A new resource at Saint Xavier University in Chicago is helping students dress for the jobs they want.
Champ’s Career Closet offers access to business casual clothing for students to use for job and internship interviews.
Staff members developed the idea in recent months as a way to help students who might have difficulty affording a new suit, shoes, belt and bag. But the closet is for all students, and they’re seeking donations from the entire community.
“I think we want to provide students with professional attire regardless of their financial background,” said Angela Pirlott, associate professor of psychology and member of the university’s Center for SUCCESS, which offers academic and career development help to students. “For me personally, there is a lot of consumerism in our culture, so there was this sort of environmental benefit that people could donate their clothes straight to a student.”
Donations can include gently used button-down shirts, blouses, dress slacks, blazers, suits, belts ties, dress shoes, purses, handbags and briefcases. They also need equipment, such as hangers and garment racks. Items may be dropped at the university, in the Warde Academic Building A-209, the site of the Career Closet.
Student volunteers from SXU’s Schmitt Scholars group have helped organize and sort clothing for the Career Closet, and several students have found clothing they needed.
“Hopefully going forward we’ll have student volunteers, so they can help keep the services going for the students,” Pirlott said.
Donations have come in from a variety of sources, Pirlott said, including faculty and staff. One student asked an area dry cleaner for unclaimed items and was given dress clothes, along with a nonprofit thrift store in Wisconsin where her mom volunteers.
“Whatever they don’t sell, they donate to us,” Pirlott said. “We’re looking to find similar partnerships in Chicago in the South Side area.”
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Deborah Beal, director of the Center for SUCCESS, who helped organize the venture, said the university has a large population of first generation college students, and other students “just don’t have the resources necessary.”
“It can be expensive trying to find clothing that’s appropriate for interviews and work life, and you may not have a wardrobe set up for that,” Beal said. “We just wanted to be able to give students a little bit of a jump start and help them prepare. It gives students confidence.”
Jennifer Franco, employer engagement and internship coordinator for the center and another project organizer, said the Closet opened just in time for the busy season for internship and employer interviews.
“During the summer, a lot of our internship positions become available,” she said. “Employers have said if a student doesn’t dress a certain way, they are more likely to not go on to the next round of interviewing.
Franco helped secure funding for the closet from real estate agent Michael Applegate, who donated the money for hangers, clothing racks, shelving, a mirror and a steamer for clothes, and through an employee resource group that created a fundraiser for clothing.
“I’m just very happy to have this initiative come to life,” she said.
Janice Neumann is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
