By Rory Reynolds
A SCOTS firm is to give a helping hand to jobseekers going for interviews – by dry cleaning their clothes for free.
The Waverley Laundry Company are offering the free deal in their three Edinburgh dry cleaning shops, which usually handle luxury suits and dresses.
And bosses are to work with Job Centre Plus to give jobseekers the chance to impress their interviewers by looking their best on the big day.
Hopefuls have just to present a letter confirming their job interview to staff at the firm’s branches, to receive the free service.
Andrew Ball, 63, said that his firm were keen to extend the offer to customers in Scotland after their high-profile scheme at their Yorkshire branches was successful.He said: “We bought the Edinburgh business last year when it was in administration and we’ve been keen to work with the local community since then.
“Unfortunately perception is often everything, I used to be a lawyer and when people came for interviews I would at least partly judge on how well turned-out they were.
“If they do look smart it does help people and that’s what were trying help with here.
“It went down really well back in Yorkshire after we introduced it there and it’s a well known service down there.
“And we almost always take our staff from the job centre as well, because it gives everyone a fair chance.
“But we’ve also found the job centre to be really good to work with, especially up here in Scotland.”
And Andrew’s firm, which includes New Town Executive Dry Cleaners in Stockbridge, is also planning to offer a heavily discounted rate to pensioners, and aims to deliver the items back to them at home.
He added: “We’re hoping to extend the service to elderly people, charging them much less than we would for the regular service –just to make things a little easier for them.
“We want to give something back to the community. I know people often think that sounds like rubbish but that’s what we’ve always done everywhere we’ve gone and it’s worked for us.”
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