Volunteers are a vital part of the Back on Track community. We work as a team and we couldn’t run our services without our volunteers’ hard work and support. 

We are looking to recruit volunteers for kitchen porter and front of house roles at our in-house café Swan Kitchens. The café enables us to provide healthy and delicious meals for our members, volunteers, staff and visitors to our centre, tackling food poverty and providing a social space for people to enjoy. 

Our team of volunteers run the café day to day, cooking, cleaning and serving customers. For those who want to explore a career in catering there is the opportunity to gain qualifications in areas like food safety, and people also get transferable skills like customer service and financial literacy. As a kitchen porter, you would be washing dishes, clearing up the kitchen during classes and meals, tidying the kitchen, sorting out stock and deliveries, and assisting with basic food preparation. This is a vital role that keeps the café running smoothly and offers great experience for those interested in a career in hospitality or catering. As front of house, you would serve and greet customers, prepare tea and coffee, hand out dishes, refill stock, manage cash, and assist with basic food preparation. The opportunity would suit somebody looking to gain skills in customer service, barista service, and café assistance. 

Although we are looking for people interested in these areas, volunteers are welcome to change roles, develop their skills in other areas, and will have access to training opportunities across the organisation.

Back on Track sees people as individuals and treats all learners, staff and volunteers with respect. Some of the people who come to Back on Track may have complex needs so we need to take extra considerations to make sure that everyone is safe. This includes:

• Be friendly and non-judgmental and avoid having any preconceptions about learners
• Treat any information a learner has given you with respect. You might need to talk to a staff member about what they have shared but it should never be talked about with other volunteers or outside Back on Track
• Be aware of the difference between being friendly and being friends. Volunteers work with learners in a professional capacity and should be aware of professional boundaries
• Back on Track staff, volunteers and learners are expected to value and encourage diversity in all aspects of the service

Volunteers are in a responsible role at Back on Track and are expected to follow our organisational policies and procedures.

To apply to this opportunity, please fill in the attached application form (found here: https://www.backontrackmanchester.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Volunteer-application-pack-2024.doc) and save it as either a Word or PDF document. You can then send the completed form to the email address: volunteer@backontrackmanchester.org.uk.