suits4students
Tracey Ashington
inspirer | career coach | student advisor | recruiter | mentor | career strategist | grad recruitment specialist | talent guru | @traceyashington.com I suits4students I #feesmustfall I #NSFASWakeUp I #BLM
Two years ago, having been in graduate recruitment for the most part of my career, I began an initiative I named 'suits4students'.
There were far too many young people invited to interviews having had to share, borrow or rent an outfit they felt comfortable being in a corporate environment in. As it is these youngsters are fighting for place at a tertiary institution, borrowing to register and then struggling to pay fees. I’ve repeatedly noticed:
1. The open-hearted and genuine desire to ‘give back’ displayed by many of my colleagues;
2. Said colleagues also had closets full of no longer used work attire.
I could think of nothing more awesome than a way to connect the two and used the suits4students platform to begin collecting and distributing the items.
With only an email I received an overwhelming response. Suits, skirts, blouses, ties, shoes, belts, handbags and other office attire arrived with energy, love and intent.
My post is now to ask my LinkedIn network for suggestions. I’m not getting traction in so far as getting suits4students more widely known and supported. The Facebook page, Instagram pics and occasional posts on LinkedIn are not growing the visibility of the initiative.
Hiring a PR specialist isn’t within reach for now so I’m calling on anyone with advice. I cannot see another intern, candidate, graduate or any other hungry and motivated young person who is unable to meet me because there is only one shirt or tie in the family it turned out to be the day his brother had to use it.
I need to find a way to get this out there and make it BIG.
Facilitating great British qualifications from secondary school to masters
5 年@Greatgirls a western cape initiative does something similar for girls, who go though a mentor ship and coaching program to prepare them for their first interviews. When we left SA in December I gave them EVERYTHING work related that I had. Perhaps the way to grow these initiatives is to combine forces, or at least meet and share ideas. Kristina Miller started the program and now has bunch of mentors who donate their time each year. And each girl gets “ dressed” for her first interview and her first job. It would be worth a chat Trace.
Deputy Director - Municipal Finance Governance at Eastern Cape Provincial Treasury
6 年This is a brilliant idea Tracey. Have you considered calling the SABC foundation to see if you cannot partner with them? Or call SAFM and ask for air time to publicize this initiative.?
Master of Information Technology (UP), Postgraduate Dip. Businesses Admin (Wits), BSc (Hons) Computer Science (UJ)
6 年Wow Tracey superb initiative, i can definitely see this being a need for many graduates... Will definitely be in touch with some ideas.?