Organisation

Oxfam Shop

Background

Last year Sofia graduated in Political Sciences from Linkoping in Sweden and came to live in Edinburgh to be with her fiancé while he completes a year of professional training. She was determined to find an occupation that would be useful in her long-term career and yet this was difficult given the short-term nature of her visit. This was one of her motives for taking up a voluntary post in the Oxfam shop, as she wanted to have a local source for a professional reference. She also wanted to mix with other people and felt that this role combined this with "something that corresponded to [her] own values".

Voluntary Role

Sofia has been working once a week for 4 hours since June 2004. Volunteers have the choice of 09.00 to 13.00 or 13.00 to 17.00. She is keen to learn new transferable skills and her manager, Jo Christison, is very encouraging. Sofia 's role has developed from basic sales assistant duties of serving customers, cleaning the front and back shops, putting out stock and steam-cleaning clothes. It now involves Public Relations work as she makes promotional posters to assist in increasing the volume of sales.

Sofia enjoys spending time with volunteers, and customers- some of whom become familiar faces, which is particularly satisfying. She feels that Jo is a great manager who trusts her staff and allows her self and other volunteers to show their personal initiative. Although she took the position for pragmatic reasons she feels that the reasons for her satisfaction in her role are increasing all the time. She enjoys the feeling that she is contributing to the local and international community, "being a piece in the links" between them. She is also learning about the charity retail business and thinks that she may be interested in developing it as a possible career option in the future.

The role has had a distinct impact on Sofia 's life. The continuity of the post gives her a feeling of stability in her short-term stay in Edinburgh . The experience also helps draw together past professional experience, combining to offer something stronger to continue to build her career on.

In response to the question of whether she would recommend her voluntary post to others she replied spontaneously - "yes! I can only say it has been good for me. It's definitely worth trying out. There's much to get from it - experience, friends, fun!".