UWM Career Closet Helps Students Dress for Success

Allison Stauffacher, a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, is eagerly anticipating an upcoming medical school open house. As a double major in both pre-med and biochemistry, Stauffacher is well-aware of how crucial it is to get ahead in the competitive medical field and figured the open house would be a great opportunity to plan for her future. She knew she would need to be dressed for success in order to make a great first impression, and decided to visit UWM’s Career Closet for the very first time. Stauffacher found out about UWM’s Career Closet from an outreach event at one of UWM’s residence halls.

“There was a fashion show in Sandburg, and the RAs wore the clothes from here, and they recommended that students come here,” she says. “That’s how I found out about it.”

Located inside the Career Planning and Resource Center, the Career Closet houses hundreds of items for UWM students to wear to job interviews, career fairs and other professional events. Two tiny rooms house countless collared shirts, dress pants and crisp blazers that can be taken home free of charge. Ashley Hale, the lead Career Research Assistant, says the closet has a noticeable traffic pattern that is consistent almost every semester.

“During our Career Fair Days, or leading up to that, students usually come in and check things out,” she says. “During regular parts of the semester – without career fairs – we still get a good influx of people.”

The Career Closet’s inventory is sourced completely by donations. UWM faculty members and off-campus professionals contribute new or gently-used garments, and the closet gets an extra-special boost from a Milwaukee-based clothing consignment company. Divine Consign collects designer and higher-end women’s wear and re-sells the clothing at pop-up events around Milwaukee. Work-appropriate pieces that aren’t sold are instead donated to the Career Closet for student use.

Most students enter the closet with little professional experience, and browsing the closet can admittedly be overwhelming for first-time visitors. Style advice bulletin boards hang on the walls, offering helpful style tips and tricks for the less fashionably-inclined students. They educate students on the differences between “business casual” and “business professional” and offer ensemble inspiration and guidance. Edwin Ramos, a counselor at the Career Planning and Resource Center, stresses the importance of dressing to impress at job and internship interviews.

“What clothes are, in the grand scheme of things, is about impressions,” says Ramos. “Your appearance plays a role in the kind of impression you make on people, whether it’s good or bad. If you don’t have appropriate clothes for an interview, it’s going to be really hard for you to get a job if you aren’t wearing the right thing.”

Even though the closet opened just last winter, the space is well-stocked with items from recognizable brands like Liz Claiborne and Banana Republic. Most college students wouldn’t be able to afford high-end clothing, and the Career Planning and Resource Center is dedicated to making sure the closet is accessible to anyone trying to get their foot in the professional door. All items are laundered, pressed and ready to wear immediately, saving students the hassle and cost of dry-cleaning or steaming their new garments.

Even though the Career Closet has clothing for all genders, the closet has almost three times the amount of women’s clothing than men’s. Hale says the closet receives a significantly higher amount of women’s donations and sometimes struggles to maintain a hearty selection of men’s items. Because of the disparity, men can take up to two items per semester while women can take up to three. Even though the closet has countless women’s items, Hale says the closet lacks in size diversity. She notes that plus-size women may have a harder time finding pieces to take home.

“We got a good range of sizes, but as a plus size person, it’s always a little more difficult because we have a smaller range of plus-size clothing,” says Hale. “It’s always super nice to get clothes that are bigger than what stores sell, which is [sizes] typically after a 12. I’d like to see a range of plus-size clothing.”

After spending over 40 minutes browsing the closet’s jam-packed racks and trying on various outfits, Stauffacher decided on a pair of dress pants and a matching blazer to wear to the medical school fair. With a matching shirt at home, she says her new look is going to be just what she needed.