Have a job interview coming up, but aren’t sure what to wear?

Students are invited to come to JCPenney at Arden Fair Mall on March 10, where American River College Career and Pathways Support Services will be hosting a Suit Up Event to help prepare students to be career-ready.

The event will run from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at the JCPenney store and will be an opportunity for students to shop for professional attire at a discounted price in addition to other perks.

Laura Adams, a student personnel assistant for CAPSS, said current students and alumni of the Los Rios Community College District are all welcome to attend, but are asked that they bring their student ID or transcripts in order to receive benefits and discounts.

“We have a partnership with JCPenney,” Adams said. “They’ve been doing this with other colleges throughout California, so we reached out to them to see if we can do that … with our Los Rios Campuses.”

Adams said the purpose of the event is to get students to prepare and look professional for their job hunting.

“We arranged this to be a month before our Career Expo event that’s coming on April 3 and 4,” Adams said. “The Suit Up Event is one of our preparation events to try and get our students engaged, so if they were also coming to the Career Expo they would have something nice to wear for that.”

CAPSS invites students to bring along friends and family, promising an event of shopping, food, and music.

Adams said guests are invited to come early as food trucks, including Yolanda’s Tamales and Bubble Cone, will arrive in front of JCPenney at 5:30 p.m. A section of the store will be cleared with tables and chairs so students are able to sit and eat before the doors of the event open at 6:00 p.m.

A student from the American River College music department known as DJ Riktor will be performing music for the event.

Students will be offered a 40 percent discount on career dress and apparel, however all purchases must be made on one transaction to assure that the coupon provided will not be used twice. Additional tailoring services will also be offered at no charge.

Adams said there will be free mini makeovers and samples available at the Sephora booth, and an in-store salon will be offering a free hair consultation. Professional headshots will also be available for purchase starting at $29.99.

Every half hour throughout the course of the event, CAPSS will raffle off $50 JCPenney gift cards, in addition to two giveaways from ARC with gas cards and school merchandise. Two winners will be drawn for the giveaways during the event.

Student Services Supervisor Breanne Holland said she hopes the Suit Up Event can be held every semester.

“If it’s successful, we’d like to make this a recurring thing. Sacramento State University has done this event as well, and they have great success with it,” Holland said.

Holland also said that part of the money generated from the food trucks will go towards scholarships.

“The food trucks have agreed to kick back a portion of their sales to us to put together a scholarship from that money,” Holland said. “In the future, we can advertise the scholarship as one that is funded by those food trucks.”

Students are encouraged to RSVP for the Suit Up Event at the CAPSS page on the ARC website.

The CAPSS invites students to follow them on social media for more updates.