Credit: university of Derby careers and employability service
The University of Derby have hosted a pre-loved clothing drive today, with the hopes of making professional clothing more accessible to their students.
The event, located at Kedleston Road campus, encouraged students to attend from 10am in order to get their hands on the best bits.
A volunteer at the careers and employability service explained the impact of this service, especially in regards to raising student aspirations, he said:
“Part of the reason we do events like this is to increase engagement in the service; show that we’re here and that they can come in, and come in and talk to us.
“It’s especially useful in terms of helping students who do come from low-income backgrounds or who might not necessarily be able to afford the more fancy sort of clothes that you’d wear at work or even to an interview.”
The clothing drive was also heavily supported by staff across the university, who have donated their own professional clothes directly to the team at the hub, in order to give their items (and students) a fresh start.
This is the second year that students have been able to enjoy this event, and it has already seen a few success stories come out of it:
“The event last year was really useful to a lot of students, we ended up having loads of students joining up and getting in the queue, and I know a lot of them were able to find some really good pieces, and went to interviews and were able to successfully get a job,
Obviously as to whether or not it was because of them or the clothes that helped- but they felt better going into it in clothes that looked smart.”
As this event continues to inspire and grow each year, there’s hopes for it to be even bigger and better next year.
For any updates on future events, follow the official careers hub Instagram account: @derbyunicareers1
For any other careers related advice or support, visit the team at the Careers and Employability Service Hub located in the Atrium at Kedleston campus.
