Who can help people not only find a job, but give them a free outfit to wear for their job interview?

The answer, of course, is Goodwill, which opened its newest store Friday on the southwest corner of Apache Trail and Signal Butte Road in east Mesa. It includes the newest Goodwill Career Center, which offers social and career services to anyone who needs help landing a job. Goodwill now has eight career centers in Maricopa County, including three in the East Valley. This is the first career center in Mesa, said Adam Wollmer, Goodwill of Central Arizona's director of career services and mission services.

"Last year, we served over 10,000 people in our career centers and we had over 39,000 people walk through the doors in total," he said. "We were able to track (job) placement on between 3,500 and 4,000 people. So a lot of people come in, and through our programs and through our career centers, they're very successful in becoming employed."

Visitors are welcome to search for employment opportunities both online at the center's computer stations and with job leads provided by local employers, Wollmer said. They also can get help with drafting resumes and cover letters, and can practice their interviewing skills, he said.

"Another unique thing we do is on Thursdays we bring employers into the career center ,,, who are actually hiring," he said. "We send out information about that to community partners and other agencies to let them know that if you've got folks who are looking for a job, we have employers on site every Thursday who will be hiring candidates."

All of the services provided at the center are free, which is important because "if you're looking for work, you probably don't have a lot of expendable funds out there," Wollmer said. But the free help doesn't just cover preparing a resume.

"If you come into our career center and you get a job interview, and you don't have the transportation to get there, we'll give you bus tickets to get there and home," Wollmer said. "And if you don't have the appropriate interview clothing, we'll give you a voucher to go out here in the store and pick something out to go to your interview."

Also, the career center can help people cope with high gas prices during the first few weeks on the job, Wollmer said.

"We'll give you a gas card to get you through your first week or two at work so you can be successful when you get there," he said. "If you need work clothes once you get started, come see us and we can help you take care of that. They say, 'You need three pairs of black pants,' we'll help you get that taken care of."

All of the career centers are 100 percent funded by Goodwill shoppers and donators, Wollmer said.

"Our intent is to have 20 career centers by 2015 and to serve over 50,000 people in our career centers," he said.

Bob Neckes, human resources director for Macayo's Mexican Kitchen restaurants, started working with Goodwill about 10 years ago to help people find employment. He gives group seminars and conducts mock one-on-one job interviews.

The biggest problem with job seekers is they talk themselves out of job opportunities because they assume there's nothing available for them, he said.

"When people go to job fairs, people talk themselves out of why they should speak to every employer who's there," Neckes said. "For example, they see Macayo's and say they don't want to work in a kitchen. Right now, I'm looking for a network manager in information technology, which pays about $75,000 a year. I'm also looking for an executive assistant, which pays about $50,000 a year. Professionals out there don't know that they need to speak to every employer at a job fair."

Austin Lengacher, a Mesa high school graduate who plans to join the Army, was at the newest career center Friday checking job opportunities online. He wants to find a construction-related job.

"I've been looking for a job for a couple of weeks and it's kind of hard because I don't have a lot of experience," he said. "I've heard that the economy's not that greatest because it's really hard for people to get jobs now, but most people still have jobs, so I figure I should be able to get one."