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Show TheSaltLake Tribune BUSINE S S MMOTLEY FOOL E-2 MCHET CURRIER, E-3 MIHUMBERTO CRUZ E-5 E SUNDAY I DAVID ANDERSON, E-6 OCTOBER28, 2001 Compiled by Lisa Carricaburu Job Seekers Should Play Up Their ‘Soft Skills’ Are youselling what they wantto buy? The biggest mistake job seekers makeis not knowing whatthey are really selling. Theywill fill a résumé with list ofjobs held and goals met andcertifications earned,but leave out whatis really importantto a prospective employer: Thepassion for the job and the “soft” skills needed to doit well. That is what Smooch Reynolds says shehas learned in heryears as. an executive recruiter. Reynolds’ first namereally is Smooch (she says her fun-lovingfathergotto the birth certificate first) and she shares these Al Hartmann/TheSalt Lake Tribune tips in a new bookcalled Be Hunted! Robert Kalista pets his cat Angel as hisdriving partner Sue Malonelooks oninsidetheir truck parked atthe Travel Centerof America truck stop during a driving break. They are co-owners of Furball Express Trucking. They make a runfrom California to Utah three times a week andare regulars at the stop.“It’s like we've been adopted here” said Malone. Angel has been their traveling companionfor 61 years. 12 Secrets to Getting onthe Headhunt- er’s RadarScreen (John Wiley & Sons;$16.95). “Intangible qualities are more important than technical competence in any job,” Reynolds said. “Do you Truck Stops Expand Offerings make smart judgmentcalls? Do you takerisks, liketelling your boss not what she wants to hear, but what she needs to hear?” — The Chicago Tribune Q Plaza operators entice the traveling public with fast food, showers, dentists, chapels Striking a balance between motivating workers to focus on their jobs following the Sept. 11 attacks and during the recent anthrax scare ‘without appearing insensitive can be difficult for somebosses. Butit isn’t _ impossible, according to managetmenttrainer Ross Reck. Reck,authorof The X-Factor: Getting Extraordinary Results From Ordinary People, suggests that managers sit down with employeesfor oneon-onetalks.It is also important to BY STEVEN OBERBECK microphones, lug-nut covers and THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE branded gasoline. Hungry travel- ers now are more likely to be greeted by a teen-ager standing behind the counterofa fast-food outlet than an apron-clad cooksling- The nation’s truck stops, once viewed primarily as dingy oases for big-rig-driving rogues of the road,are polishing their images to attract a new clientele — the mo- ing hash in a greasy spoon. “It is just good old-fashioned entrepreneurship,” said Lisa toring public. Truck-stop operators are ‘followingthe taillights of Utah’s Flying J Inc., which in 1987 launched its travel-plaza concept offering newservices and amenities to attract vacationing families and business travelers anxious to take a break from driving. Insteadofselling diesel fuel exclusively, truck stops these days market items ranging from Tshirts and disposable diapers to CB avoid communicating through e- mail and voice mail, he said. Reviewing the company’s emergency procedures with subordinates can help minimizedistractions, he said. Managers also can restore enthusiasm among employees by asking them to answerquestions such as, “Howare we going to show theseter- Mullings of NATSO, a trade organization previously known as the National Association ofTruck Stop Operators. “A lot of our members are trying to redefine themselves.” While reachingout to new customers is a good idea, the changes occurring at the nation’s truck stops are as muchthe result of necessity as invention, said Michael rorists that they did not change the way we do business?” — TheAssociated Press Q The Competition As the job market grows more turbulent, an increasing numberof people‘are rebelling against noncompete agreements thatoften restrict their future employmentopportunities. Carl Khalil, who operates a Web Site that advises howto legally break noncompete agreements, has seen traffic increase to approximately 7,000 hits a month this year from about4,000 a month last year. “It’s primarily dueto the waves oflayoffs that have been hitting the country,” says Khalil, also an in-house attora for a tax-preparation company in lirginia Beach, Va., that he declines toname. Noncompete agreements typically restrict an individual from subsequently working for a company’s competitors or within a geographic regionfor a set period. Because they often block a person from contacting old clients,the accords can makeit difficult to continue a career in client-services businessés such as . Management consulting, fe — The Wall Street Journal Fig tational vechicle facilities See TRUCK STOPS,Page E-6 Used-Car Sales Parked Automakers’ no-interestfinancing offers have stimulated new-car sales butalso havecreated a glut of used cars. That makes dealers worry aboutbloated inventory and consumers fume overhowlittle cash they are getting for trade-ins. Jerry Reynolds, ownerof Prestige Ford in. Garland, Texas,says his used-car inventory has swollen to 600 vehicles instead of the usual 250 on the lot this timeof year. Andtaking the used cars to wholesale auctions hasn't helped: “I took 60. cars to auction and had to bring them all back because I couldn't get any moneyfor them.” Bottom line: Reynolds says Septemberwas thefirst month ever that hehas sold fewer than 200 used cars. It is also the first month hehas sold more than 800 new cars, thanks to no-interest financing. — USA Today 398 2993283 Back to Work parce: NATSO Iran-Contra Figure May Have HadRole In Securities Debacle Wearing biohazard suits, Greenpeace BY DAVID EVANS activists Susanna BLOOMBERG NEWS Biknovr, teft, holds a giant syringe andis joined by Cathleen Sullivan in a protest against transgenic rice at a farm near Live Oak, Calif. Bob Galbraith/The Associated Press Farmers Cultivating Crop of Hope Plants spliced with human genes may producediseasefighters BY PAUL Ina greenhouse tucked awayin Indianapolis flourishes ¢orn being engineered to provide the active ingrpdients in gels that fight herpes and kill sperm. On 27 atrbe of Kentucky farmland growstobacco that someday may actually help fight cancer, Andin the tiny Northern California farming town of Live Oak, rice laced with diseasefighting antibiotics usually found in mother’s milk sprouts on a 10-acre paddy. It is called molecular farming, andit is blossoming at’ biotechnology start-ups across the country. The idea is to implant human genes into crops to grow disease-fighting proteins, which can then be extracted and turned into profitable drugs and therapies. Some companies trick crops into accepting ¥ 23% Mike Miller/The Salt Lake Tribune human genes spliced into the plants’ DNA, Seeking to produce a contraceptive, Epicyte PharmaceuticalsInc.is splicing into corn a genetic defect found in some womenwith the aim of making theplant generatea protein thatkills sperm. Another company, Large Scale Biology Corp., spraysplantviruses injected with human genes onto tobaccoplants; the resulting infections produce cancer-fighting human antibodies. Molecular farming offers an elementary yet revolutionary proposition; It seeks to “grow” human therapies in the fields and crack the antibody drug market, which had $2 billion in sales last year and is expected to grow to $8 billion by 2004. Some biotech companies have been able to grow antibodies — disease-fighting proteins that protect the body — in labs and turn them into drugs, Proponents say molecular farming could significantly cut the costs of developing such substances, Ten genetically engineered antibody drugs are on the market today, all developed using See TRANSGENIC,Page E-3 ee LOS ANGELES — A companyheaded by Saudifinancier Adnan Khashoggi mayhave reaped as much as $125 million by borrowingagainst a stake in a moneylosing telemarketer andfailing to make good when the stock collapsed. Khashoggi’s Bermuda-based Ultimate Holdings Ltd. controlled 75 percent of GenesisIntermedia Inc.’s stock when a person,still unidentified, used 7.2 million sharesas collateral in a chain of loans that reached an estimated $125 million. Ultimate Holdings alone controlled a blockthatlarge, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. “Tt appears that Khashoggi is the only person who could have. borrowed money secured by 7.2 million shares,” said Frank Partnoy, professor of securities law at the University of San Diego Law School,after reviewing thefilings at the request of Bloomberg News. Khashoggi, 66, is best known as an armsbrokerin the Iran-Contra scandal of the mid-1980s, when he served as middleman for illegal sales of weapons to Iran. He is wanted by police in Thailand on suspicion of loan fraud in connection with the failure of the Bangkok Bank of Commerce in May 1996, according to the Economic CrimeDivisionofthat nation’s police. GenesisIntermedia said on Oct. 8 that the SEC and the National Association of Securities Dealers were investigating transactions involving Ultimate Holdings, GenesisIntermedia chiefexecutive officer Ramy E}-Batrawi and Native Nations Securities Inc., a New Jersey brokerage that accepted the 7.2 million shares as collateral. E1-Batrawiresigned as CEO the sameday. Trading in GenesisIntermedia shares was halted after they plunged 65 percentlast month. The wreckage caused thefailure ofMJK Clearing Inc, ofMinneapolis, saddled the Securities Investor Protection Corp.with a $42 million payout and exposed ninefirms, including ETrade GroupInc.of MenloPark, Calif, Ferris, Baker See KHASHOGGI, Page E-4 “ + - %.” |
