- Created on 14 January 2013
New Route to a Job: Reality TV
(CNNMoney) -- Forget going into debt for a college degree so that you can get a job. Just get on a reality TV show.
Next month, candidates from all over the country will go head to head to compete for jobs at companies like Cosmopolitan magazine, Zynga, Epic Records, Major League Soccer, Live Nation, Gilt and the Palm Restaurant Group.
But not in real life -- on a new CBS reality TV show called "The Job."
Each episode features one company, and a panel of executives judge a series of elimination challenges. Contestants range widely in age, experience and background.
Companies narrow down the applicant pool to five people by looking at resumes and conducting interviews. But after that, the format changes.
In the first episode, an assistant manager position at a Palm Restaurant in New York City is up for grabs. In the running are a 26-year-old waiter from Hawaii, a 31-year-old vegan restaurant manager from Brooklyn, a 38-year-old caterer and mom of six from Alabama and an unemployed 32-year-old from Idaho who used to be a restaurant manager.
The first challenge requires the candidates to work in the restaurant for a night, rotating between seating or greeting guests, taking orders and serving food and wine. The person who can't handle the pressure is eliminated. Remaining candidates are then grilled on their restaurant industry knowledge, tested on how well they remember names and given on-stage interviews.
Executive Producer Michael Davies didn't want to give away any upcoming competitions. But every company requires candidates to spend a day on the job. He said spelling is a big focus in the Cosmopolitan episode.
Throughout the season, candidates are also put on the spot for job-seeking no-no's like lying on a resume, writing vague cover letters or badmouthing former employers.
And there's a twist: Other "guest" companies are lurking in the background and can snag candidates by making job offers at any point. The contestants can then either take the offer and leave the competition or remain in the running for the featured company.
"The Job" premiers on Feb. 8 and is hosted by Lisa Ling of "The View."
During the first season, 16 candidates are offered jobs, and a couple more are in discussions with employers. Candidates know the salaries before entering the competition, but money isn't discussed on the show. Employers watching the show at home will be told how to reach out to losing candidates if they want to make job offers.
Davies, who also produces the "Glee Project," hopes his show encourages employers to take a more unconventional approach to hiring.
"Beyond experience and qualifications for a job and the ability to communicate is just character ... that character came through in the obstacles that people overcame in challenges on the show."
- Created on 11 January 2013
Quvenzhané Wallis Becomes Youngest Ever Lead Actress Oscar Nominee
Nine-year-old Quvenzhané Wallis received an Oscar nomination for her leading role in Beasts of the Southern Wild, making her the youngest performer to ever be nominated in the leading actress category, The Grio reports.
Auditioning for the lead role when she was only 5 years old, Quvenzhané was 6 when filming began in 2010 in Pointe-aux-Chenes and Isle de Jean Charles, not too far from her hometown of Houma, Louisiana.
Beasts of the Southern Wild was Quvenzhané's first time acting. In the moving role, she plays a "little girl with a wild imagination struggling to survive in the southern Delta with her ailing father as a storm approaches."
Read more at The Grio.
- Created on 09 January 2013
Beyonce, Kelly Clarkson to Perform at Pres. Obama's Inauguration
(AP) — Beyonce will sing the national anthem at President Barack Obama's inauguration ceremony.
The committee planning the Jan. 21 event also announced Wednesday that Kelly Clarkson will perform "My Country 'Tis of Thee" and James Taylor will sing "America the Beautiful" at the swearing-in ceremony on the Capitol's west front.
Richard Blanco, the son of Cuban exiles, is the 2013 inaugural poet, joining the ranks of Maya Angelou and Robert Frost to have served in that capacity. Blanco's works explore his family's exile from their native country and "the intersection of his cultural identities as a Cuban-American gay man," the inaugural planners announced.
- Created on 10 January 2013
Beyoncé Gets Sexy for GQ February Cover
Yesterday a sneak peak of Beyoncé covering the February issue of GQ magazine was leaked on Instagram, according to The Grio. The photo was soon deleted, but not before countless blogs snapped up and published the image of the star posing in a cut-off shirt, red leopard-print panties and a thick gold chain.
Read the rest of the story and see the picture on The Grio.
- Created on 08 January 2013
Farrakhan: I’m Grateful To ‘Brilliant’ Tyler Perry For Creating ‘Madea’
In a special edition of "Farrakhan Speaks," during which he is asked a wide-range of questions from the staff of the Final Call, Minister Louis Farrakhan calls film-maker and humanitarian, Tyler Perry, one of the most brilliant young entrepreneurs of our time, and says that he is grateful to him for bringing 'Madea' to the forefront of America's consciousness.
NewsOne reports:
"I have never seen his portrayal of 'Madea' as a man cross-dressing. I saw his wonderful portrayal of Madea as bringing to the forefront the strongest person in the history of our sojourn in America, and that is Madea. That strong, Black woman who was the cornerstone of her family. She always was that figure that guidance [of] correction, reprimand, discipline, and Tyler Perry brought her to the screen in funny ways, but what I was seeing was the greatness of the strong, Black woman who saw us through, from yesterday until today."
Minister Farrakhan goes on to compare Perry to Imam W. Deen Muhammad, the son of The Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the revered spiritual leader who helmed the Nation of Islam after his father's death. Imam Muhammad, in addition to his transcendent spiritual leadership, used a fusion of psychology and art to heal the Black community. And Minister Farrakhan views Perry as traveling that same path.
