Assistant Shop Manager

Benefits: Entry into Peoples Pension, death in service benefit (3 x salary), out of pocket expenses, free access to confidential and extensive wellbeing support, generous holiday entitlement (26 days plus bank holidays rising to 31 days after 5 years for a full time employee, pro rata for part time), an extra days holiday for your birthday!, free tea / coffee, sight tests and flu jabs and excellent learning and development opportunities.

Our Slaithwaite shop is at the heart of the community and represents Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice on the high street. As assistant manager, you’ll support the shop manager in effectively managing and motivating a team of volunteers to achieve sales targets, maintain excellent shop standards and deliver great customer service. Our shops aren’t just a place for people to donate or bargain hunt, but also to build careers, volunteer and support our cause. And every penny of profit made by our shops helps us be here for children and families who desperately need our support.

While you’ll ideally have worked in a shop before, it’s not essential. What’s more important is that you have management experience and are skilled at motivating a team to achieve sales targets and so raise vital funds for our children’s hospice. Passionate about building great customer relationships so that passing shoppers and people bringing donations become devoted customers, if you’re excited by the chance to help get our new shop up and running, then we want to hear from you!

For an informal chat about the role, please contact Julye Turner on 07384834529.

Role Summary

Every penny of profit made by our shops helps us continue to be here for the children and families who desperately need our support. Our shops are also an essential part of the local community – a place for people not just to donate or shop, but to build careers, volunteer and support our cause. They’re also a vital way for us to share the magic of Forget Me Not far and wide.

As Assistant Shop Manager, your role will be to support the shop manager in developing and managing one of our shops. In this really hands-on role, your excellent talent for organisation will ensure the effective management of a team of colleagues and volunteers to achieve sales targets and maintain excellent merchandising standards.

As one of our ambassadors in the community, you’ll help us deliver class-leading customer service, while also complying with hospice and retail policies and procedures and security, health and safety standards in the shop.

Main Duties and Key Responsibilities

• Help lead on achieving profit targets by maximising sales and minimising costs.
• Ensure that the store delivers an exceptional level of customer service at all times.
• Monitor core retail pricing to ensure the shop achieves the optimum price level.
• Support your shop manager to achieve the required Gift Aid conversion rates on all donations especially high value items, in addition to managing the Gift Aid process.
• Manage the shop in the absence of the shop manager.
• Become a local champion for Forget Me Not, promoting the work that we do for children and families.
• Manage the day to day operation of the furniture delivery, collection and house clearance service that runs from the store.
• Ensure the shop has a high standard of display and encourage regular stock renewal to ensure fresh innovative displays to improve kerb appeal and footfall.
• Ensure volunteers are aware of the importance of and implement correct merchandising techniques.
• Ensure shop premises are clean and tidy at all times and that goods are displayed in an attractive, presentable and safe manner.
• Ensure that all statutory responsibilities are met, including Fire and Health & Safety Regulations.
• Hold shop keys, and in the absence of the shop manager, open and close the premises for trading hours and respond to any emergency call outs if and when necessary.

Stock

• Ensure that the shop has sufficient saleable stock and work with the shop manager to increase donations of stock where necessary.
• Encourage donations from the general public and other sources to increase the amount of stock and meet sales requirements.
• Ensure that stock/sorting areas are efficiently and safely organised.
• Accept, sort, price and display stock in line with company guidelines, acknowledging receipt and arranging collection where necessary.
• Undertake manual work as required including moving stock.
• Price stock at a consistent level in accordance with company price guides.

People

• Ensure that the shop has the correct level of cover throughout the year, covering when and where necessary for annual leave or sick leave.
• Actively recruit quality and reliable volunteers.
• Work with the shop manager to identify specific training needs for volunteers and yourself.
• Train and develop paid staff and volunteers to enable them to perform their jobs effectively.
• Promote a happy working environment for staff and volunteers.
• Inform the shop team of business communications, promotions and information relating to our work.

Administration

• Ensure all administration is completed, mailed and filed correctly.
• Ensure all company administrative and financial procedures are followed including banking, weekly returns, and maintenance of petty cash account, performance returns, and volunteer records.
• Notify your line manager/Retail Operations Manager in the event of a break-in, shop lifting or security incident. And liaise with the police where appropriate.
• Ensure all staff and volunteers lock all purses and valuables in a locker.

Budgets

• Work with the shop manager to achieve the shop income/expenditure targets.
• Proactively address any fall in sales together with the shop manager.

Security

• Ensure that volunteers are security conscious and follow the correct procedures as laid out in the shop managers’ manual.
• Check that all premises are secure and report any concerns to the shop manager.
• Ensure that police are informed of all current key holders’ details.
• Inform relevant bodies where there has been, or there is suspicion of, a breach of any security procedures.
• Ensure cash handling procedures are followed in the shop.

We expect all staff to undertake any other duties within the scope, spirit and purpose of the job, the title of the post and its grading, as requested by your line manager or their higher level of authority on behalf of the charity. For all of our roles we expect employees to abide by the expectations set out within the Together for Families Framework. Complying with Together for Families means that we will all act with integrity to ensure we are trusted by the people we care for, the people we work with and everyone who supports Forget Me Not.

Person specification

• Excellent organisational skills
• Ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing
• Excellent standards of record keeping, both written and computerised
• Ability to work flexible, frequently unsocial hours
• Previous charity retail experience (desirable)
• Previous experience managing a team (desirable)
• This role will involve evening and weekend work so flexibility is essential.
• This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Equality and Diversity

Please note that we are committed to equality and diversity and make the following pledge in relation to our recruitment practices; We will actively encourage and support under-represented groups to join us as employees. We will always interview you if you are an applicant with disability who meets the essential requirements of the job and will provide adjustments to the recruitment process if required. We are committed to supporting part time and flexible working; we will consider part time working requests for all our roles.