By Ian Frantz
Jambar Contributor
The Career Closet is the latest service offered at Youngstown State University to help students make a good first impression when entering their career.
The Career Closet, previously named the Professional Attire Collection, is co-operated by several groups at YSU including Student Outreach & Support, YSU Student Government Association and students studying fashion and interior.
The goal of the Career Closet is to provide formal clothing like suits, dress shoes and ties for students without such items and to loan professional supplies such as nursing scrubs and lab coats to students.
Nicole Kent-Strollo, director of Student Outreach & Support, said since she has been a part of the Career Closet acting as a supervisor.
Kent-Strollo said she and several students are doing all they can to make sure the project can have a larger impact on campus.
“We are currently using the room where Rookery Radio was previously as our home for now. I hope we can keep this spot because it’s a great location because it’s easy to find and it’s next to the road, which makes it easy for people donating to pull their car up and drop off whatever they have,” she said.
Kent-Strollo said the service has already helped several students with job interviews and their team has an impressive collection of clothing and display cases they are waiting to move.
“We’ve slowed down recently only because of the middle of a semester is where things pick up for students, but even then, we have managed to get display cases and clothing racks to help make the location look professional,” Kent-Strollo said.
Kent-Strollo took over supervising the project from Karen Becker, director of First Year Experience, who said having Kent-Strollo on the team is great because of what she is capable of.
“Having Nicole on the team is magical, she has resources at she can use to benefit to the project and her job allows her to be closer with students who can benefit as well,” Becker said.
Becker said that even before Kent-Strollo came aboard, they were able to help numerous students and even had generous donations offered to them.
“We had Jim Tressel donate clothes, including his ties which we had him sign a couple of them and sold them as a fundraiser item,” Becker said.
The Office of Career & Academic Advising offers programs to help students prepare for their careers such as workshops on building resumes and how to take full advantage of career fairs.
Justin Edwards, career management coordinator for Career and Academic Advising, said the introduction of their new Handshake system has already seen great results.
“Handshake is a job posting board for YSU students that we implemented last fall semester. With most job posting sites you have about 250-300 jobs posted but with Handshake, there are over 2,000 jobs posting since last fall,” Edwards said.
For any request for clothing or to donate to the Career Closet, email Nicole Kent-Strollo at [email protected].
For any questions regarding resume building or upcoming career fairs, call the Office of Career and Academic Advising at 330-941-3515 to schedule an appointment.