Andrew Roake

Hi there. My name is Andrew and I am a 25 year from North Bristol. I am into Politics, History, Current Affairs, but also in the realms of Literature, Music, Film, and I engage in Collage Art and drawing in my personal time. I am confident and skilled in customer services and working in a busy shop environment, but also have academic skills such as writing, researching, analysing information and making an erudite, detailed and sustained arguments on intellectual matters.

Oxfam Books and Music Shop, Queen’s Street 2019 – present

Skills gained while volunteering at the Oxfam Books and Music shop include:

• Managing and running the front counter including extensive till experience, accepting donations, replenishing old product, keeping the shop tidy, and dealing with customer’s enquiries and questions.

• Extensive pricing of both fiction and non-fiction books, DVDs, CDs, comic books, graphic novels, and collectible and rare items of various types. Occasionally the items are extremely hard to find and very obscure and rare, which involves extensive research on my part to find the items and judge their prices accordingly.

• Organising and shelving away priced books into their relevant categories, as well as replenishing the stock when it gets low, and repricing them when certain items have been part of a sale. As well as this, I have gone through and checked if all the items are present and correct when a delivery of new product comes through. 

• Effectively managing the shop when the manager has had to self-isolate or is away on regional management meetings, which has included taking phone calls and accepting times for an individual to donate their items, sorting through new donations, pricing donated books, answering enquiries from other volunteers and customers, shelving books and other tasks related to the day to day running of the shop. I am extremely competent in the opening and closing of the shop, having done it numerous times, often on my own without any fault, including closing down the till, taking the day’s takings and securing the money for the volunteers to check over and cash up the next day. Occasionally I have done the cashing up myself and giving the float amount to the bank.

• Prompt and efficient cleaning of relevant areas in accordance with COVID-19 guidelines.

A Levels, City of Bristol College:

B in History, B in English Literature and an A* in Politics

Cardiff University, September 2015-2018
BSc Econ Politics 1st Class Honours
 

As part of my three year course studying politics I produced numerous essays and completed exams. The essays in particular ranged from many areas, including but not limited too; nuclear policy during the Cold War, to the UN and its workings, Political Thought relating to psychology and existentialism, feminist approaches to international relations and the politics and economics of Africa during and after colonialism. All these received extremely high marks and were highly praised by the academics who read them. Copies can be given if desired.