By: Caroline Averitt | Staff Writer

The Neil Griffin College of Business provides a Career Closet, from which students can borrow professional clothes for job interviews or professional events.

The Career Closet, in Room 207 and 208 in the College of Business, provides professional attire for students that may not have access to nice clothes. Room 207 contains women’s clothes and Room 208 contains men’s clothes. Students from any major can borrow from the Career Closet at no cost. The closet stays open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on business days and can be accessed by appointment in the summer. 

Ramya Isom, a sophomore communication disorders major from Little Rock who works for the Career Closet said, “What we do is provide gently used professional business clothing to people who are going to professional interviews or professional events.”

Students need approval of their resume by A-State Career Services before they can borrow clothes from the Career Closet. Students also may need to attend two Career Services workshops during the semester that they borrow clothes. 

Students can also borrow other items from the Career Closet such as shoes, socks, belts and ties. 

Dr. H. Steve Leslie, the manager of the Career Closet and an assistant professor of business communication said, “Rather than going somewhere and looking out of sorts, or feeling out of sorts, you can come by, you can talk with either of the student workers who are manning the closet, or with me, and we can figure out what’s the best attire based on the occasion and based on your particular need.” 

The Career Closet allows students to save money on clothes they may only need to wear once. Sometimes job interviews require more formal clothes than the job itself. 

John Robertson, the associate dean of the Neil Griffin College of Business, said, “A recruiter is going to expect you to dress at your best. It’s kind of like their unwritten rules and a recruiter expects you to know them.”

Robertson said students can benefit from the Career Closet through gaining confidence in their attire. If they borrow from the Career Closet, they know their attire fits the occasion. 

Professionals in the community, along with major retailers like Dillard’s and Target, donate the clothes found in the Career Closet. Donations need to be dry cleaned and brought in the plastic with the dry cleaner’s tag so students can wear the clothes off the rack. 

Students must dry clean borrowed clothing before returning it to the Career Closet. West’s Dry Cleaners gives a discount to students borrowing from the Career Closet. 

In order to keep clothes appropriate and in style, the Career Closet donates outdated or damaged items to Goodwill. 

The Career Closet carries clothes in a reasonable size range. If a student needs a size that the closet does not have, they will find a way to accommodate that student. 

If a student graduates and they do not have formal clothes, the Career Closet may allow students to keep items they use. 

“What we do is that if a student is a graduating student and they are not an athlete and they don’t have any other attire and we have several of those pieces, we’ll donate that to the student,” Leslie said.  

Leslie added that students should use the Career Closet, “rather than go to represent themselves and the university in a manner which is less than what they should. They should use the resources that we have on campus and the Career Closet is one of those resources that will help our students to present themselves in a way which reflects the professionalism that A-State wants them to be seen in.” 

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