Recently, the Career Closet has expanded its hours from being open one day a week to three. The Career Closet is open on Tuesdays from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm, and Thursdays and Fridays from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm. Students can also contact Director of Career Services Amy Wright to set up an appointment if they need something outside of those hours.
For students unfamiliar, the NVU-Lyndon Career Closet is a service available for all students that provides professional clothes for free. Located on the second floor of Vail, students can go in and “shop” for any clothes they like. They have a large collection of donated professional wear in all sizes, including dress shirts, pants, shoes, belts, ties, dresses, and suit jackets. With few department stores in the Lyndon area, it can be difficult for students to find professional attire, especially as even the big names like JCPenney closed.
“The goal of the career closet is to help students build a professional wardrobe.” -Amy Wright
Before having a Career Closet, Lyndon held a Dress for Success event once a year. The Moore Community Room would be filled with donated professional clothes for students. However, this event has its downsides. Wright said the set up took a lot of effort because they needed to bring all the clothes to the Moore Community Room. She also had issues with storing the leftover clothes. Wright told The Critic she had to pile them up in her office. Another big issue was that the event was only once a year, and many students contacted her about needing clothes at other points in the semester.
The solution came when they moved into the space in Vail to make a continuous service. However, when COVID hit, Career Services limited the closet to appointment-only. Wright explained the current biggest issue is having enough staff to keep the doors open. Previously, the Career Closet was run by Tracy Sherbrook and Wright, which meant they could not keep many regular hours. Although they have expanded the hours, Career Services is always looking for students who need a work-study job to help out.
Wright discussed the potential for the Career Closet to expand into the old Lyndon bookstore. The larger space would allow them to not only expand how many clothes they can offer but also combine their services with others like the Student Pantry. There are no current plans for this expansion.
Feature Photo by Isabella Mertens || Racks of clothing line the walls of the Career Closet, topped with a mannequin to display the choices.