Jun 13

Jun 13 Smart Works and the joy of volunteering

Many years ago, I got what I thought at the time was going to be my big TV break. I was offered the role of presenter and reporter on a new, prime-time, mid-week travel show on Channel 4. The job meant joining well-established and long-standing team who had been together on the radio version of the programme for many years. The reporting bit went well and I relished the stories I was given to tell and the destinations I was sent to. It was once we started working on all the studio links that things began to get rather less enjoyable.

For whatever reason, the team decided that I didn’t fit the image they had for the co-presenter for the then well known, and venerable, host. A man with a lengthy presenting and journalism career, he was very much my senior, in both age and experience. So in an effort to turn me into what they all thought they wanted, they not only tightly wrote all my link scripts and wouldn’t allow me any leeway to say them with even my own natural intonation, they also equally tightly controlled what I wore. A process that resulted in them turning down every item of my own clothes that I suggested, and only approving the things I brought in that belonged to my mother, a lawyer, which, whilst they looked great and entirely appropriate on her, weren’t remotely reflective of either my personal style or my age.

The combination of both those things meant that when the series aired, I barely recognised the person on screen and certainly didn’t feel ‘she’ was an accurate reflection of my personality and professional persona. Unsurprisingly, the job didn’t lead to the flood of openings I hoped it might. Or, indeed, even a trickle.

A salutary lesson

It was a salutary lesson not to allow myself to be shoe-horned into twisting myself into something and someone inauthentic and not truly reflective of the person I am. I have never let it happen again.

But it was also a compelling reminder of something I’ve always known to be true - the transformative power of clothes, in good ways and bad, not just on a person’s appearance and what that says about them, but on their confidence and mental state as well.

So what, you have every right to wonder, does this have to do with Smart Works (you may, equally understandably, be wondering exactly what Smart Works is) and volunteering? Well, I’m finally getting round to explaining that, so (please do) read on.

Smart Works

Put simply, Smart Works is a brilliant charity which helps women to get employment using the power of clothes and coaching to transform their confidence and help them to successfully tackle the job interview process dressed and prepared in the best possible way.

What that looks like in practice is that each of the women who are referred to the charity by the organisations it works with - statutory and charitable - because they have secured an interview but don’t have the kind of clothes they need and aren’t in a position to buy them, is given a styling session in which a top-to-toe outfit (including shoes, bag and coat) of their choosing is put together with the help of one of the charity’s volunteer stylist/dressers. They then have an hour of interview coaching with another of the charity’s volunteers.

The outfit is entirely free and theirs to keep. And if they get the job - and the charity’s clients have an astonishing success rate of over 60% - they can come back and get another 5 items, also completely free, to give them a working wardrobe until they can afford to buy any more clothes themselves.

More to it than that

Whilst that’s the bare bones of what happens in each of the client appointments, of course there’s a great deal more to it than that, from the interaction between the clients and the dressers, the careful selection and trying-on process to find the outfit that works best for them, to the confidential, supportive conversation that happens in the coaching room afterwards.

I work as one of the dressers, and it’s not an exaggeration to say that it can be literally transformative when the clients find the perfect outfit. It’s also not an exaggeration to say that each of us involved in helping the clients, gets every bit as much out of each appointment as they do.

The joy of volunteering

It’s often said that volunteering is as beneficial, if not more so, to volunteers as it is to the individuals and organisations they help, and that’s not just anecdotally true. It’s been researched and proven that volunteering improves your mental and physical health, reduces stress, combats depression, keeps you mentally stimulated, and provides a sense of purpose. It connects you to others, brings fun and fulfilment, and can even advance your career if you want it to by giving you the chance to practice and hone skills.

Also, because, unlike paid work, volunteering is something you can do when you choose to, it’s something you can fit into your life at pretty much any stage, but particularly when you get older and perhaps have a little more parenting or work free time on your hands.

The other great thing about volunteering is that the choice and opportunities are almost limitless, so it’s a fantastic way to be able to pursue your interests, or explore new ones, and to find the sort of volunteering that works best for you.

I’ve done, and continue to do, all sorts of volunteering, from helping in my local park, to supporting disabled people to water ski, as well as sitting on various committees and boards through the years. What I find particularly special and rewarding about my role at Smart Works is the face-to-face, and one-to-one nature of it. But I’ve never done any volunteering I’ve found anything less than wonderfully satisfying and enjoyable.

I’d love to know about your volunteering experiences and stories.

Typing ‘volunteering’ into your search bar will bring up a multitude of opportunities in your area. THIS is also a very useful starting-point website. And if you’re interested in finding out more about volunteering at Smart Works (they have 11 centres around the country) click HERE