Wardrobe Volunteers

About Smart Works

Smart Works is a dynamic, high profile and fast-growing UK charity that dresses, coaches and empowers unemployed women for success at their job interview. After visiting Smart Works, 69% of clients secure a job within a month.

The Smart Works service is delivered in 11 centres across the UK. Over the past ten years, Smart Works has helped over 35,000 women. It is our mission that any woman who needs our service should be able to find her way to a Smart Works centre.

About the opportunity

Our wardrobe is at the heart of our dressing service, where we create that magic mirror moment and ensure our clients receive a consistently professional, boutique dressing experience. Our clothing is generously donated from the public, corporate organisations and our retail partners such as Burberry, Hobbs, Whistles, John Lewis, M&S and more.

At Smart Works we strive to deliver a 'best in class' experience, ensuring every client receives a high-quality outfit and outstanding dressing experience. This is why we are recruiting for a new team of wardrobe volunteers to maintain our wardrobe space for our clients and dressing team.

We also have an exciting calendar of fundraising events including our signature fashion sales and annual Fashion & Fizz events, where our wardrobe volunteers are responsible for curating amazing rails for our supporters to buy from and in turn raise vital funds for our service.

This opportunity would be perfect for anyone who has a passion for clothes and sees fashion as a force for good. Our wardrobe volunteers should have a meticulous eye for detail and a passion for organisation, as they will be involved in all things sorting and quality control.

We will be recruiting three to four wardrobe volunteers in Newcastle, who will be joining a busy and bustling community consisting of 5 staff members and over 40 volunteers.

Key Tasks

• Working as a team to create successful sorting systems.
• Sorting our incoming clothing donations for client wardrobe and sales.
• Rotating our wardrobe items seasonally and as new items come in.
• Maintaining our rails through steaming and sorting.
• Curating/pricing our fashion sale stock with our events calendar in mind.
• Administrative support with stock takes and inventories.
• Support with our fashion sale events.

Skills you should have

• Great attention to detail.
• Strong organisational skills.
• Work well as a part of the wider wardrobe and volunteer team.
• An awareness of fashion brands is desirable but not essential.
• Passionate about our mission and fashion as a force for good, evidenced in your written application.

Benefits of volunteering

• Making an impactful and positive difference to the lives of our clients.
• Gaining work experience in the charity sector.
• Using your knowledge and skills for good.
• Meeting people from a range of backgrounds and making new friends.
• Access monthly UK wide virtual volunteer forums to meet individuals across the charity.

How to apply

To apply, please submit a CV (no more than two pages) and a one-page cover letter via our recruitment portal and we will be in touch May-June 2024 if your application is of interest.

Your application should be addressed to Smart Works Newcastle and your cover letter should include why you would like to become a Wardrobe Volunteer.

There will be a short webinar on the opportunity held on Wednesday 10th April at 12:30pm. Please sign up via our website. This will be a chance to hear first-hand from the Smart Works Newcastle Centre Manager about this opportunity.