Did you hear the story about Dominick Breedlove? If you haven’t, you’ll want to keep reading.

Dominick Breedlove is a Florida man that was job searching during the holiday season. On December 6, 2018, he had an interview at Kohl’s department store in Spring Hill, Florida. He arrives around 3:20 P.M., makes his way to Human Resources, and has his interview. (Sounds like a normal story so far, right? Well, this is where it gets better).

After the interview, Breedlove walks over to the shoe department, finds a pair of Nike sneakers without a security tag, leaves them there, and walks to his car. He retrieves a Kohl’s bag (from a previous purchase) from his vehicle and takes it back into the store. All of this is on camera of course. He makes his way back to those same sneakers, puts them into the bag, walks around a bit, sees other shoes without security tags, takes another pair, and leaves the store.

Breedlove was taken into custody in the parking lot. He had stolen a pair of Nike Air Bella TR shoes ($80) and another pair ($70).  I see several things wrong here:

• The most obvious is that you don’t steal PERIOD, but you don’t steal from a store you just had an interview with for a job!
• Had he gotten the job, there is a good chance he'd gotten them on discount.
• It’s the holiday season. Everyone knows security is tripled during this time of year.
• He walked to his car and back into the store, which means he had a lot of time to re-think this bad idea. He didn't.

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Please know that your interview starts when you get out of the car to walk into the building and your interview is not over until you have completely left the premises. It’s a known fact that most people are not their true and authentic self in job interviews. Something is exaggerated, you smile more than usual, and your demeanor is a little more proper.  And your resume has a little more fluff. With this in mind, recruiters and hiring managers watch you as you walk through the common areas and exit the building, just so they can catch a glimpse of the real you. Well, Dominick Breedlove, decided to show the “real” him right away.

Needless to say, he did not get the job. Negative reasons qualified candidates did not get the job in my experience as a hiring leader:

• They were rude to the receptionist.
• They played on their phone while waiting and continued to do so when the hiring manager approached them.
• Their social media profile shows them as not professional.
• They stole from the job they were interviewing for.

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Later, the news shared that Breedlove was buying the shoes for his mom for Christmas.

Don’t let this holiday season and the pressure to get gifts you can’t afford ruin your job search. Don’t skip out on the interview because your family is at the house eating and drinking or playing video games. Don't call off work then post all of your fun on social media. Someone is watching – and it’s not just Santa.

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