2013-05-19T10:29:52-04:00 Aviva Cohen http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/author/index.php?author=aviva-cohen Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Aviva Cohen Good old fashioned elbow grease. tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2854287 2013-03-28T08:44:03-04:00 2013-03-28T08:44:32-04:00

Aviva Cohen http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aviva-cohen/ November 2012, there were 243,000 job vacancies among Canadian businesses and 5.2 unemployed people for every job vacancy.

I live in Toronto, and have been looking for work since my contract ended in October 2012. For two years, I was employed as an Online Community Manager for a natural health company.

Since embarking on my quest for full-time employment, I have applied to over 100 jobs and received about 15 interviews and several call-backs. You might know job seekers who are experiencing similar situations. Unfortunately, this scenario seems to be commonplace in Canada.

With over five years of employment experience, a certificate in Media Foundation, a diploma in public relations from Humber College and certificate in web design from Seneca College, one would think it would be fairly easy for me to get hired, right? Wrong.

I am looking for positions in social media, public relations and customer service but have discovered that these fields have become so saturated that at almost every interview I attend, the hiring manager explains that over 80 applications for the position have been received. On LinkedIN, some social media and web design jobs have over 150 applications submitted per job within a three to five day period.

Usually, I receive the standard HR response saying, "Thank you for your interest in this position with our company. We have received a large number of inquiries from highly qualified candidates. At this time, we have decided to move forward with an individual who more closely matches the skills and qualifications required for this role." I begin to wonder if these companies actually end up hiring for the job altogether.

In a recent New York Times article, Cathrine Rampell spoke with a candidate who received eighth and ninth-round call-backs. Two of those companies ultimately decided not to hire anyone, and put the openings "on hold" because of budget pressures.

Early on in my search there was an instance in which I applied to a social media manager job and saw the position available again three months later. Both times I was granted an interview and on the second interview, I found out that the entire team I had originally met with had been let go or had quit. It is rare that one ends up hearing why someone else was hired but in this particular case I learned that the person who was hired originally (then fired) was related to someone in the company and did not have adequate skills. It is through these types of situations that one's job search is prolonged.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW SLIDESHOW


As young professionals, one of the key skills we are all taught to practice is networking, especially in PR. Some articles explain that an HR manager does not want to be "bothered" by potential applicants and he or she would much rather read a CV through the job portal system, while other articles suggest that it is important to take initiative and make personal contact first.

To further explore the relatively new area of online recruitment, I participated in a joint Twitter chat with Twitter recruiters and NPR hiring managers who answered questions on how to network through social media. The managers suggested connecting with recruiters on Twitter to demonstrate one's personality. One of the problems with this process is that not all the companies to whom one applies or with whom one is interested in working have HR managers online.

If one is considering applying for a job in the United States, the process is even more challenging. I had phone interviews with tech companies in California, but with the limited number of work visas issued annually, U.S. companies are only likely to sponsor Canadians in senior positions or someone with extremely advanced technical capabilities.

With the large unemployment statistics in Canada, a job seeker must look beyond the traditional job search. Volunteering at community events and finding connections through family and friends can also be helpful in finding a position.

I have been pulling all the strings, knocking on all the doors and searching for every loophole. At best, I have been able to secure a first interview but with such a competitive market, nothing is guaranteed.

Over the last month, I got accepted into three graduate certificate college programs for September 2013. With a co-op at the end of each program, there is, I hope, increased potential to get a job offer upon graduation. I am hoping that with additional education and more time, the opportunities will be greater in 2014.

Contact Aviva by visiting her website at www.webpr.ca]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2898187 2013-03-27T13:18:44-04:00 2013-03-27T17:44:53-04:00

Aviva Cohen http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aviva-cohen/
In 2011, Vancouver-born Seth Rogen played the Green Hornet and in the same calendar year, B.C.-native; Ryan Reynolds gave it a go as the Green Lantern. This year, there is a new hero in town. Torontonian Stephen Amell won the lead role in the CW series Arrow and currently portrays billionaire playboy Oliver Queen.

A Hollywood Reporter article explains that Americans are no longer getting cast in super hero roles because, "The reality is that access to actors all over the world is greater because of the Internet," says Marcia Ross, Executive Vice President of casting at Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Thanks to the 'net, Ross said, casting directors can now email sides (script pages) to the most remote of locales, then record auditions they will show directors and producers. Not only does that level the playing field, it also saves money on far-flung casting calls. "We as casting directors want to be thorough, and now we can," she said.

BLOG CONTINUES AFTER SLIDESHOW



Casting directors take note. Green Lantern and Green Hornet both debuted in the top spot at the box-office during their opening weekends while Arrow has been off to a stellar start receiving the highest network ratings in three years and a second season order. Earlier this month, Director Bryan Singer announced that B.C.-native, Shawn Ashmore, will be suiting up in hero attire and reprising his role as Ice Man in the franchise film, X-Men: Days of Future Past.

It is never too late to recognize that not only do our Canadian super heroes look great in green, but they are proving to be box-office gold.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2916790 2013-03-21T12:38:01-04:00 2013-03-21T12:25:27-04:00

Aviva Cohen http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aviva-cohen/ ABC's Emmy award-winning comedy Modern Family is arguably one of the most popular shows on television. Well into the show's fourth season, audiences have grown accustomed to the antics of the Dunphys, the Pritchetts, Mitchell and Cameron.

While the scripts and cast provide fundamental ingredients that make up a hit television series, it is the opening theme song that really tells you everything you need to know about a show. It is a composer's mission to write an unforgettable melody that becomes ingrained in the minds of viewers during a series' run and years after it goes off air.

Giving credit to his family for getting him started in music, Modern Family composer Gabriel Mann is a distinguished songwriter, singer and member of LA-based alternative rock band, The Rescues. He tackled several jobs in the music industry including a recording engineer and producer before landing a job as a composer's assistant which introduced him to the television music world.

I met Mann last year at The Hotel Cafe, an intimate concert venue that is notorious for showcasing some of the biggest singers and songwriters in Hollywood, and recently interviewed him via email about his experience writing and composing music for acclaimed television shows, artists and feature films.

Who provided you with the opportunity to work on Modern Family?

I worked on a show called Carpoolers several years ago and hit it off with one of the directors, Jason Winer. We stayed in touch over the years and at some point he invited me to the set of the Modern Family pilot where I met show creators Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd. They collectively tasked me to write a theme for the show though it was unclear how much other music would be necessary.

What was your inspiration for the Modern Family theme song?

Jason (Winer) wanted the show to open with a big bang right after the opening joke (the teaser) and he thought that it should be a big band kind of thing so that was where we started. I did write a number of things in a totally different direction before we settled pretty close to where we started. In fact I was writing new themes after five or six episodes had already aired.




Does your creative process differ for each series?

Modern Family has a nice little tune at the end of most episodes that wraps things up in a bow but I also cover a lot of the source music in that show which can be anything from '80s songs to elevator music to death metal.

Ringer was a very modern, mostly synthetic sounding dramatic score and Rectify has a very organic, introspective, moody sound. In terms of the process, I was, to a large extent, left to my own devices on Ringer. For Rectify I worked very closely with Ray McKinnon, the creator, to get to just the emotion he was looking for and usually this would involve doing a pass of the whole score, then Ray would come in with editor Henk Van Eeghen and the three of us would tinker with the score until it felt like what they had in their heads.

On Arrested Development, composer, David Schwartz and I get creator Mitchell Hurwitz on speakerphone and let him riff until he comes up with a genius concept that we turn into a song.




Where do you see the balance between art as a creative pursuit versus work and business?

The thing that I love most about writing music for a living is the variety. I love to write dramatic scores, pop songs, bluegrass and everything in between. I love the challenge of making something sound exactly the way people expect and also the challenge of making something brand new that no one has ever heard. It is definitely a business, a job that has a deadline for which you get paid, but it is also an art form and a craft that requires talent and training. Many people have one or the other of these aspects handled but I believe you really need both to make it work.

Many scenes use similar musical arrangements for a certain effect. Is that something that can change with time or are certain techniques too established and accepted as the standard? Can specific sounds, which are associated with certain things in our culture, eventually change to mean something else?

There are definitely trends in film music as there are in pop music or any other kind. At some point over the last 10 years or so natural sounding strings made resurgence in dramatic score in general; for a long while you only heard synthetic pads and things as a replacement for that sort of sound. The trend now is more of a combination of traditional elements (orchestra, guitars) with synthetic material for kind of a mix of everything. The synth sounds change over time, certain ones becoming dated for a while and then coming back 20 years later. The same thing happens in pop songs. I think there will always be something spooky about a little girl's voice singing up high over some "out" chords, and a big French horn line can always sound triumphant. Clichés will always be clichés. There are ways to use both of those things in an a typical situation and ways to accomplish the same thing with different instrumentation.

What is your favourite television theme song and who is your favourite composer?

I love the Mad Men theme and I'm a big fan of the series' composer, David Carbonara. In terms of film music, I'm inspired by some demented combination of Thomas Newman, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

The Rescues are performing live in Los Angeles at The Hotel Cafe on April 5 and 6, 2013. Visit www.gabrielmann.com for more info.



]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2867864 2013-03-13T17:55:16-04:00 2013-05-13T05:12:01-04:00

Aviva Cohen http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aviva-cohen/ Veronica Mars ended in 2007, fans of the popular television show have been waiting for the series to get big screen treatment.

On Tuesday, March 13, fans' wishes came true. EW.com reported that Veronica Mars television series creator Rob Thomas and series star Kristen Bell began a Kickstarter fundraising campaign that would guarantee production and distribution of the movie if at least $2 million is collected from the public by April 12.

Thomas explains that Warner Bros. owns the rights to Veronica Mars and they were on board with the project as long as there is enough fan interest to warrant a movie. According to Thomas, if 80,000 of the show's 3-million viewers chip in around $25.00 each, the fundraising goal will be reached. At the time this article was written, the Veronica Mars Kickstarter project already received over $400,000 within a few hours. Why should fans be asked to fund this specific project when Warner Bros. likely has money in the bank to produce the film themselves?




Without asking for any fan support Warner Bros. recently greenlit a movie version of HBO's Entourage which ran from 2004-2011. If Warner Bros. is concerned about fan interest, they should have a look at Kristen Bell's Twitter account which boasts over 970,000 followers versus Entourage star Adrian Grenier's over 268,000 followers. The number of Twitter followers a celebrity accrues is an indication of their popularity among fans. If the Veronica Mars movie would have been produced without a Kickstarter project, surely the stars of series and the Warner Bros. publicity team would have enough influence to spread the word about the movie without asking for donations.

If the Veronica Mars Kickstarter project successfully reaches the $2 million mark, it would be a nice gesture and great PR move for Warner Bros. to give the money back to fans and produce the project regardless. Clearly at that point there would be enough public interest for a Veronica Mars movie without having to take the hard earned dollars of movie-goers.

]]>