SALES manager Yasmin Cooper has swapped her job at a call centre for one at a back street charity shop.

The 28-year-old has taken control at Animal Lifeline in Newcastle for two months as part of a global project to give Vodafone workers the chance to spend time working for charities.

The World of Difference scheme gives employees the opportunity to spend time working for good causes while still being paid by the communications giant.

Yasmin, who lives in Etruria, is believed to be the only person in the county on the programme and says she had been enjoying every minute of her new experience.

She said: "It's a little different from what I'm used to, but I think I'm getting the hang of it.

"At Vodafone I overlook about 100 people, so the obvious difference is that it is just a handful of workers here – and that they are not being paid to be here either."

World of Difference, managed by the Vodafone Foundation, currently operates in 14 countries.

And it means workers can get paid experience – for two months or a year – at a charity of their choice in the UK or overseas.

To date it has allowed more than 700 staff from around the world to work for their chosen charity and still be paid.

Yasmin, who is a manager at the Etruria call centre, decided to approach Animal Lifeline because of her love for dogs and cats.

And, after her offer was accepted, she has wasted no time in making some business changes at the Church Street charity shop.

She said: "I've always liked dogs and cats so when I was told my application had been successful, it didn't take too long for me to figure out where I wanted to go.

"I told them I wanted to have a look at the shop and help to run it more like a business, to see if we could try to increase profits.

"When I came all the clothes were just on rails in the shop, which wasn't ideal, so we've been trying to fit the shop out a bit better and make it look more attractive.

"For the first couple of weeks I tried to stay in the background to just get to know people, but I'm taking a more hands-on approach now and have started to try to change a couple of things, like how we merchandise products.

"I've started to open the shop on Thursdays too because it has always been closed on that day in the past, and it seems to be working well so far. It's been a lot of hard work but I'm really enjoying it."

Animal Lifeline administrator Nick Fletcher said the charity, which is almost entirely run by volunteers, would benefit from the experience of someone with a business background.

The 62-year-old from Longton added: "The scheme is a great help to charities like us that are always stuck for human resources.

"For someone to be able to come in and lend a hand is a tremendous opportunity for us to develop some aspects and also have the charity looked at with a fresh pair of eyes."

Vodafone communications officer Ally Stevens said: "It gives people the chance to help a charity out, but continue to get paid, so it's a win-win situation."

Yasmin has organised a tabletop sale at the Orme Centre, in Orme Road, Newcastle, on Saturday from 11am and 2pm to raise further funds for the charity.

She will continue to work at the charity shop until the middle of March.