Smart outfit

Charity supports women back into work with coaching

SMART WORKS is a great name for a great service. The charity based in Annandale Street Lane offers any woman with a job interview professional advice on interview techniques - as well as an outfit to wear. Since 2014, the charity has helped over 1,000 women to interview success.

Reading new MSP Emma Roddick’s tweets recently about the expense of starting a new job, reminded me of the excellent work that this charity does - at least at initial interview stage. It is a small outfit. Beth Reid is manager working with administrator, Caroline Levack. Beth said: “We have eight UK centres and Edinburgh is the only one in Scotland. We provide interview clothes and coaching to any unemployed women.

”We offer a two hour appointment when our clients are fitted with a complete outfit with accessories, toiletries, a goodie bag of makeup, all for free. We also provide one-to-one interview coaching delivered by our experienced volunteers, who all have a background in HR and recruitment. They may go over specific questions which might come up, perhaps helping clients to explain a gap in work history for example. A lot of it is about confidence building, important when someone has been out of work for a long time or have faced redundancy.”

The good quality ready-to-wear clothes are donated by professional working women or the charity’s retail partners including Burberry, Hobbs, Whistles, M&S, and John Lewis.