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Show BUSINESS REPORTER: TARA DUGGAN THE DAILY HERALD (www.HarkTheHerald.com) 344-25- Don't run aground on backgrounds POSITIVE STRUGGLES Associated Press Writer Wf- - J Tim COLUMBIA, S.C. Urton gets some satisfaction out of seeing the Verizon Wireless television pitch- man traveling the Harvey Mackay Two-term- er after he dies that he is a convicted embezzler. A senior manager stretches the length of time on the job in a resume to cover up the fact that a firing shortened that job and the apparent career gap vanished. Within months, Georgia Tech acknowledges inaccuracies on two of their coaches' resumes and gives Ramblin' Wreck a new meaning. What to do? First and foremost: Whenever you look at a resume study the gaps. When was a person on the beach or unemployed and why? Breaks in the school or work record often spell trouble, like a dismissal or personal problems. Many former employers would rather open their mouth for oral surgery than give the real scoop on a former employee. Fear of lawsuits is reason enough. If you do your own reference checking, learn the basics. There is plenty of advice on the Web. Two overviews that seem sensible to me: John C. Patterson's "Reference Checking Do's and Don'ts" d. good-nature- Mobile fleet By PAGE IVEY In April 2000, Bill Clinton starred in his last annual Correspondents Dinner. This event a hearty roast of Prez and lets it all hang press Bill admitout. ted he was "working hard on this resume deal" going out the White House door. Among his Pennsylvania Avenue achievements, he listed serving "three terms as President." To which, President Clinton quickly added, "Everybody embellishes a little." This quip brought the house down at the Washington Hilton. Too bad most resum6 stretching isn't as harmless and Last October, For- tune magazine, for example, reported on one guy he was a doctor, attorney, who was hired and more by a prestigious medical products manufacturer. When they checked him out, the firm failed to learn one thing: the fellow had spent several years in the slammer for attempting to murder his wife. I believe you can never be too careful, especially when you hire employees or managers. The heart of any organibusiness or Boy zation Scouts comes down to one thing in the end: hiring the right people. Time and again, companies don't. Not because they don't want to, but because they don't check before they turn on the employment switch. The price companies and other organizations pay for these gaffes can be awe- back-road- SUNDAY, tests cellphone quality more than 123 million and plunging prices, wireless service in the United States can be surprisingly mediocre when compared, for example, to the European variety. According to a J.D, Power and Associates customer survey, the cost per minute for wireless service in the United States has dropped from 56 cents in 1995 to 14 cents last year. In the survey's latest results from lasj year, more than half the households in the 25 largest US. markets had wireless phone service. Wireless companies are seeing their income per customer drop and the cost of and computers. Every 170 seconds, the phones dial out or receive a call to test the clarity and reliability of the company's service. The process is expensive and but success in the crowded wireless market hinges on the fewest dropped calls and dead spots in the broadest service areas. "We know we have holes in our system," Urton said. "We know our competitors have holes in their systems. Our job is to get out there and fill the holes." Despite a growing number of mobile-phon- e users per-minu- te time-consumin- g, s and repeatedly asking folks back at the office, "Can you hear me now?" After all, he said, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Urton is one of about 60 drivers who cruise Verizon's service area from Texas to New England in high-tec- h station wagons outfitted with banks of cellphones MAY 14, 200J i ttiraniKDGGK IT i "I : if ill getting and keeping new customers increase, according to J.D. Power and Associates. It put the cost of acquiring each new customer between $350 and $475. Verizon isn't the only company looking for holes. Cingular Wireless based in Atlanta does some of its own testing. "It's part scientific and part burning a lot of tire rubber," spokesman Clay Owen said. Cingular also uses third-parttester Telephia, a wireless market analysis firm that says it observes 1 billion wireless y See WIRELESS, BIO (mux!) sbxds !i: it (httpwww.eriskcen-ter.orgdocsdosdonts.cf- and Lois Vander Waerdt's "Reference Checking: An Employer's Right & Respon- rLUuL:., sibility" some. A reigning technology giant hires a top recruitment exec, but learns only i See MACKAY, BIO Found Your New Home? We'll Buy Your Old One! Si B9 - I Some restrictions apply. Call for details. BILL BROWN REALTY, INC. 489-52- 93 Looking for the Internet? inrvn n mm i i Lixll i o mum mimm PlfliMii i i!nr;;i!ii! ill! ,V 1IJ1I V. 11 1- Mil RIME mm -3 unit w lUCL CTT MEMA SPOKSOA: E DAILY HERALD JUUUJU Mli XA BETTER FORM f 1 , - : , 1:!3, V.TS.M "i s:;r-- s tr::::S!8. C!:k?. l L:a Cc:,Lr. a. V. 'Hl-iM-- : : t : ii OF TRANSMISSION Interest Iks p:cv: ".n, r 1 : 3 v-'- s. t- -t na c:a :i Vr.: ill T3. 1" 5 t: 3 1: fr:;:: I'Jl LA d i ;i : v -- .t i;;liir, r. !!' ill:M.r sex ,LA'X UlMj iii'il ill!,! '!. 11 y x , X-t. f 3Utniiitfnti0t 33 : i.677::::.i::ig: 9 M M 1 8, xmiss!qm INTERNET i |