunteers would benefit being trained in, please do email me directly on vaadvice@bhf.org.uk Thank you so much for your gift of time - it really does help us so much.Clare - Volunteering Team

Fun friendly place

Volunteer Shop Assistant (Current Employee) - Hastings - 16 July 2023

What is the best part of working at the company?Meeting a diverse range of peopleWhat is the most stressful part about working at the company?Always relaxed atmosphere in our shopWhat is the work environment and culture like at the company?Relaxed and friendly All welcomeWhat is a typical day like for you at the company?4 hours serving customer making sure products and store is kept tidy

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Official response from British Heart Foundation

27 July 2023

Thanks so much for your positive comments. It's so lovely to read that your shop has a wonderfully relaxed, friendly atmosphere where everyone feels welcome. Thank you for gifting us your precious free time - we really do appreciate it.Clare - Volunteering Team

I really loved working for this company

Shop Assistant (Former Employee) - Newcastle upon Tyne - 26 June 2023

I loved working for this company for 10 years and i learned alot about a working enviroment and i made some great friends there and you would learn on the job

Pros

Great working enviroment

Cons

Long hours

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Official response from British Heart Foundation

4 August 2023

Thank you for leaving such a lovely review of your time with us in Newcastle. We're happy to read that you gained work skills and made friends in the process. Thank you for helping to raise vital funds for research. We wish you all the best for your future. BHF Recruitment

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A really positive working environment, with excellent management and good staff morale.

Volunteer Shop Assistant (Current Employee) - Newcastle-on-Tyne, Tyne and Wear - 16 June 2023

A really enjoyable place to work. The shop is managed excellently nd each staff member feels valued. Customers frequently tell us what a welcoming place they feel the shop is and that reflects the atmosphere that has been created.

Pros

Staff discount

Cons

Lots of shoplifters and difficult customers

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Official response from British Heart Foundation

30 June 2023

Thank you so much for your 5 star review of your BHF volunteering experience. It was lovely to read how you feel the shop is excellently managed and everyone feels so valued. This then emanates around the shop and the customers feel it too - wonderful!Clare - Volunteering Team

Fun and Relaxing

Volunteer Shop Assistant (Former Employee) - Yorkshire - 20 May 2023

I had a great time volunteering at BHF every week. The manger was friendly and the other staff were always so nice to me. They taught me how to use the cash register and how to put out items. High recommend for someone looking for a volunteering experience!

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Official response from British Heart Foundation

26 May 2023

Thank you so much for your sharing your positive experience with us of your time volunteering for the BHF. I'm so pleased you learnt some great retail skills that you can take forward in the future & that you would highly recommend us to anyone looking to volunteer. Thanks so much for your gift of time.Clare - Volunteering Team

Volunteering Experience.

Shop Assistant (Former Employee) - Torquay - 7 March 2023

Coming in a good couple of times a week to help the cause and do some decent hours for the local charity shop is a great learning curve for anyone, I learn lots from these places from till experienceto shelf stacking,The staff that I was working with were great and really helpful for both customer and myself,You might be on your feet all day buteven if you aren't getting paid for such a good cause the time spent "standing up on my feet" is well worth it.

Pros

I was helping a charity

Cons

None

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Official response from British Heart Foundation

15 March 2023

Thank you so much for taking the time to leave us your great comments on what it's like to volunteer at the BHF in one of our charity shops. I'm so pleased you feel your hard work is really appreciated. We are all so grateful for the time you give us.Clare - Volunteering Team

Nice place

Shop Assistant (Former Employee) - Bishop Auckland, Durham - 2 March 2023

The store I worked at was nice to work at but had a volunteer shortage so when I was sick I was hesitant to call in sick in case my manager has to work on their own

Pros

Nice customers

Cons

volunteer shortages

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Official response from British Heart Foundation

10 March 2023

Thank you for taking the time to leave a review of your time with us in Durham and also for helping our effort to raise vital funds for research. We wish you all the best for your future. BHF Recruitment

Bit Boring

Volunteer Shop Assistant (Former Employee) - Kingston upon Thames, Greater London - 30 January 2023

Spent all my time working in the basement dealing with donations. Felt extremely bored. The basement was very hot. Only enjoyable thing was looking at the books' covers that were donated

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Fantastic

Volunteer Shop Assistant (Former Employee) - Lewisham - 5 January 2023

Worked there as a volunteer. The manager, supervisor and other staff where super kind and supportive. They properly trained me for a few days and I found it very lovely to work there.

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Official response from British Heart Foundation

11 January 2023

Thank you so much for your lovely comments on your time volunteering for us at the BHF in Lewisham. Your gift of time really has made a difference to the funds the shop has raised for our life saving research - THANK YOUClare - Volunteering Team

Amazing

Volunteer Shop Assistant (Current Employee) - Airdrie, North Lanarkshire - 4 January 2023

The managers in this shop are amazing and like to have a good laugh with their volunteers aswell as maintaing a professional standard of work the really look after you and nothing is to much if you need something just ask no judgement

Pros

Travel paid discount progressive

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Official response from British Heart Foundation

11 January 2023

Thank you so much for taking the time to leave us your amazing words about your time volunteering at the BHF! We really couldn't raise the funds we do without your gift of time!Clare - Volunteering Team

Inconsiderate

Shop Assistant (Volunteer) (Former Employee) - Surbiton - 9 December 2022

They take forever to reply when they are wrong and don’t treat volunteers fairly as they favour certain volunteers over others and they carry arguments on for a long time

Pros

Free travel

Cons

Bad management

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Official response from British Heart Foundation

11 January 2023

I'm sorry to read your comments. This certainly isn't the experience we would expect our volunteers to have. If you'd like to discuss this further, please do email me in strictest confidence on vaadvice@bhf.org.ukClare - Volunteering Team

Kind and good for CV voluntary work

Volunteer Shop Assistant (Former Employee) - Eastleigh - 24 November 2022

I started in July you get trained fast,the wonderful staff will train you for specialist roles or,like me you can opt to be trained and take on multiple task each different,while offering experience.

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Official response from British Heart Foundation

5 December 2022

Thank you for your wonderful comments. I'm so glad to hear you are getting experience in lots of different areas & what's involved in running one of our charity shops. We really appreciate your gift of time!Clare - Volunteering Team

Fun workplace

Volunteer Shop Assistant (Former Employee) - Leicester - 24 October 2022

I thoroughly enjoyed working here, despite it being a charity you learn a lot of customer interaction skills, maintaining the shop floor but also chatting to people about day to day life.

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Official response from British Heart Foundation

31 October 2022

Thank you so much for your comments. It's lovely to read that you thoroughly enjoyed your time helping us raise money for our life saving research and you gained some useful retail skills.Clare - Volunteering Team

Great place to work at

Volunteer Shop Assistant (Current Employee) - Grimsby, Lincolnshire - 28 July 2022

I really enjoy going there to volunteer 5 days a week all the staff are really nice and the volunteers, and I like meeting new people and learning new skills.

Pros

Enjoyable experience

Cons

Burning myself on the steamer

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Official response from British Heart Foundation

16 September 2022

Thank you for your lovely comments and I'm sorry for my delayed response. Your commitment to the BHF by volunteering for us all week is wonderful and I cannot thank you enough for your gift of time.Clare - Volunteering Team