Working at Goodwill of Western New York

Rewarding good old hard work that leaves you feeling like you did some good with your sweat at the end of the day. I'm an ideas person I feel like I'm have an open and accepting avenue to express them. A good business is a professional family, and in a family, everyone has a voice.

Never being able to work in a for profit retail setting because of how rewarding I've found it to be to push my sales expertise more and more as time goes on, but I'm not making money for some rich investors that don't need anymore money, I'm making money for people that desperately need it....so in reality, no cons

The smiles I can infect people with day by day

I believe that I'm truly heard by them, and literally, I emailed the CEO one night whilst waiting at the airport for my father's flight to return, and the man responded!

A business and a charity can improve and does evolve infinitly, but by leading with encouragement, trust, reward, friendships, and example is the best improvement, much of which is already in place. I believe there is a bit of stress on many of the workers, retail, business, work in general is stressful by nature, but every attempt should be made to motivate the team, the " professional family" as positively and optimistically as possible.

I was very nervous, not sure why as I initially only meant to work at goodwill for a few months then reasses, but my interviewer put me at ease and I was able to relay my history and my abilities to him pretty well

I have little comparison to retail work compensation, I've worn many hats in my days, and inflation and days gone by somewhat conflate the comparison. I was happy with what I was offered, I'm not sure what the industry standard is in other retail markets, I assume it is slightly higher as most would be for profit organizations. I would expect and do except that it might be a dollar and a half or so higher for the position elsewhere, but the not for profit nature of goodwill excuses that difference and I'm ok with that.

I feel that goodwill is very conscious and endeavors to diversify the organization to the best of it's ability, everyone is accepted and welcome, I believe if a study was done, goodwill would be slightly more diverse than other retail businesses as they not only champion diversity, they seem to seek it out!

I am a single father, I was granted custody of my son at the age of 3. Although I had a lot of help from my family, I worked overnights, furthered my education full-time and slept while he was at school, and did the regular after school dad and son stuff with at least an hour of fun together a day. But oh boy did we tear it up on the weekends and in the summer. The house was headquarters for him and his friends, and all the money I probably should have been saving for retirement or whatever went to having fun! And let me tell you, Penny's were being pinched. Goodwill not only helped me clothe my son comparably and "fit in"with other orchard park kids that were far more wealthy than I, it provided the toys that we had so many great times with, it was an affordable option for me in almost every aspect of purchasing. We could be not so rich, but have things that made us live comfortably, that retail prices wouldn't have permitted. And in addition to that even, there we 2 amazing Disney trips paid for by Goodwill and other thrift stores, as I always had an eye for the valuable, and on two occasions 2009 and 2012, I was able to raise almost all the extra money needed to take my son to Disney World, all on finding little treasures through our the year and selling them. So when I see a family, or a single mom, or dad or grandma grampa, whoever, find an awesome toy, nice clothes, or even something to sell for their kid, I'm filled with the utmost joy for them.