Need formal attire for your job interview? Rent it for free!

CAREERS

•

29 Jun 2023

•

4 minute read

by Editor TH

Wearing formal attire and making yourself presentable is one of the important factors for interviews.

But as students, it can be expensive to buy yourself a new pair of dress shoes or a nice looking suit.

In those cases, you can rent suits for free at rental stores that partner with your local city government!

Seoul does offer a lot of rental shops and choices, but there is a huge list of other cities that also offer this service.

Clothes that can be rented for free at a rental shop that partners with the Suwon city government.

How the service works

I'll try to explain how Seoul's rental service works for the sake of convenience. But rental services offered in other cities also operate very similarly, with only tiny details different here and there.

So the one available in Seoul is known as 취업날개 in Korean and is operated by the Seoul city government.

There are certain eligibility criteria that people who want to rent suits need to fall under, which are

1) age: high school graduate to bes ~ 39 year old

2) Living in Seoul (foreigners are also allowed if you registered your address as Seoul)

3) Will actually do a job interview

People that satisfy those criteria can rent suits, dress shoes and heels — or basically any attire needed for a formal interview — for three nights all for free. But if you miss the return period, some fees can be charged. One person can rent suits only 10 times per year.

Signing up for the service

You first need to make a reservation on the Seoul city government website (click the link here)

Sign up is necessary, and although the website only shows a sign up option for Koreans, foreigners can also click that and verify yourself with your residence card number.

The left option says that its for Koreans aged 14 and above, but foreigners can also click on that option to join. You will be asked to verify yourself with the national resident number, and foreigners can enter their residence card number.

After you log in, you will be able to make a reservation by selecting the date, time and clothing rental venue you want to rent from.

From top to bottom: You can select the clothing rental venue, if you want to pick up the clothes by visiting in person (must pick up in person if it's your first time) or want it delivered, what day you want to rent it, and when you will go to pick up.

You also have to submit proof that you are actually going to do a job interview and are renting the suits for the interview.

To do so, you will need to enter the name of the company you are doing an interview for, the date of the interview and the phone number of the company.

You also need to upload a screen capture of an email, text or some sort of announcement that is informing you about the interview. If you were notified by phone call, you need to take a screen capture of the call history.

From top to bottom: The company name, interview date, company phone number, screen captures to prove that you were notified of the interview.

If you filled in all of the information, you will soon get a text confirming your reservation, and you have a fancy suit for your job interview, all for free!