Video Resumes: How a Stoney Creek woman turned her dream into a reality

When she was in the eighth grade, Stephanie Trendocher’s closet doors were littered with cut-out images of fashion trends from magazines like Teen, Elle Girl and Cosmo Girl. When she entered high school, she discovered art-inspired magazines from London and New York specifically geared toward fashion. It wasn’t until she began studying at McMaster University that she started loyally reading Flare, and when she did, Trendocher knew she had found the publication she dreamed of working for. She sent out resumes on different occasions, but never received replies. Then, one night, when she and her boyfriend were leaving his Hamilton home, she noticed a message on her phone. Despite it being choppy, she got the basics. Her phone slipped from her hand and fell to the floor. After an almost cruel month-and-a-half-long waiting period, her career had suddenly taken a turn for the better. Stephanie Trendocher had been selected to be Flare’s newest intern.

Flare didn’t discover her by sifting through stacks of resumes looking for experienced candidates, though. Instead the magazine set up a contest where applicants were to upload a 90-second video of why they would be suitable for a position with Flare.com. That approach immediately let Flare editors discern the dedicated from the lazy, and it also allowed them to meet the applicants in an informal setting. Trendocher feels it helped display her personality and talents more than a piece of paper ever could.

“It’s hard when you’re just looking at a resume because everyone will have the same qualifications. They’ve already been an intern, or they were the editor-in-chief of their school paper,” she says. “The video resume was a really interesting idea because that allows you to vocalize and really show who you are.”

As she sits by the window of a downtown Toronto Starbucks, Trendocher fiddles with her hands, but stops to take a long sip of her iced tea. Growing up in a small Ontario town, she used to look at images in fashion magazines as a way to escape the “little realm that everybody becomes involved in.” When asked about Flare’s unique contest, she peels her eyes away from the view of a mild afternoon, and discusses the effect another influential fashion magazine has had on the industry.

“I think it’s just a trend,” declares the Stoney Creek native. “If you look at something like Teen Vogue, they definitely have done something like that. The Hills with Lauren Conrad, they’re always on camera at their internships, and it’s kind of appealing to have that kind of contest. You want to know what this person looks like and how they’re going to be so that you’re like, ‘Okay, I want this person on camera’, and it’ll be okay.”

Trendocher feels the contest gave her a great opportunity to show Flare she’s capable of manipulating video, as well as representing the publication. But before she was able to translate her personality to the screen, she had to overcome obstacles. Her camera broke, so she borrowed an unfamiliar one. Her script was too long for the 90-second time constraint, so she reworked it. And finally, once she had everything recorded, she realized the camera was PC-compatible only, rendering her Macintosh unusable for the project. She converted all the files, and the entire process took roughly two weeks in what she describes as “a huge pain for a 90-second video.”

That “huge pain” ended up turning into her dream internship, which may not have been the case, had Flare not gone with the video format.

Flare.com editor Zdenka Turecek thinks video applications force hopefuls to think outside the box, and they make the most of an editor’s time.

“It knocks off the first impression,” explains Turecek. “[Otherwise] you would have to get an actual interview in, so it might be a time-saver. Essentially, we decided on her without even interviewing her. Rather than someone submitting a resume and calling ten people to interview them, we watched a video. It definitely takes less time to do that.”

Turecek says Flare.com received roughly 20 videos, and thousands of comments on them helped in the decision process. She says Trendocher was selected because it was obvious she was stylish, she had relevant experience, and her video was creative. But not everyone sees the correlation between coming across well on camera and being a talented member of a magazine team.

“I just don’t get how it has any relevance at all to the magazine industry,” pleads James Keast. “It’s a separate thing. That’s the whole idea. The point of print is writing. Whether or not someone is good on camera, the skill set required for working at a magazine is radically different from the skill set required to either host or put together or build a video piece.”

Keast, the editor-in-chief of Exclaim, doesn’t look like the typical music buff. He has no visible tattoos, doesn’t wear the T-shirt of some obscure band, and he roams the office in his socks. However, he trades a predictable appearance for a wealth of knowledge on how to run a magazine. He’s performed a range of duties and has a seemingly good relationship with his staff, which may be a result of where his own career began.

After graduating from Queen’s University when he was 24, the Belleville native went through a scrupulous application process to become an intern for Toronto Life. He didn’t have to make a video, but did have to write a 500-word essay about the latest issue, write another essay detailing why he would be successful there, and pitch three story ideas for each section. He landed the position, but would’ve been skeptical had creating a video been a part of the process.

Now that he is on the other side of the desk, Keast knows what he wants in an intern and how to find it.

Exclaim launched its own online television station, Exclaim TV last fall, but Keast says he wouldn’t ask for a video resume from an intern unless it was specifically for an Exclaim TV position. He is concerned with a candidate’s ability to write and hit deadlines, and feels a video resume does little to convince him of those pertinent skills.

“It feels a little bit like the Much Music VJ Search,” he explains. “It’s like, ‘Let’s put an idiot 20-year-old in front of a bunch of screaming teenagers and see if they can keep up’. It seems one step away from, ‘We’ve put all of our applications up on YouTube, and the person that gets the most views is getting the job’. It’s really a popularity contest. What’s it teaching me? It’s teaching me that the person is good on camera. If I worked at Much Music, I would absolutely be running VJ searches every six months, because that’s what they do. They’re looking for personality. Working at a magazine is not about personality.”

Exclaim and Flare may differ on what qualities they find most desirable in potential interns, but whether or not personality dictates success is debatable. Flare was impressed with Trendocher’s energy and enthusiasm and Turecek is delighted with the selection. The contest and subsequent internship have been so successful that a second edition of the contest began in April. Trendocher just wrapped up her third year of cultural studies and English at McMaster, and stresses to internship-hungry people the importance of relentless passion.

“You have to prove yourself,” states Trendocher. “It’s all about proving yourself and setting yourself apart. That was the whole purpose of the video. How can I show that I want this more than somebody else does? The video was a great opportunity to do that because I had a lot of difficulties with it and I had a lot of setbacks, and then after all, it was worth it in the end.”

Barack Obama: He's not the end of racism, but he's a great start

I lived the first 12 years of my life in Montreal, Quebec, a city known for multiculturalism. In public school, I was friends with black people, Jewish people, Italian people, Muslim people, and white people, among others. Although you can chalk it up to being a kid, I never cared about the background of my classmates or anyone around me.

My family moved to suburban Kingston, Ontario in 1997, and the difference was undeniable. Everyone was white. Not only that, but racist jokes were rampant. In my time in Kingston, I've heard jokes about most ethnic backgrounds you can think of, and most of the time, they're not clever. I had to quickly get used to this, because when I first heard these jokes, I was speechless. I would have NEVER heard these types of jokes in Montreal, but in Kingston, I heard them spewed freely. Here's an example of how ridiculous it can get:
Last time I was in Kingston, I was leaving a restaurant with my friends, and this guy we went to high school with thought it was completely acceptable to try to get our attention by yelling, "Hey n*gg*rs!" I was floored. I whipped my head around to see if there was a black person jumping out of his seat to introduce his fist to this young man's skull. Of course, it was Kingston, so there was nobody of ethnic decent anywhere in the restaurant. I though to myself, "This guy needs to get out of Whiteville, Ontario for a day to understand the way the world works."
It's pretty apparent that racism and prejudice still widely exists across North America. The movie "Crash" is a hauntingly accurate portrayal of everyday stereotypes that people hold. When I began college in Toronto two years ago, the multiculturalism was a breath of fresh air. I loved being in a city that reflected the real world, not a pocket of society I was exposed to in Kingston. I would be lying if I said I don't think certain people look at me differently because the colour of my skin. It's undeniable that there is hostility bubbling beneath the surface, and sometimes, it makes its way to the surface.
I've thought for several years now that one giant leap towards ending racism would be for a white U.S. president to stand up and apologize for the atrocities that existed during slavery. But that hasn't happened. This is why when my friend made me watch Barack Obama's "A more perfect union" speech, I was floored. Finally, a presidential candidate has the guts to stand up and say, "There is racial tension in our country, let's not deny it. Let's acknowledge it and make strides to rectify it."



I am not in denial, nor do I have unrealistic expectations. I don't think that one man, no matter how charismatic or intelligent Obama may be, can end such a long history of racial tension. What I do have is an unwavering belief in people. I think that should Obama be elected and one of his main goals be bridging the gap between different ethnicities, we can all begin to move forward. We must never forget, but we must attempt to move forward, together. The best scenario in my mind, would be for Obama to be elected and consciously help this issue, and Hillary Clinton be his vice-president and concentrate on the atrocious American health care system and other issues affecting families. And the fact is, much of the time, our Canadian prime minister follows in the American president's footsteps, which should Obama be elected, I wouldn't have a problem with. But one step at a time.

Can The Offspring be cool again?

1994. Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains dominated the airwaves. But in a year when grunge dominated, punk became cool again.

Every time "Basket Case" by Green Day was played on MuchMusic, I was glued to the t.v. set. I bought "Dookie" and loved it. At the same time that the Berkeley punkers blew up, a group of Orange County boys released their second Epitaph album, "Smash". "Come Out and Play", "Self Esteem" and "Gotta Get Away" made me feel cool by just listening to it. When the rest of my public school classmates listened to whatever was on the radio, I felt like I was a part of something cool that was happening. And the best part was that none of them knew what was going on.

Dexter Holland didn't look like Kurt Cobain or Eddie Vedder. He wore long braids and didn't seem to have the "life if so hard, poor me" mentality. The video for "Come Out and Play" had crazy orange tints and was all over the place. Unlike many of the grunge dudes, it didn't seem like any of The Offspring members were about to cram needles in their veins. They were cool without having to act like they were cool.



When they had a big fallout with Epitaph, they jumped over to Columbia Records, and if you didn't like it, too bad. "Ixnay on the Ombray" was released, and for the most part, it was straight-ahead classic Offspring punk. Songs like "All I Want" pretty much said "I'm gonna do what I wanna do, screw off". When I was 16, I loved it. I'm 23, and with the puny amount of maturity that has taken place, I still love it! In all seriousness, it can still be played with NOFX or Pennywise, and is just as "punk" (whatever that means anymore).



A few albums later, they released "Splinter", and I almost puked. Boring, repetitive, clearly lacking the effort they've put towards previous albums. And The Offspring have announced a release date for their follow-up to "Splinter". Bob Rock produced the record, and for a man whose been involved in such punk rock classics as Bon Jovi's "Slippery When Wet" and Metallica's "St. Anger", I'd be disappointed if the album wasn't at least a partial return to classic Offspring. Okay, so maybe those other Bob Rock albums were a guitar slide or two away from punk rock, but still, Bob should be able to produce at least a half-good album with all the success he's had in his career. Well, here's to hoping.

Think before you post, would ya, please?

Facebook. As loved and abused as this social website is, many people are annoyed by certain aspects of it. Maybe the hundreds of applications bother you, or maybe people you hate or never really knew trying to add you as a friend annoy you. For me, girls who use Facebook to advertise themselves as alcoholic party animals grind my gears. They also amuse me, though.

I love my friends. I love hanging out on a deck on a warm summer day with a couple of drinks. I also enjoy checking out a bar with some buddies. But I don't feel the need to litter my Facebook profile with pictures of myself passing out on a random street corner. Nor do I feel the need to record and post a video of myself chugging tequila like it was Coca-Cola. Frankly, I don't see the appeal of it, and I don't picture anybody seeing that on my page and saying to themselves, "He seems like a really cool dude". No, he seems like a joke of a human being.

I personally get a kick out of girls who change their away messages to things like, "Can't wait to party this weekend!! Gonna be sooooooo sick!" Meanwhile, I notice the message was written on Tuesday morning. Really? Can you not wait four days? Lord knows your last weekend started late Thursday afternoon, and didn't end until Monday morning when you flushed the remnants of your own vomit down the kitchen sink. But I suppose giving your liver a three-day break is a real drag!

I also thoroughly enjoy watching a video of a girl literally being carried away by several of her friends because she was too hammered to walk. Personally, I find incoherence extremely sexy in a woman. Who wants to be with a girl who can form a sentence? Screw that! Or the best is a video of a girl being carried to her room by some perverted, steroid-abusing man. He drops her on his bed, she bounces off, and hits her head on the edge of a desk. There's nothing cuter than a bump the size of Peru on your forehead, I can tell you that much.

Or here's a beautiful young woman enjoying the scenery in the bathroom:



Ahhhhh, then there's the groups. If you ever want to know what a girl is like, take a look at the groups she's in. I think some my favourites are, "I know I have a problem with alcohol but I like it", "Reality is an illusion that occurs due to lack of alcohol", or perhaps the classiest of all, "My alcohol tolerance is higher than my G.P.A.". Hey, I've got an idea for a group: "I'm going nowhere in life." How's that one sound?

Let me say this: by no means am I straight edge. I may be a loser and a morbid beast, but I am not straight edge. All I'm saying is that there's no need to alert the Facebook world that the majority of your thoughts revolve around your insatiable appetite to party. Anyway, it's Monday, so I'm off to my campus pub. I only have to wake up at 8 a.m. tomorrow morning! (Ladies, that's called sarcasm. Put the drink down, and grab a dictionary.)

Why Matt Stajan shouldn't be the captain of the Leafs

Let me say that, first and foremost, I am a big-time Montreal and Calgary fan, so what the Leafs do interests me less than decisions which affect the Habs or Flames. With that said, I currently reside in Toronto, and want the Leafs to be a successful organization.
Toronto, being the media juggernaut that it is, constantly has hockey journalists starting rumours and spouting their opinions about what the Leafs need to do to be a contender. As the season was wrapping up and Sundin rumours ran rampant throughout the city, Toronto Star writer Damien Cox wrote an article suggesting that Matt Stajan would be a great candidate to wear the "C" for the blueshirts should Mats not be around. I was enraged that such a knowledgeable hockey man would attempt to spearhead another decision that would send a clear message to the 29 NHL clubs: "In Toronto, mediocrity is okay".
When I brought this issue up to a classmate of mine, he said something along the lines of "Well, they can't just go out and get an Iginla." That is true, you can't just go out and get Iginla. (I should say that Jarome Iginla is my favourite hockey player, and truthfully, I do have a non-sexual crush on the man.) Iginlas aren't a dime a dozen. But that got me thinking, is it too much to ask that Toronto have a Sundin-like captain to replace him? Is it crazy to think that the biggest hockey market in the league would have a captain that put fans on the edge of their seats, the type of player that leads both in the locker room AND on the ice? Someone who can put his team on his shoulders when they falter? No, it isn't. I looked around the league and compiled a list of NHL captains that are CLEARLY better than Matt Stajan. It proves that if 19 of the 30 teams have captains that make Stajan look like an AHL player, then barring unforeseen talent growth, the Leafs should seek a legitimate franchise player.
Captains clearly better than Stajan: Saku Koivu, Sidney Crosby, Rod Brind'Amour, Daniel Alfredsson, Jaromir Jagr, Zdeno Chara, Olli Jokinen, Bill Guerin, Niklas Lidstrom, Patrick Marleau, Marion Gaborik, Chris Pronger, Jarome Iginla, Markus Naslund, Joe Sakic, Jason Arnott, Shane Doan, Rick Nash, Rob Blake.
Now I don't dislike Stajan. Although he gets pummeled here, and the ref cradles him like a frightened child, I respect him for at least defending himself.

But let's get real here, if Stajan was on a contender like Anaheim, Detroit, Pittsburgh or Montreal, he'd be a third liner. Because it's the Leafs, he's a second liner, sometimes a first liner depending on injuries. I'm a firm believer that a captain should be a great locker room guy AND be among the top three most talented/point accumulators on your club. Giving him the "C", having him to take a faceoff against Patrick Marleau, having him go into the corners against Jarome Iginla or Zdeno Chara, asking him to lead his troops into battle like Joe Sakic, is unrealistic. It would be another indication that failing to make the playoffs or squeaking in to 8th or 7th spot is fine for Toronto fans. Well, it's not. And I'm only a mild Toronto fan.