Job Description

Summary

U-turn is a leading organisation in developing pathways out of homelessness. We are looking for a Retail Area Manager to join our Retail team in Johannesburg from

1 April 2025.

This position - Retail with Purpose

There is an opportunity for a person with strong retail skills and experience to join the U-turn team as a Retail Area Manager in Johannesburg, thus giving them the opportunity to apply their professional retail skills in a development setting. Reporting directly to the Retail Operations Manager, the candidate will apply their retail skills to manager and oversee our retail stores in Johannesburg and to grow sales and profitability. The ideal candidate is someone who is happy to work in an organisation with strong Christian motivations, displays a passion to see people grow (i.e. to work developmentally) and is excellent at customer service. This is a full time position.

Background

U-turn is a thriving non-profit that exists to equip homeless people with the skills to overcome homelessness. Founded in 1997, we believe that every homeless individual is intrinsically valuable and should have access to an effective pathway to address their physical, spiritual and emotional needs so they can leave the streets and become a long-term productive member of society.

To help people overcome homelessness we operate a phased approach that includes addiction rehabilitation, counselling, life-skills training and sheltered work placement in one of our social enterprises. Through this process, the programme inculcates a healthy work ethic, furnishes modern job skills and gives 18-24 months of real work experience so that individuals can be gainfully employed in the modern South African economy.

Our graduates enter the open market employment and show an above 85% long term success rate! We are actively working to expand to more locations in Cape Town and across South Africa.

Social Enterprises

Actual work-experience largely takes place within our social enterprises. U-turn's social enterprises comprise an extensive retail network connected to our Charity Stores as well as other companies owned by, or in partnership with, U-turn.

Key areas of responsibility

Manage U-turn Managers under the direction of Retail Operations Manager and Personal Development team Deal with high level customer feedback and queries Dealing with HR queries across stores. Leave approval, Disciplinaries and payslips. Ensuring that monthly store audits and stocktakes are done to help strengthen overall operations Overseeing and maintaining a high standard across social media platforms - Facebook Marketplace, Whatsapp and Instagram, etc. Manages the Bizzfo POS setup and training of all staff on how to use new parts of the POS. This is then followed up with training manuals. Use and Contribute to existing planning & record keeping systems to ensure continuous improvement of your areas of responsibility Must have a love to work and deal with second-hand goods. Experience in buying and selling hand goods would be most beneficial.

Experience and Skills

Previous experience in the retail sector (essential) Experience as a duty manager/ assistant manager or a manager in a retail setting (desirable) Excellent communication skills - verbal and written Well-developed interpersonal skills Excellent organisational skills and ability to prioritise A collaborative team player - concerned with the team success as well as individual performance Ability to motivate, coach and develop people Commercial awareness

Personal attributes

Self-starter - high energy levels, able to self-direct their work to hit targets. Enthusiastic and confident Resourceful individual that is not easily flustered Trustworthy - works with integrity Good Listener - will challenge constructively and respond well to feedback Emotionally mature individual Problem solver who is open to change and able to take initiative Willingness to learn and grow personally

Organisational Fit (where applicable)

If in recovery - actively engaged in own ongoing recovery, accessing accountability support and practicing recovery behaviour If employed as a Professional - affiliation with professional board, continued personal development and accessing supervision Gospel orientation - connected to a local fellowship of believers, reading the Bible and grounded in Gospel-motivated Social Action

Next Steps

Candidates interested in this position should apply online at https://homeless.org.za/careers/. The letter of motivation should be approximately 1 page in length and include information on why you would like to work at U-turn and how you fulfill the required knowledge skills set outlined above. Please note that applications without a letter of motivation will not be considered.

Job Type: Full-time

Work Location: In person

Expected Start Date: 2025/04/01