New mentorship initiative helps job seekers in Canada's fashion community

The COVID-19 pandemic has been difficult number of industries, particularly those in the fashion and retail space. After March shutdowns forced stores and other businesses to close, many found themselves laid off — continuing to be out-of-work as pandemic restrictions continued.

With the list of available jobs looking bleak, one Vancouver entrepreneur saw a unique opportunity to help struggling job-seekers: meet Christie Lohr.

The BCIT Broadcast Journalism alum founded niche job board Style Nine To Five back in 2010, acting as the bridge between retail/fashion brands and potential employees to find the job of their dreams. Over the last decade, she’s grown her one-woman business to become the top destination in Canada for those in the fashion industry either looking to hire or seeking the next gig.

Now, Christie is giving back to her community in a whole new way. She’s offering a new service called “Ask 1 Career Question” where purchasers can email her with their top career-related question.

Using her 20 years of experience in the industry, Christie will respond with the personalized, tailored advice to help them reach their next goals.

“The biggest reward of my career has been helping others succeed by pushing them to do their best and chase their dreams. I’m asked career questions daily (most via an Instagram DM where they get buried) but I don’t always have the time to respond,” Christie told us.

“I thought about it and it inspired me to create a community where we all help each other. This is a guarantee I’ll answer,” she explained.

Christie Lohr is offering a new service online to help job seekers on their hunt.

With many focused on developing skills or building their education resumes during this time, Christie has decided to use 100% of the proceeds from her new program to help those participating in the program: all funds will go towards question-askers to take a course or program to help their career.

“Rather than keeping the money, I want to pay it forward. I’m helping you, but you’re also helping someone else,” Christie said. No topic is off limits from accounting to graphic design, photography and more — and Christie believes education can be key as job-seekers look for their next move.

“I want to give all job seekers a fair chance. I started to notice a lot of the roles listed on Style Nine to Five required certain skills, digital marketing skills for example (SEO, SEM, Facebook Ads, Google Analytics, graphic design, css, web design, etc.) and was getting feedback that many candidates didn’t have them so they were missing out on those jobs,” Christie said.

“While hands-on experience is just as important in many aspects, when it comes to technical skills, you can’t skip out as they’re a must-have on the hiring manager’s list of requirements. Education gives you those important skills that you need to stand out in today’s competitive market,” she noted.

And for those currently looking, Christie shared her top piece of advice to Daily Hive readers.

“Focus on creating a professional brand (from your resume, to your cover letter to your LinkedIn profile),” she says.

“We aren’t networking or walking into businesses anymore introducing ourselves, so it’s more important now more than ever to make a memorable first impression that’s also a snap shot of who you are.”

Submit your questions to Christie right here on Style Nine To Five.