By NAYELI CARRILO/ Staff Writer
Dress shirts, business pants, dresses, shoes, suits, belts, and ties. The Career Closet, located in the Career Success Office in the University Center, contains all these articles of clothing for UT Tyler students at no cost. Once per academic year, students can pick out a free professional outfit that is theirs to keep. The Career Closet became available last semester.
Dawn Dearion, the UT Tyler Career Success Coach for the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Pharmacy, believes more students should take advantage of this resource.
“We want all of our students to succeed and be successful in their career and their career development, and being dressed professionally is one of the ways that you can do that,” Dearion said.
Dearion also added that she believes students should get into the habit of wearing the kind of clothes that they will be expected to wear in their workplaces after graduation.
“I think when you come into a setting like a university, that you should dress more conservative or more professional, just because you’re going to eventually be entering the workforce and that’s how you’re going to be expected to dress,” Dearion said. “Presentation is key because it sets the tone for what people are going to think about you the first time they meet you. It’s their first impression of you, and if you leave a negative impression, then they’re not going to think positively of you,” Dearion said.
Gabriella Vazquez, an undergraduate English major, has been a student worker at the Career Success Office for over a year.
“[The Career Closet] is open to any student, no matter like if you’re undergrad or graduate, and it’s supposed to help provide students with free clothes. Especially because, when you’re in college, it’s hard to just go out and buy professional clothes if you don’t really need them,” Vazquez said.
Vasquez would like more students to stop by the Career Success Office but understands why some might be hesitant to.
“If I wasn’t in this office, I would probably be scared too to come in here,” Vazquez said. “Maybe some students might think it’s embarrassing or something to come in here and get a free outfit, but I don’t see it that way. When students come in here, I see them as using a great resource.”
An upcoming event that both Dearion and Vazquez recommend that students dress professionally for is the Career Success Conference.
“The Career Success Conference is going to be on October 19, 2023, and it’s going to be a campus-wide event with over 100 speakers from a variety of different industries speaking about their career paths,” Dearion said.
The conference will provide all students with resumé review, professional headshots, the opportunity to network with employers and speakers, and breakfast and lunch. According to Dearion, the first 500 students will also receive a free “padfolio.”
If students or faculty would like to donate professional clothing to the Career Closet, donations can be dropped off from 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. on Tuesday through Thursday at the front desk of the Career Success Office.
