Ugly Christmas Sweater Shop asks job applicants to dance

DALLAS, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- The owner of a Texas store dedicated to ugly Christmas sweaters revealed the secret to his unusual hiring process -- making applicants dance for the job.

Jeremy Turner, owner of the Ugly Christmas Sweater Shop in Dallas, said he needed to staff two pop-up stores in Fort Worth and Frisco this year, so he tried to think of the perfect way to headhunt unusual workers for his unusual business.

"We need to look for people who are a little hyper, just crazy about Christmas," Turner said.

Turner ended up having job-seekers submit videos of their dance moves instead of typical applications.

"All you had to do was dance," he told WFAA-TV. "It showed us you were willing to have fun."

"We found a lot of great people that way," he said.

Retired teacher Diane McCusker, 69, was one of Turner's unconventional hires. She said she performed a dance routine while reciting a poem about why she should be given the job.

"When he stopped laughing, he said, 'You're hired!'" McCusker said.

"I don't have kids to make me Christmasy. I'm not going into work every day," she said. "So what a great way to interact with all of these people."

Turner said his store is also unique because all of the sweaters are genuine vintage Christmas apparel -- no sweaters made to be intentionally ugly.

"I love Christmas," he said. "I'm into authentic sweaters. These were never intended to be ugly, they were intended to be pretty."