Career Forecast: Where the Jobs Are By: Judy Rickard The career scene keeps changing. Organizations get flatter and learner. Individuals are asked to do more with less. Your best way to stay employed is by morphing yourself into a new or improved career. But where are careers going by the year 2005? Exciting new options are on the horizon for the rest of this decade and into the first years of the next century. U.S. department of labor studies, industry analyses and resource guides show these career outlooks for employment growth potential: Computers / Internet To be successful in tomorrow’s workforce, you cannot rely on yesterday’s skills. The information explosion has created new ways to work, new languages and new careers, among them electronic mail technician, information broker, information center manager, software club director, web design artist and Internet providers’ customer service personnel. Construction U.S. department of Labor statistics show an expected 1 million new jobs by 2005. Replacing infrastructure- bridges and freeways – is the key reason. Other prompts to expansion include environmental legislation, which will drive repair and renovation work and opportunities created by the global economy. Human Resource Administration and Training The HR field presents challenges in expanding areas as today’s professionals are asked to fulfill a wide range of responsibilities, including working with unions, enforcing personnel regulations, supervising training, managing diversity and family care programs, international training needs and employee interaction programs. One government growth scenario shows 32 percent growth by 2005. Marketing Communications More career opportunities are appearing in non-manufacturing areas, such as hospitals, professional firms financial institutions, nonprofit agencies, public sector organizations, retail operations and other service businesses. National labor forecasts show higher than average intense domestic and foreign competition. Nonprofit Management Work is primarily in the arts, education, social services, health care and religion. Managers, who work in partnership with volunteer boards to fulfill their missions, must improve effectiveness in strategic planning, fundraising public relations/ marketing and board development to meet current challenges and future goals. Professional and Technical Communication The demand for trained technical writers remains high as the need for well-written computer documentation increases. Senior technical communicators may supervise other writers and eventually run their own departments. A recent issue of Money magazine listed technical writing in the top half of the 50 most promising jobs in America. Meeting Planning More than $322 billion is spent each years on meetings in the United States, making meeting planning one of the top industries in the country. Professional meeting planners work in small companies or corporations, at visitor and convention bureaus, with professional associations or as self-employed consultants. Selling Sales professionals play key roles as markets become more competitive, average sales costs are up, and the need for detailed, current product or service information rises. Intensifying domestic and foreign competition should result in faster than average job growth. sales in other occupations, as they achieve corporate or personal goals. Program and Project Management While many are project managers by accident, the new project manager is professionally trained and in charge of cross-functional projects, business-unit joint ventures, strategic alliances and partnership including various disciplines. Companies have a critical need as product development cycles decrease, regulatory requirements increase and industry and government standards proliferate. Purchasing Management Purchasing is one of the occupations slated for 22 percent growth by the year 2000. Purchasing professionals have increasing responsibilities and roles to impact the bottom line. Increasing global sources, team decision-marking, single-source suppliers, increasing need for customer satisfaction, shorter cycle times and greater emphasis on supply chain management impact employment needs and skills. Supervision and Management The long-term employment outlook for supervisors and managers with the right mix of technical and people skills is bright, with a Bureau of Labor statistics prediction of up to 50 percent job growth by 2005. New jobs for general managers and top executives are due to increasingly complex business operations and large employment gains in trade and service industries. Tourism More than 82,000 jobs will be created by 2005, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Travel industry jobs, specifically travel agents, are among the top 50 fastest growing jobs in the decade. Rising incomes, higher levels of education and an aging population, as well as growing international business travel, contribute to the industry’s strong outlook. To find out more about career trends and outlooks, contact your public library, the Employment Development Department, or try Popular titles at the bookstore such as Jobs ’95 by Kathryn and Ross Petras, Simon & Schuster, 1994; The Adams Job Almanac, Editors of Adams Publishing, Adams Media Corporation, 1995; 100 Best Careers for the Year 2000, by Shelly Field, an Arco book, 1992; America’s 50 Fastest Growing Jobs, compiled by Michael Farr and edited by Kathleen Martin, Published by JIST Works, inc. 1991. Skills training in the these and other areas is available from San Jose State University Professional Development Center. Call 408 985-SJSU or 408 985 2640 for a free Fall 1995 Take Charge! schedule of Classes. Judy Rickard is the Marketing Director at the San Jose State University of Continuing Education.

Tomorrow’s Jobs: A Look to the Future by Paul Williams Making informed career decisions requires reliable information about opportunities that should be available in the future. This article presents highlights of Bureau of Labor Statistics projections of industry and occupational employment and the labor force, that can help guide your career plans. A slowdown in employment growth is expected. ? Over the 1994-2005 period, employment is projected to increase by 17.7 million or 14 percent. This is slower than the 24 percent increase attained during the 11-year period, 1983-94, when the economy added 24.6 million jobs. ? Wage and salary worker employment will account for 95 percent of this increase. In addition, the number of self-employed workers is expected to increase by 950,000, to 11.6 million in 2005, while the number of unpaid family workers will decline. Service-producing industries will account for most new jobs. ? Employment growth is projected to be highly concentrated by industry. The services and retail trade industries will account for 16.2 million out of a total projected growth of 16.8 million wage and salary jobs. ? Business, health, and education services will account for 70 percent of the growth,9.2 million out of 13.6 million jobs,within services. ? Health care services will account for almost one-fifth of all job growth from 1994-2005. Factors contributing to continued growth in this industry include the aging population, which will continue to require more services, and the increased use of innovative medical technology for intensive diagnosis and treatment. Patients will increasingly be shifted out of hospitals and into outpatient facilities, nursing homes, and home health care in an attempt to contain costs. ? The personnel supply services industry, which provides temporary help to employers in other industries, is projected to add 1.3 million jobs from 1994 to 2005. Temporary workers tend to have low wages, low job stability, and poor job benefits. The goods-producing sector will decline. ? The goods-producing sector faces declining employment in two of its four industries,manufacturing and mining. Employment in the other two industries,construction, and agriculture, forestry, and fishing,is expected to increase. ? Employment in manufacturing is expected to continue to decline, losing 1.3 million jobs over the 1994-2005 period. Operators, fabricators, and laborers, and precision production, craft, and repair occupations are expected to account for more than 1 million of these lost jobs. Systems analysts and other computer-related occupations in manufacturing are expected to increase. Job opportunities can arise in two ways,job growth and replacement needs. ? Job growth can be measured by percent change and numerical change. The fastest growing occupations do not necessarily provide the largest number of jobs. Even though an occupation is expected to grow rapidly, it may provide fewer openings than a slower growing, larger occupation. ? Opportunities in large occupations are enhanced by the additional job openings resulting from the need to replace workers who leave the occupation. Some workers leave the occupation as they are promoted or change careers; others stop working to return to school, assume household responsibilities, or retire. ? Replacement needs are greater in occupations with low pay and status, low training requirements, and a high proportion of young and part-time workers. ? Replacement needs will account for 29.4 million job openings from 1994 to 2005, far more than the 17.7 million openings projected to arise from employment growth. Employment change will vary widely by broad occupational group. ? Employment in professional specialty occupations is projected to increase at a faster rate than any other major occupational group. ? Among the major occupational groups, employment in professional specialty occupations is also projected to account for the most job growth from 1994-2005. ? Professional specialty occupations,which require high educational attainment and offer high earnings,and service occupations,which require lower educational attainment and offer lower earnings,are expected to account for more than half of all job growth between 1994 and 2005. ? Agriculture, forestry, fishing, and related occupations is the only major occupational group projected to decline. All job openings in this group will stem from replacement needs. ? Office automation is expected to have a significant effect on many individual administrative and clerical support occupations. ? Precision production, craft, and repair occupations and operators, fabricators, and laborers are projected to grow much more slowly than average due to continuing advances in technology, changes in production methods, and the overall decline in manufacturing employment. Twenty occupations will account for half of all job growth over the 1994-2005 period. ? The 20 occupations accounting for half of all job growth over the 1994-2005 period tend to be large in size rather than fast growing. Three health occupations are in the top 10, and 3 education-related occupations are in the second 10. The fastest growing occupations reflect growth in computer technology and health services. ? Many of the fastest growing occupations are concentrated in health services, which is expected to increase more than twice as fast as the economy as a whole. Personal and home care aides, and home health aides, are expected to be in great demand to provide personal and physical care for an increasing number of elderly people and for persons who are recovering from surgery and other serious health conditions. This is occurring as hospitals and insurance companies mandate shorter stays for recovery to contain costs. ? Employment of computer engineers and systems analysts is expected to grow rapidly to satisfy expanding needs for scientific research and applications of computer technology in business and industry (see chart 6). Declining occupational employment stems from declining industry employment and technological change. ? Farmers, garment sewing machine operators, and private household cleaners and servants are examples of occupations that will lose employment because of declining industry employment. ? Many declining occupations are affected by structural changes, resulting from technological advances, organizational changes, and other factors that affect the employment of workers. For example, the use of typists and word processors is expected to decline substantially because of productivity improvements resulting from office automation, and the increased use of word processing equipment by professional and managerial employees. Education and training affect job opportunities. ? Workers in jobs with low education and training requirements tend to have greater occupational mobility. Consequently, these jobs will provide a larger than proportional share of all job openings stemming from replacement needs. ? Jobs requiring the most education and training will grow faster than jobs with lower education and training requirements. Jobs requiring the most education and training will be the fastest growing and highest paying. ? Occupations which require a bachelor’s degree or above will average 23 percent growth, almost double the 12-percent growth projected for occupations that require less education and training. ? Occupations that pay above average wages are projected to grow faster than occupations with below average wages. Jobs with above average wages are expected to account for 60 percent of employment growth over the 1994-2005 period. Jobs with higher earnings often require higher levels of education and training. ? Education is important in getting a high paying job. However, many occupations,for example, registered nurses, blue-collar worker supervisors, electrical and electronic technicians/technologists, carpenters, and police and detectives,do not require a college degree, yet offer higher than average earnings. ? Groups in the labor force with lower than average educational attainment in 1994, including Hispanics and blacks, will continue to have difficulty obtaining a share of the high paying jobs that is consistent with their share of the labor force, unless their educational attainment rises. Although high paying jobs will be available without college training, most jobs that pay above average wages will require a college degree. ? Educational services are projected to increase by 2.2 million jobs and account for 1 out of every 8 jobs that will be added to the economy between 1994 and 2005. Most jobs will be for teachers, who are projected to account for about 20 percent of all jobs available for college graduates. ? Projected employment growth of the occupations whose earnings rank in the top quartile in the Nation was highly concentrated. Eight of the 146 occupations will account for about half of the new jobs: Registered nurses, systems analysts, blue-collar worker supervisors, general managers and top executives, and four teaching occupations,elementary school teachers, secondary school teachers, college faculty, and special education teachers. Jobs requiring the least education and training will provide the most openings, but offer the lowest pay. ? The distribution of jobs by education and training, and earnings, will change little over the 1994-2005 period, with jobs requiring the least amount of education and training, and generally offering low pay, continuing to account for about 4 of every 10 jobs. ? Jobs which require moderate-length and short-term training and experience (the two categories requiring the least amount of education and training) will provide over half of total job openings over the 1994-2005 period. The labor force will continue to grow faster than the population. ? Spurred by the growing proportion of women who work, the labor force will grow slightly faster than the population over the 1994-2005 period. Women will continue to comprise an increasing share of the labor force. ? Women, as a result of a faster rate of growth than men, are projected to represent a slightly greater portion of the labor force in 2005 than in 1994,increasing from 46 to 48 percent. ? The number of men in the labor force is projected to grow, but at a slower rate than in the past, in part reflecting declining employment in good-paying production jobs in manufacturing, and a continued shift in demand for workers from the goods-producing sector to the service-producing sector. Men with less education and training may find it increasingly difficult to obtain jobs consistent with their experience. Paul Williams is supplements editor for the San Fernando Valley Business Journal. Statistical data provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

WADE DANIELS Staff Reporter They haven’t made a film for more than 30 years; in fact, they’re all dead. But comedy giants the Three Stooges are making more money than ever, according to the Glendale-based company that owns the threesome’s licensing rights. Comedy III Entertainment Inc., which is owned by descendants of the Stooges, is raking in five to 10 times the amount of licensing-fee revenue it did in 1995, when the company was formed to manage Stooge business, said Earl Benjamin, vice president of business and legal affairs. “The Stooges are popular nationally and internationally, and there’s a lot of growth going on,” said Benjamin, the stepson of Stooge “Curly” Joe DeRita. Images of Moe, Larry and Curly can be found on hundreds of items ranging from clothing to golf club covers to Stooge slot machines that are slated to go on sale beginning next year. Three Stooges beer hits the shelves on the East Coast this month and will roll out nationwide in the fall, and Interscope Pictures is developing a new movie that would have actors portraying the Stooges. There are so many Stooges goods on the market that Comedy III last year opened a store in the Glendale Galleria, called Knuckleheads, to sell them. Benjamin said the company intends to establish a chain of Knuckleheads, and business people from such far-flung places as Buenos Aires and Hong Kong have expressed interest in setting up franchises. “The Stooges have been shown for a long time in many countries and they have a lot of fans overseas,” Benjamin said. He said Comedy III mainly promotes Stooge licensing by attending trade shows and by pitching various companies on Stooge-related merchandising ideas. Also, as part of its effort to promote the licensing of the threesome, the company will hold the first Three Stooges West Coast Convention on Aug. 21-23 at the Burbank Airport Hilton and Convention Center. The event will feature Stooge tributes, film screenings and appearances by supporting actors from their films (DeRita, the last living Stooge, died in 1993). First formed as a vaudeville act in 1923, the Three Stooges are best known for their 200 short films, which are shown daily on cable television. The popularity of the Stooges is a boon for licensees such as Monson, Mass.-based Rainbow Connection, which makes clothing accessories like neckties, suspenders and hats that bear the likeness of Moe, Curly and Larry. “The Three Stooges outsell by far the other things we license such as Looney Toons and the Beatles,” said Mark Schwartz, the company’s president. “I find that people from every generation, down to 12-year-olds, know in a hundreth of a second who the Three Stooges are.” Benjamin declined to discuss revenue figures for Stooges merchandising. He did say Stooge merchandising couldn’t have taken off if the licensing rights for the comedy team hadn’t been brought under one roof in 1995. A firm called Comedy III Productions Inc. was first formed in 1959 by Moe Howard, Larry Fine and DeRita, Benjamin said. However, the deaths of Fine and Howard in 1975 and subsequent disagreement among heirs about royalty shares made it difficult for companies to obtain rights to use the images. “After the deaths, (the heirs) went off in different directions,” Benjamin said. “Licensees used to have to approach each heir for permission. It was complicated and sometimes they would just give up.” A 1995 court decision determined that descendants of Howard, Fine and DeRita owned equal shares of the Stooge legacy, and the management of the threesome’s business and licensing affairs was consolidated under the new entity called Comedy III Entertainment Inc. Comedy III is headed by DeRita’s widow, Jean, and his stepsons Earl and Robert Benjamin. Also, the company’s head of corporate/property acquisition is Bela Lugosi Jr.; Comedy III also owns the licensing rights for Bela Lugosi Sr. and his Dracula image.

JESSICA TOLEDANO Staff Reporter Health care-industry officials say Catholic Healthcare West is close to completing a deal to acquire Burbank-based UniHealth, a move that would make CHW the second-largest hospital operator in Los Angeles County. The non-profit UniHealth owns six hospitals in the county, including Northridge Hospital Medical Center, California Hospital Medical Center and Glendale Memorial Hospital, as well as the Pasadena-based Huntington Provider Group, a large physicians’ group that contracts with managed care companies. CHW, a non-profit based in San Francisco, owns four hospitals in the county, including St. Vincent Medical Center near MacArthur Park and St. Mary Medical Center in Long Beach. Officials with both CHW and UniHealth confirmed the talks but would not comment on their status. But local industry officials and consultants said the deal could go through as early as this month. “It is imminent,” said Andrew Leeka, president and chief executive of Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles. “It puts Catholic Healthcare West in a much better position.” John Edelston, president of the health care consulting firm HealthPro Associates Inc. in Woodland Hills, also said a deal should be announced in a matter of weeks. Elaine Murphy, a public relations specialist for UniHealth, would not discuss the reasons behind the merger, though the chain’s financial troubles have been well documented. Five of UniHealth’s six local hospitals posted a collective loss of $11.2 million last year, according to the Office of Statewide Healthcare Planning and Development. The sixth, California Hospital, posted a profit of just $28,717. By acquiring UniHealth, CHW hopes to improve the bottom line, said spokeswoman Debbie Cantu. As a large hospital chain 37 facilities in California, Arizona and Nevada CHW is in a better position to cut deals with everyone from medical supply companies to managed care groups, she said. “Catholic Healthcare West has done this a number of times with a number of hospitals,” she said. “Every situation has its risks. I believe the leadership at Catholic Healthcare West has an extraordinary ability to assess those risks.” But analysts say some of the obstacles will be hard to overcome, especially the need for large amounts of capital to turn around ailing hospitals. “Catholic Healthcare West may have the financial wherewithal and the technical capabilities to put the UniHealth network back into shape, but it will be a significant challenge,” said Albert Lowey-Ball, president of Albert Lowey-Ball Associates Inc., a health care consulting company and former advisor to UniHealth. “The question is, are they willing to invest? A lot of money needs to go into it.” Santa Barbara-based Tenet Healthcare Corp. is the largest hospital chain in L.A. County, with 18 hospitals, including Brotman Medical Center in Culver City and Queen of Angels-Hollywood Presbyterian. Over the last two years, UniHealth has sold about one-third of its hospitals, and last year sold its CareAmerica health maintenance organization to Blue Shield of California for $195 million. It also sold its majority interest in PacifiCare Health Systems in Orange County.

JUDY SHAY Contributing Reporter Robert J. Goodman had a solid job as vice president of a Los Angeles-based moving company in 1985 when he decided to pack it up and venture out on his own, selling cardboard boxes of all things. “I had just had a baby four months before and had bought a house six months before,” Goodman said. “But I decided to take my $3,000 savings and see what I could do on my own. People told me I was crazy. Everyone thought I would fail.” Today, Goodman is the founder and chief executive of Woodland Hills-based Box Brothers Corp., a company that provides cardboard boxes to people on the move and specializes in packing and shipping everything from artwork to car parts. The company, which grew from 16 employees in 1993 to 40 employees today, generated $2.4 million in revenues last year and is on track to bring in $3.5 million this year. Last year, there were eight company-owned Box Brothers stores and nine licensee stores, which are owned by former Box Brothers employees who pay Goodman a fee each month for using the name. This year, three more company stores and one more licensee store have been added. The first two out-of-state stores have opened in Las Vegas. “Our plan is to open two stores a month in 1999,” Goodman said. “I’d like to bring (annual revenues) to $10 million and become a mid-sized company.” Box Brothers President Mark S. Frydman said Goodman saw an unmet need a company that supplies boxes at convenient locations and ships smaller items and stepped in to fill the gap. “It’s not an accident that (Goodman’s) vision and hard work have resulted in such a great company,” said Frydman, who joined Box Brothers four years ago. “We’ve been successful because we’ve always put our customers first. We work the old-fashioned way to satisfy our customers any way we can.” Box Brothers carries more than 200 different sizes of boxes, and clerks help customers calculate how many boxes it will take to handle their move. Goodman said the number of companies selling boxes has skyrocketed in recent years, with Box Brothers competing against the likes of U-Haul and the major home improvement stores. The key to Box Brothers’ success has been to locate its stores in upscale retail areas, where the company caters to a mostly female clientele who stop in to pick up a few boxes during their regular shopping rounds. Goodman also hires secret shoppers to go into his stores to sample the customer service, and he offers bonuses and other incentive programs when stores meet their monthly revenue goals. Most of the company’s business comes from walk-in traffic. Box Brothers has company stores in Woodland Hills, Sherman Oaks, Santa Monica, Brentwood, Redondo Beach, Lomita, Burbank, El Segundo and Las Vegas, and is opening one this month in Westlake Village. The company also operates a warehouse where it specializes in packaging and shipping items that are too big for most people to ship on their own and too small for a moving company to handle. Items that weigh less than 1,500 pounds are accepted. Little Folk Art, a Santa Monica-based furniture maker, has used Box Brothers to pack and ship its custom-made orders for the past seven years. Mitchell Salzman, vice president of Little Folk Art, said he uses Box Brothers because its prices are fair and the service is good. “We’ve tried using UPS, but there are always problems. You’re pretty much just a number,” he said. “With Box Brothers, they handle us in a more custom way, which relates to our business and to our customers.” In July, Box Brothers was at the home of singer Dionne Warwick, packing items for her. It also packaged a Dr. Seuss book that had been given to the late George Burns by the author, and shipped the book to the Smithsonian, Frydman said. Box Brothers also packaged and sent attorney F. Lee Bailey’s desk from Los Angeles back to Florida after the infamous O.J. Simpson trial. People have hired the company to package and ship automobile fenders and even a roller rink, which weighed 8,000 pounds, an exception to the company’s usual 1,500-pound limit. “We’ve packaged and shipped just about anything you can think of,” Goodman said. “Nothing is bizarre any more.” Randy Williams of Compton-based CDS Moving Equipment Inc., which supplies boxing materials to Box Brothers and other such companies, said Box Brothers is among his fastest-growing customers. “The increase in business has been phenomenal,” Williams said. “Every month, the orders keep increasing, and it’s not the busy season yet.” Looking back, Goodman said that even though people thought he was crazy to start selling cardboard boxes, he always knew he’d succeed. “I took a risk, but it was a calculated risk,” he said. “I knew I could fulfill an unmet need out there.”

WADE DANIELS Staff Reporter The Lingerie Oasis opened its doors in North Hollywood last year after receiving a permit from the city of Los Angeles to operate as a retail lingerie store with live models. The funny thing was, according to city officials, it never sold any lingerie. Instead, models at the Victory Boulevard store gave private showings to male clients for a fee. Concerned about the neighborhood’s image and the encroachment of adult entertainment businesses, local business people recently joined forces with the LAPD’s North Hollywood vice unit to close the Lingerie Oasis. The merchants mounted a petition drive to put pressure on city officials. During a July 14 hearing, the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals agreed with merchants and police that the business was little more than a “sexual encounter” club operating under the guise of a lingerie shop. “We wanted to squelch this type of business before it got a hold on the area,” said Peter Greene, vice president for development at A & E; Development Co. Inc., which bought an office building in February near the Lingerie Oasis and led the drive to close the shop. “There’s a church and a school nearby, and customers were starting to veer away from businesses close to the club.” At the July hearing, a North Hollywood vice officer testified that his unit discovered that sex acts were taking place at the club. The board determined that the Lingerie Oasis was in violation of its permit and began the process of closing it down, which should be completed this month, said Dave Kuntzman, a city planner and staff member at the Board of Zoning Appeals. The only way the owner could stay open would be to successfully challenge the decision in court, Kuntzman said. Oasis owner Ivette Gonzaga declined comment. Her attorney, Colin Holley of Weston, Garrou & DeWitt, would say only that his client has not yet decided whether to file a lawsuit. Merchants say sexually oriented businesses are a big problem in the area, with 15 such businesses in North Hollywood alone. While many merchants wish to expel adult entertainment businesses, it is usually impossible to do so because most are legitimate establishments, said Ken Banks, director of the North Hollywood Community Forum, a non-profit economic development organization. He said the best way to fight the neighborhood blight connected with adult entertainment businesses is to closely watch their activity and point out to authorities when the boundaries of an operating permit are being overstepped. “If we could close all these businesses it would be nice,” Banks said. “That is very difficult to do unless they do something not in compliance with their operating license.” According to Lt. Don Hooper of the LAPD’s Valley bureau, the past year has seen a rise in the number of reports of adult entertainment businesses like strip bars offering their customers more than just a dance show. “Many of these places have been adding little booths where (private) dancing supposedly goes on,” said Hooper, who explained that police have been receiving the complaints from business people and sometimes even the clients of the adult establishments.

SHELLY GARCIA Staff Reporter General Motors Corp. is close to signing a lease to set up an auto superstore in Burbank, just as the city learned that Ford has killed its plans to build a superstore there. The site GM is considering is in the 103-acre development planned by Vestar Development Co., according to Bud Ovrom, Burbank city manager. The Vestar project will include a retail marketplace, one or more automotive dealerships and an office complex. Meanwhile, a move by Ford Motor Co. along with Galpin Ford owner Bert Boeckmann to set up an automotive superstore on an eight-acre site next to the Golden State (5) Freeway was scuttled earlier this month when Ford scrapped plans to set up a superstore network in the Valley. “Boeckmann and Ford couldn’t reach an agreement on the operating issues of how this network would work,” said Ovrom. Vestar officials declined to comment on the automotive portion of its development, saying the company is bound by confidentiality agreements. The developer is planning to apportion 14 to 19 acres for automotive use, Burbank city officials said. But that plan could change by the time the project is finally approved by the Burbank City Council. The size of the automotive segment may depend on discussions currently underway between the city and Kilroy Industries, which was selected by Vestar to develop an office park adjacent to the retail center at Buena Vista Street and Empire Avenue. Kilroy’s contract with Vestar specifies the company will develop 1 million square feet of office space, but in its negotiations with the city, Kilroy has said that it may have to scale back that amount considerably, according to Burbank officials. Kilroy officials did not return calls. Burbank is seeking a higher-density office development to rebuild the employment and property-tax base lost when Lockheed left the city. “We are very driven by creating jobs,” Ovrom said. “If you’re only going to put 600,000 to 800,000 square feet in there, there’s no way we’re going to justify zoning for that,” Ovrom said. Rather than entitle an office park with less square footage, which would not accommodate as many companies and employees, Ovrom said, the city would consider increasing the automotive entitlements as a way to achieve its employment and tax revenue goals. “What we could do is increase the component going for automotive use and make the business park smaller by 15 acres,” Ovrom said. “It’s a question of how much bang we get for the buck.” Burbank officials said Vestar is also negotiating with CarMax and AutoNation for space in the development. Burbank officials expect to complete within the next few weeks an environmental impact report that details a number of different uses for the space. The city is also investigating the market potential of various options, and expects to present a “defined project” shortly, said Robert Tague, community development director for the city. Wooing Hollywood to Valencia Lincoln Property Co. is putting the finishing touches on its renovation of 430,000 square feet of office space on 150 acres that was formerly occupied by Lockheed Martin Corp.’s research and development operations. The park, one of two components of Lincoln’s Rye Canyon Business Park, also features an executive golf course. It is slated to be available for tenants in October. In the interim, Lincoln has begun promoting the property as a site for location film shoots. The developer has hired a full-time employee to manage the location business. Bill Schubin, Lincoln’s acquisitions partner, said it has already attracted a “fair amount of interest” from television, movie, music video and commercial production crews. Besides the backdrops with mountains and extensive landscaping on the so-called “north campus” office park property, Schubin said, “the attraction is that we’ve got a guarded, gated entrance, and it’s a very controlled environment. They don’t have to bother with closing public streets.” Schubin said Lincoln learned from Lockheed that film crews had expressed interest in using the location, although Lockheed had not pursued the business at the time. “We thought it was something we wanted to take advantage of,” Schubin said. A television show, which he declined to name, is slated to film on the premises once production for the fall season resumes. The other component of Lincoln’s big Rye Canyon Business Park a 2.2 million-square-foot industrial park planned for 120 acres is progressing rapidly. Lincoln recently filed its grading plan with the city of Santa Clarita for the first phase of that $120 million project. The first phase will include about 25 acres, and is slated for completion by fall 1999. Another three or four phases are scheduled, with completion of those slated over the next three to four years, depending on market conditions, Schubin said. The Rye Canyon Business Park is adjacent to Newhall Land & Farming Co.’s Valencia Commerce Center. News and notes Sugar Bear Trust has acquired a 30,534-square-foot industrial building in Chatsworth for $1.6 million. Kim Wolfson of Majik Properties represented Sugar Bear and David Young, Bill Napier and Dick Held of Capital Commercial/NAI represented the seller, Hero Properties. The Castruccio Revocable Trust of Los Angeles acquired a 20,950-square-foot industrial building in Chatsworth for $1.35 million, according to Westmac Commercial Brokerage Co., which represented the buyer. Tishman International Cos. on Aug. 6 broke ground on a 273,000-square-foot office tower in Warner Center. The high-rise will house the expanded headquarters of 20th Century Industries. Xylan Corp. signed a $12 million lease for a 128,700-square-foot building in the Calabasas Lost Hills Business Park currently being constructed by Cypress Land Co. Xylan, which makes networking switching systems, intends to move its corporate headquarters from another building in Calabasas, to the facility by the end of this year or early next year. Michael Tingus and John DeGrinis of the Seeley Co. represented Cypress and Ken Ashen and Michael Salter of CB Richard Ellis represented Xylan. Xylan is the second company to lease space in the facility. Netcom Systems Inc. will occupy a 107,000-square-foot building in the park. Told Partners, an industrial and commercial real estate brokerage, has opened an office in the Santa Clarita Valley. Stephen B. Robertson and LeeAnne Sichel will head the new office.

Networking Tips Set a Meeting Call, email or write the person you need to meet, refer to the situation/place/person that brought you together. Set goals for the meeting. Relieve any tension by stressing that you did not request the meeting to ask for a job . Explain that you are making a change and you are here to explore ideas about your industry and your next career step. Networking Fears Many people hesitate to contact others for fear of imposing or asking for help. The reality: Most people are happy to do something for someone else if asked. The mistakes most candidates make is not preparing sufficiently for each meeting. Set the Agenda Concisely lay out what you want to discuss. (You can do this only if you have a clear idea of what you need to say and ask beforehand.) Be brief and stick to the point. Assure that the person clearly understands his/her role and explain how he/she can help you. ? Summarize your background and experience – what you say, should be similar to the summary statement on your resume. ? Discuss your new skills and relevant experience – describe some of your recent accomplishments and highlight those skills, strengths, and experiences to which you believe the contact` would be most responsive. Use examples. Make known your career goals and objectives. ? Foster dialogue – ask questions, and draw information from the contact . Get feedback on your job-search plan, objectives and updated resume. If the person mentions obstacles you might face in reaching your career goal, ask for advice on how to overcome them. If he or she can’t help you, ask for the name of someone who can (i.e. “Who do you think might be able to give me the information I need?”). ? Ask questions – prepare key questions in advance. The more specific, the better. After asking them, listen to the answers to ensure two-way communication. Acknowledge and respond to what the person is saying. By following his or her cues, you can determine what might be considered impressive. Observe carefully. If the contact shows signs of boredom or uneasiness, change the subject. Don’t Forget Thank the contact and make plans to meet again. Keep the contact aware of your future career moves and ask about their plans. This process of nurturing contacts will sustain and enhance your career.

Posting a Resume On The Internet By Tom Bonigut When it comes to resumes, there’s a right way and a wrong way, especially in the HR industry where the people you are trying to reach are likely to be resume experts. The right way, obviously, is the one that works best for employment managers and recruiters. While hundreds of books and articles have been written on the do’s and don’ts of printed resumes, in the words of one industry expert, once you decide to venture out on the information superhighway, “it’s time to think again.” There are now resume hubs on the World Wide Web that enable people from all areas of the country and the workforce to have an interactive resume “on-line.” You don’t have to necessarily look for a job on the Internet, because once your resume is there, the jobs will find you. However, if you decide to go into cyberspace, you do need to rethink your strategy. First, remember that you are not working on a piece of paper and your resume is not going to sit in a stack of paper on someone’s desk, so you have to figure out how to be ‘discovered’ or searched out. HR industry recruiters search resume databases keywords. Keywords are words that describe your skills or experiences and can be used as parameters in a search. Most often, they will come from the specific terminology that is used in your job, such as “personnel,” “H.R.,” “staff relations,” etc. Thousands of Southern California recruiters are turning rto this high-tech, but do-it-yourself method of headhunting and expect the Internet to be easier and more accurate as they review applicants for jobs. Key words help them complete a search in minutes and the result is a dozen or more people who are a great fit for the job. For instance, “team building” or “employee grievances” will immediately help classify the kinds of experience and skills that an HR pro has to offer and ‘company events’ will define them even further. Likewise, ‘month end close’ or ‘general ledger’ give a broad description for an accountant, while ‘cash reconciliations’ or ‘tax planning’ will take him or her to a higher level. Choose these keywords carefully, since they say volumes about what you have to offer to your next employer. Next, be sure to give a short summary of your job experience for each position on your resume–don’t rely on the position title. Because different HR titles mean different things in different companies, you must append that information with additional, specific keywords. Don’t be afraid to use a lot of words. You will not be punished for length in the same way that you would on paper. Again, new medium, new rules. And since you are trying to have your resume stand out in a database, the more keywords, the more times employers will “hit” your resume by inputting their requirements. Also, be sure to post on a database that enables you to update your resume as your gain new skills, reach new achievements and complete training or certificate programs. One very important distinction is to use a resume database that allows employers to find you from all parts of the U.S. and the world. Some databases allow employers to specify the location of jobs if they are unable to offer relocation assistance. However, they can often keep their search open and seek out anyone who is qualified. This is a distinct advantage for job seekers. Great opportunities can come from anywhere, and with the Internet, anywhere is a very big place. Finally, everyone, employed or unemployed, experienced or entry level should avoid paying to post their resume. Let the employers pick up the tab. There are many free services available, from website hubs like the Monster Board and On-Line Career Center to the thousands of specialized usegroups. There is rarely a reason for the individual to have to pay. In 1997, most of the firms that were searching the Internet for talent were the nation’s largest, most geographically diverse employers. However, small and medium size companies can fully be expected to begin making much greater use of the Internet as a recruiting tool with the growing presence of candidate databases. Tom Bonigut is an internet career consultant based in Woodland Hills.

WADE DANIELS Staff Reporter Office vacancy rates tightened everywhere in the San Fernando Valley in the second quarter of the year except the east Valley, where entertainment companies have hit the brakes on efforts to expand, real estate brokers said. The east Valley’s vacancy rate jumped to 13.8 percent in the second quarter compared to 10.4 percent in the first, according to figures from Grubb & Ellis Co. The east Valley, which includes the Burbank Media District, was perhaps the hottest office market in the county last year, with movie and television companies scrambling to find office space. But this phenomenon has slowed, said Wayne Saldana, vice president and sales manager at the Encino office of the Seeley Co., a Los Angeles-based real estate brokerage. “Entertainment companies have absorbed a lot of new space, and I think a lot of them are digesting what they have,” Saldana said. “This doesn’t necessarily point to slowdown in the market. It could easily pick back up in the third quarter.” One of the most dramatic drops in office vacancy took place in the Conejo Valley. The area, which includes cities in east Ventura County like Thousand Oaks, had an 11.8 percent vacancy rate in the second quarter compared to 14 percent in the first quarter of this year, according to Grubb & Ellis. Saldana said there continues to be a lot of leasing and purchasing activity in that area due to expansion of Valley companies that decide to relocate there. Continued improvements in the San Fernando Valley’s economy were cited as the reason for the decreasing vacancy rates in other Valley areas. The central Valley’s office vacancy rate was 12.4 percent in the second quarter, compared to 14 percent in the first. The west Valley saw its office vacancy rate decline to 9.5 percent in the second quarter from the previous quarter’s rate of 11.8 percent.