Gigi Gates wants a new job and she’s looking to Dress for Success Metro Jackson to help her do just that.

Begun in new York in 1997, Dress for Success provides women with interview tips and clothing. it has branched out to include affiliates throughout the United States and eight foreign countries.

After seeing a magazine ad, Pat Chambliss and a group of other women opened the doors of the Jackson chapter in 2002.

“We just wanted to help women and we had a bunch of clothing and we thought, ‘Well, what can we do?’” Chambliss, now the group’s executive director, said.

Since opening its doors, the local chapter has helped more than 1,500 with more than attire – providing resume tips, critiques and mock interviews. Women who get jobs also return to the organization for additional clothing.

The group also helps men with resume building and other job-finding skills, but provides clothing only to women.

In recent years, the group has helped around 150 women annually, but the number dipped to 88 in 2009, Chambliss said.

Barely four months into the year, there are signs the economy will push more clients through the doors. Already, they’ve provided interview attire for 47 women.

“(The recession) has brought in more and more people who are in need of our services,” Chambliss said.

Mississippi’s unemployment rate was 12 percent in February.

Dress for Success only takes clients through referral and works with about 30 organizations that send women needing assistance.

The women come from all types of backgrounds – ranging from those who are new to the work force to those who are trying to start again after fleeing abusive relationships.

All fall into a low-income bracket and are in need of help.

About 75 percent of the group’s clients are black women. Nationally, the unemployment rate for black women has grown from 10.1 percent in March of last year to 12.4 percent last month, Bureau of Labor Statistics figures show.

After helping the women get jobs, Dress for Success works with the women through its Professional Women’s Group, which meets monthly. Those at the meeting discuss financial planning, home ownership and the dos an don’ts of employment.