retail sales associate

brand manager

people business partner

marchandiseur

ambassadeur de marque

Goodwill Industries

If you are looking for a job that pays minimum wage, Part time,  no benefits, overtime and no opportunities for growth or advancement. This would be a good place for you. 

Working among those in the retail centre might have a more social job. But those working in the donation centres will be subjected to hours of solitude and sometimes a lot of boredom. The tasks are simple, greet customers, sort their "donations" throw away bad stuff, sort the good stuff in bins. Easy concept. Your days though can be either really busy full of lots of people, or scarce days with nothing to do. You are expected to clean, but you can only clean so much before you start repeating yourself. So a lot of the time you might find yourself with nothing to do but sit around and occupy yourself with whatever trivial activity your brain can manage to  find. 

Do not expect your concerns or opinions to matter or make a difference. You can bring your concerns to groups and committees which they claim are made for "communications between employee and employer."  Mostly, anything brought about won't see any difference made or acknowledgement and left unheard. 

That doesn't mean that the management themselves are incompetent, most are well mannered and caring people that you would be honored to get to know. But due to how the industries function as a whole, policies and bureaucratic nonsense get in the way of what the company is supposed to be representing.  Goodwill. A Non-profit organization that's about the community and for the community. Which unfortunately just isn't entirely true. They put the already existing donation charities in the area out of business. Hire 40   employees or so with a majority of them being part-time low paying minimum wage jobs, who run the buildings and pricing and day to day issues. While the corporate cats take business trips to Florida and have buildings built with their names slapped on it. Finally, you can't run a non profit organization and have one of your own guidelines for running a business be #10- Profits should Increase. 

Co-workers are great, just depends on them as people and you as well. You will either love you co-workers and look forward to meeting them every day. You might find some are hard working and kind. Some might be lazy and not quite the work ethic you would expect. I have had stories of people throwing out good quality donations just for the sake of not having to organize it. But still not get fired. 


Stealing has happened, but they have cameras and you will be found out, some have tried and failed. Don't be stupid. But also don't expect to get perks like "claiming items" before things get onto the selling floor,  everyone deserves a fair shot at getting to buy cool stuff. If you work at a donation centre, you are out of luck. Good luck every buying anything cool you ever see go through.  

Most enjoyable part of the job is getting to see interesting and cool things brought by all sorts of people.

The customers and in store mangers are amazing... although some of the workers have very poor customer service skills. Since I've been there I've heard a lot from staff about how head office is changing so much and not asking how the employees feel about it... when the employees are the ones who ACTUALLY WORK IN THE STORE and see all the problems. For example apparently we do not accept chandlers but a women told me she donated a brand new one and she gave me the other piece that went with it.. when i brought the other piece into the back to ask about it they said they had THROWN IN OUT. A brand new chandler in the garbage... my question, why even take it? Also i took some extra hours to sort through wares and what they throw out is insane some people could really use that stuff... cups, plates etc. I think all the "junky" stuff should be put out at the end of each month on discount maybe have a 25 cent table for the stuff the store was just going to through out anyways. Cashier are ONLY rated on how many donations we get.. how it works is we ask the customer as they are checking out if they would like to donate to our job training program (99% of the employees do not even know what this program is, therefore they can not properly explain what good the program does for our community) most people shopping at goodwill but not have the funds to be shopping elsewhere let alone make a donation cashier have been called names be the customers for asking such as "greedy"and "panhandlers". At the end of the day if our donations are not high we get in trouble....we even got excluded from a free day off contest because our donation were not high enough even though our sales per hour are amazing.. donations are something we can not control. Mental health is another big thing that needs to be addressed at the location im at, i feel both management and staff are not fully trained on how to deal with the type of clientele the store gets. I think head office should listen to the staff more and let us put in suggestions, because trust me... we have good ones.

I was in the role of Employment Support Worker in the Career Centre. This role is extremely unique and how it operates is different based on the individual. You are supporting people in work placements, paid placements, and a variety of other work training - such as mock interviews, cash register training, etc. You provide weekly assessments to the people in placements to determine their ability to work/if they are ready to work. It is a role that requires a lot of observation vs. hands-on work, which I found to be challenging. However, the work can be very rewarding when the person you support is successful. You are required to provide feedback on a variety of categories, such as work pace, attitude, attendance, physical abilities, and many more. 

Management here is very supportive, and it is most definitely a team environment here at Goodwill. Your co-workers are in constant communication with one another to share feedback, provide insight, etc.

The hardest part of the job I found personally was the work/personal life balance. This shift requires extreme flexibility within your role - often working long days, evenings, and occasionally weekends. Your schedule can change quickly, and at times without notice. So it is important to be quick thinking, and be able to adapt to the situation as needed.

I enjoyed working in such a supportive environment where you are constantly learning, and encouraged to share your input.

I worked as a Donation Attendant which meant I was handling donations as well as doing the majority of the labour work in the store. The work was fun, and the majority of my coworkers were a pleasure to be around. With that being said, those that weren’t were able to be outright horrid to their fellow employees with little to no repercussions from management. This was largely because of the manager’s own participation in such abuse, and while I understand a manager must remain firm, there is a line between firmness and hostility. This mistreatment was especially evident to workers like Sorters and Donation Attendants. I know that this is likely not the case in the majority of Goodwill locations, however the fact it was able to happen at all, much less in one of the largest and newest locations in the city, was very disheartening.

Day always started by catching up with e-mails and effectively responding to inquiries regarding H&S, operational or facility concerns, security challenges and also providing positive feedback for staff accomplishments. Should note that I was also responsible for responding to after-hour building emergencies. Worked closely with senior managers and community partners located in our facility to effectively respond to any questions or concerns regarding procedural applications. Ensured building was a safe environment for staff, community partners, clients and visitors. As a Manager of the staffing service, it was always rewarding knowing I was a part of their success-finding employment and ending their dependency on funding assistance to become a contributing member of society.

Being able to love what you do it makes it easer  every each day Simple and also enjoyable at the same time,and  its very easy to be able to do your job when you have a great team that you work with, managing a Store it takes a lot of dedication and Explaining to do and also training as well at the same time, as a Manager you have to make sure that everything goose smooth in the store and at the same time you have to be able to solved and unsolved problems that may come to your way at your store so you're in charge to what's going on in your store and then of course there is the other stuff that you have to do' Payrolls, Deposits, Inventory,Scheduling, Watching over your staff and also the floor as well at the same time. The Company that I've worked for it was great and it was always productive .I love working in  retail department and I'm a people person. The most enjoyable part of the job I will have to say that it is being able to help  help customers.The hardest part of the job it is when you have to deal with customers Issue.

Where do i even start. Lets just say everything they do is basically illegal. Its a house of cards. We accept so much doantions that all of our fire exits are constantly blocked off. Not to mention that the pile of donations reach the ceiling and has almost fallen on all of us. But we are still forced to accept donations. OSHA needs to get on them fast before someone seriously gets hurt. The managers do not advocate for the workers. They treat them more like slaves than human beings. Goodwill violates every workers basic human rights that it is appalling. We are also forced to put out merchandise (dinner sets utensils cups etc) that has been infested with roach and rat droppings. They are a money hungry greedy company that is ALL FOR PROFIT. They don't care about the community they just want their money. They'll fire you if you speak up about anything. Seriously goodwill needs to be shut down. I really do not know why they exist. Its completely disgusting. I can say much much much more about goodwill. I have seen what happens on the inside. They need to be sued and shut down.

Goodwill Industries offers a generally positive and supportive work environment, particularly for individuals seeking entry-level experience or re-entering the workforce. The organization emphasizes teamwork, inclusion, and a mission-driven culture focused on community impact and helping people overcome barriers to employment. Employees often feel a sense of purpose through their contribution to Goodwill’s broader social mission.

Supervisors tend to be approachable and willing to provide on-the-job training, making it a solid place to build foundational skills. However, like many non-profit and retail settings, the pace can be fast, and staffing may sometimes feel stretched, leading to inconsistent workloads. Opportunities for advancement vary by location, and wages are typically on the lower end, although the work can be meaningful and fulfilling.

Overall, Goodwill’s work environment is welcoming, mission-aligned, and ideal for those looking to gain experience, support a good cause, or work in a team-focused, service-oriented setting.



Be sure to ask how many store managers have been with the company for more than 5 years. This organization chews up managers and assistants emotionally, mentally and physically, sucks them dry and pays them out when they are burned out and struggling and need help. Or managers resign due to pressure from toxic management team culture. Feels immediately firing managers when talent is no longer useful and hiring new blood to get to next step is how to continuously improve. 
Great resource for persons with disabilities to gain work experience. Very team focused and focused on continuous improvement.

Everyone at this location was great to work with. The managers made it easy to learn something new everyday and were very understanding. In the three and a half months I was there, I have learn almost every department there except two. The hardest part of the job was keeping up with how busy it got at the donor and greeter door. On a busy day we would need at least four or five people there to keep everything from getting backed up and a mess. Other then that it was a wonderful environment to work in. The most enjoyable part of the job was the people. I've had customers come up to me and say they only come to this store cause of how great the people who work there are. I could not agree with them more. I loved the people I worked with. They made it fun, easy, and comfortable to work with. You can really come out of your shell and build confidence at this store. I recommend working here for anyone who love working with the public.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Retail sales associate 1 salary reported	$18.53 per hour
Brand manager 3 salaries reported	$55,000 per year
People business partner 2 salaries reported	$52,500 per year
Marchandiseur 2 salaries reported	$15.00 per hour
Ambassadeur de marque 2 salaries reported	$55,000 per year

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