Re-Hiring the already Fired employees

Dear Colleagues,

You work hard, you expect promotion. Then one day, end of year, a young employee from Human Resources, calls you and says. “Your position has been eliminated,”. There were some words before and after, but you don’t really remember them because these five words consumed your brain for the entire call-and for many weeks following. This was your first layoff.

After you calmed yourself down, you thought about the best way to be laid off, the exit strategy that would be most beneficial to your future. You came up with these guidelines to help anyone else who faces a layoff, which seems to be everyone these days:

Ask for an explanation, but don’t expect or demand one

If you are laid off, you deserve a reason from your management, but you often will not get one. Accept that fact quickly. If you insist the point, you run the risk of harming the relationship with the person who will be your best reference to future employers-and you stand to gain little more than a vague excuse.

Maintain a professional image throughout the ordeal, only letting your guard down when you get home.

The people you work with will also be references to give to future employers, and you need their last image of you to be as positive as possible. Crying and cursing as you’re escorted to the elevator would be a perfectly human response, but not a very strategic one.

Finally, let it go. Don’t spend your time over-analyzing what happened. A job search is tough, and exponentially so in this recession. You have too much work to do to waste your time thinking about the work you won’t be doing anymore.

As you read these words now, many months after the downsizing, they seem simple. But at the time, there was nothing harder to do than suppress my emotions as much as ou could and follow these steps. If you face it, this will be hard, but it will be the most advantageous thing you can do.

After all, telling your new interviewer that she can not contact your former employer or colleagues is a huge red flag, and with millions of other unemployed people competing for the limited number of job openings, a red flag can mean elimination from the pool of applicants without even a chance to explain it.

You could be fired from your job. Time is hard. We have global financial crisis, you find yourself unemployed. You feel humiliated. You feel that you do not deserve that response, that you are the one to be fired.

But company can not get enough orders to survive. So they need to cut expenses. They need to fire people to reduce expenses. You are the one to sacrifice.

Then one day in time, maybe not very long, company gets orders, they need human resources. They feel that re-hiring is better then new recruits since they do not need time for reorientation. They prefer their ex-staff. They invite to join them again.

However whatever the time passed in between, now working conditions/ your terms are different. You are humiliated in the past.

You spent one of the worst periods of your life time. You had debts to pay, you had to pay mortgage, find money for your children for their education.

You had so hard times to survive. Your core family supported you. Your friends, your networking helped you to find another job/ another business environment to earn money and survive.

Then one day your company calls you back. They should pay. They should pay the consequences. You were the one who paid their termination decision. This is not so cheap. Think about, and answer the following questions

Companies expect the employees to care the company interests at extreme levels, however they also expect them to sacrifice from their personal gains. Why??

Do you re-hire the employees you fired earlier? Yes, you do. Because the ex-employees need no time for orientation. Company gets the memory back.

How about that question, "Do you work in a business environment where you were fired before?" Good question but it is not so easy to answer.

They need more programs to upgrade the employee morale, restructuring / re-building re-hired employee self confidence, and belonging feeling.

For an ex-employee, if he/she is not yet employed, it is better to get a job, than stay unemployed, better hired than fired.

On the other hand, company looses the confidence of the ex-employee, he/she would be looking for another job in time.

Fired employee looks for family support at all time to overcome the difficulties.

He/she should consult with his/her seniors who had similar nasty experiences in their past.

Re-hiring is costly. Companies should think twice to fire employees in hard times. Employee expenses are a small percentage of the overall expenses.

Re-hiring procedures should be carefully re-examined by both sides, by employer as well as employee.

Low profile is recommended to re-hired employees. Long term expectations are to be avoided. Career expectations are to be kept at lowest level.

You may also consider to return to university for MSc MBA PhD degrees if you do not have dependent, if you can survive for at least 3-years. That postgraduate degree will be very helpful in your senior management career plans as well as in your senior years.

An employee/ professional should look for any means to build his/her own company/ enterprise, where he/she can not be fired again. It is certainly better to work in an environment where you can control your own fate/ destiny.

Your comments are always welcome.

--
Haluk Direskeneli, Ankara based Energy Analyst

2010 Forecast for Energy Markets

Değerli Arkadaşlarım,

ODTU Mezunları Derneği Enerji Komisyonu üyeleri olarak kendi aramızda yeni yıl beklentileri çalışması başlattık. Bildiginiz gibi piyasa beklentilerle yönlendirilir. Ortada tahmin yapan yok. Biz biraz gerçek ötesi de olsa öyle/ böyle tahminler yaptik. 2010 da beklenen gelişmeler/ tahminler bizce şöyle,

o Enerji KIT'lerinde, birisi çok çarpici olmak üzere, sürpriz gelişmeler olacak, (ani ve hızlı özelleştirme ?? mesela) Görevden almalar artacak. Özellikle eski tecrubeli etkin GM, DGM kadroları dolduranlar, müşavirliğe, özel sektörde Yönetim Kurulu danışmanlığına terfi edecekler. Yeni gelenler tüm yılı alışma/ öğrenme süresi olarak geçirecekler, hiçbir insiyatif almayacaklar.

o Dünya Bankasi heyetlerinin enerji konusunda ETKB, EPDK, DPT, Hazine, TUSIAD ziyaretleri siklasacak,

o Gazete yazarlari/ muhabirleri yine enerji birimlerini birbirine karıştıracaklar, MWe'a MegaByte diyecekler

o Sinop'ta Nükleer santral icin ihaleye Haziran ayinda çıkılacak, her kafadan bir ses çikacak, Sinop'lular hep itiraz edecek, kimse onlari dinlemeyecek, ihale iki yıl sürecek ve sonunda yine iptal edilecek.

o Akkuyu'ya Nukleer santral kurulmasi icin Hukumet Ruslarla "ben verdim oldu" anlaşması yapacak, ortalık bir daha ayaga kalkacak

o Baska Nükleer santral yeri arayışları bu defa Karadeniz kıyılarına taşınacak.

o Yerel Toplum STK baskisi ile Sinop'ta Nukleer santral kurulmasi askıya alınacak. IgneAda ve Hopa seçenekleri öne çıkacak,

o Nükleer teknoloji egitimi konusunda ITÜ Enerji merkezi MSc ve PhD programları ile öne çıkacak. ODTÜ hala "Bu konu gündemimizde yok" diyecek.

o Yerli yatırımcı Amasra'ya "yerli kömür santrali" diye baslayip ithal kömür yakan santral kurmaya kalkisacak, Amasra ve Bartın ayağa kalkacak. Amasra'nın otelleri lokantaları Çinlilerle dolacak. Çinliler uzun dönemde orta ölçekli işletmeler/lokanta/berber/market açacaklar

o Dogalgaz yasa tasarısı tamamlanacak. Botaş kontratın bir kısmını uzatacak. Doğalgazda tekelin sona erdirilmesi, piyasa hakimiyeti üzerindeki tartışmalar artacak. Yeni Genel Müdür arayışı sürecek.

o Karadenizde offshore platformları kurulacak. Her ay en az bir kere "Çok miktarda DoğalGaz/Petrol bulunduguna dair" medyada haberler yer alacak.

o Iskenderun Körfezi'ne bilen bilmeyen "ithal kömür santrali" yapmak isteyecek, Iskenderun, Payas ve Dörtyol ayağa kalkacak. Yerli istihdam olmadğını anlayan millet hukuki engellemelere başlayacak.

o Iran dogalgaz vermeyi Ocak 2010 sonunda kendi iç piyasa ihtiyacı sebebiyle yine 1-ay kesecek, Ruslar Mavi Akım'da kapasite artıracak.

o Firtina Deresi HES benzerleri artınca Karadenizliler, Müteahhitleri şimdilik dizaltından vuracak. "Derelerime Dokunma" Birliğinin faaliyetleri artacak.

o Ilısu HES üzerindeki TV programlari artacak. Bu programlarin hepsi Dicle'ye inen koyunlarin görüntüsüne eşlik eden acıklı bir fon müziği ile başlayacak.
Herkes buradaki harabelerin ve koyunların fotoğraflarını ezberleyecek.

o Afşin Elbistan A santrali rehabilitasyon ihalesine tekrar çıkılacak, kimse katılmayinca/ katılamayinca yine iptal edilecek.

o Afşin Elbistan C-D ihalelerine çıkılacak, ihale tarif ve kapsam olarak aşırı risk taşıdığı için yine az sayıda katılım olacak, ihale fiyat yüksekliği nedeniyle yine iptal edilecek.

o Soma termik santrali satılacak/ özelleştirilecek (çok kolay çünkü).

o Samandağ'li hanımlar yine "rüzgar santrali istemeyiz" diyecek, kimse onları dinlemeyecek, Valilik "ÇED raporuna gerek yok" diyecek, Samandağ'da rüzgar santrali kurulmamıs arazi, tepe, yamaç kalmayacak.

o Çesme Yarimadasi'nda rüzgar santrali kurma girisimleri bu yil da son hiziyla devam edecek. Yer ve baglanti imkani bulamayanlar bu yil da "Ne biçim TEIAS Genel Müdürü bu ?" diyecekler. Bakan TEIAS Genel Müdürünü çagiracak bilgi alacak.

o Rüzgar santrali yerli üretim icin çalismalar, JV haberleri artacak, Bu çalismalarda en küçük güç 3 MW olacak, Prototiplerin üzerinde mutlaka bir Türk bayragi olacak. Devlet erkani ile tanitim ve açilislar yapilacak.

o Yenikoy ve Kangal amili mütehassis rehabilitasyonlari bitecek, yabancı müteahhitler köşe olacak, yapilan işin verilen paraya kiyasla çok az oldugu ortaya çıkacak, "Kara Kömür/kara Enerji" isimli sorusturmalar baslayacak ve tutuklamalar olacak.

o Antalya Selimiye/ Kovanlı'da 1150 MWe CCPP devreye girecek, etrafta ziraat için yeraltı suyu birakmayacak, Antalya'lılar işin ciddiyetini o zaman anlayacaklar.

o Bandırma 900 MW CCPP Agustos'da devreye girecek, 1000 MWe kapasiteli ikinci santral ön çalışmaları başlayacak, bu arada Bandırma yerli/ yabanci yatırımcı istilasina ugrayacak, tarımsal alan daralacak.

o Yabancılara hisse satan yerli sirketler, aşırı/ gereksiz yabancı muhendislik harcamaları, yabancı ortağın kendi ulkelerine yonlendirilmiş pahali OEM satın almaları, sonuçta aşırı maaliyet yüzünden, yabancı ortakla yaptıkları JV anlasmalarını tekrar değerlendirme gereğini hissedecekler,

o Kömür sahalarinda termik santral kurma amaçli "Redovans" ihaleleri bir türlü sonuçlanmayınca, çözüm arayışları için bu konu tekrar yıl ortası gündeme gelecek.

o Samsun'da DoğazGaz ile çalışan Kombine Cevrim Santrali yapılmayan yer kalmayacak, iletim hattı zorlukları başlayacak.

o Konya ovasinda tarım yapılmayan yerlerde termik solar ağırlıklı yatırım çalışmaları başlayacak, yerli imalat arayislari artacak, fakat, sonunda Çin'den gemi dolusu solar panel getirmenin ve bu panellere Ostim'den birer direk imal ettirmenin daha ucuz ve uygun oldugu anlaşılacak.

o Çin mali termik santral alanlarin asiri de-grading yüzünden rehabilitasyon ihtiyaci baslayacak, Çinli'ler çabuk yaslanan santrallerinde uzun dönem isletme ve rehabilitasyon islerine girecekler.

o Dagitim özellestirmeleri tüm hiziyla devam edecek, dagitilmayan/ özellestirilmeyen yer kalmayacak, Ana Muhalefet Partisi'nin iptal basvurularinin hazirlanmasi için tuttugu hukuk bürosu yetmeyecek, büro Çankaya'da daha genis bir yere tasinacak.

o EPDK, bilen/bilmeyen, parasi olan/olmayan, ancak evraklarini tam veren herkese lisans vermeye devam edecek, tasindiklari yeni bina dar gelmeye baslayacak, bu defa yeni bina yapimi için Gölbasi'nda arazi satin alinacak.

o Enerji Piyasasi Düzenleme Kurumu yeni üyelerinin atanmasi dolayisi ile bir yemek verecek ve bu yemekte sektör temsilcileri "Enerji Piyasasi Düzenleme Kurumu'nun" sektör için öneminden bahsedecekler.

o Lisans süresi dolan ve yüksek fiyat istedigi için lisansini satamayan yenilenebilir enerji girişimcilerinin Enerji Piyasasi Düzenleme Kurumu ve Bakanlıktaki trafikleri artacak.

Biz bu kadar tahmin edebildik. Diğerlerini de siz ekleyin- Yeni yiliniz kutlu olsun- Selamlar saygılar

--
Haluk Direskeneli

Grand New Concert Hall Tests a City’s Frugal Ways

January 1, 2010. HAMBURG JOURNAL, By NICHOLAS KULISH

HAMBURG, Germany — A spectacular new concert hall is rising skyward on the banks of the Elbe River at the end of a pier in the old harbor here. City leaders hope the hall, the Elbphilharmonie, will become a new world landmark on par with the Sydney Opera House, nudging a city often too modest for its own good toward the international prominence they believe it deserves.

But the new, extravagant project is unusual for Hamburg, an affluent but unassuming old Hanseatic city, with a reputation for sober-minded business sense compared with the baroque flash of its rival, Munich, in the south.

While residents marvel at the rippling glass tower capping a postwar brick warehouse in the architectural renderings, they have had trouble coming to terms with the kind of grand — and invariably growing — price tags that come with such grand structures.

One result is a struggle between Hamburgers’ desire for recognition and their own frugal instincts.

“My friends are completely divided; either they think it’s an absolute money pit or they say it looks super and is great for the city,” said Jörg Homeyer, 42, who works near the construction site and stops at the cafe across the street each day to observe the progress. “Myself, I’m really of two minds. I mean, I’m impressed by the monumental architecture, but I also can’t believe the amount of cash it’s burning, and coming from the average taxpayer.”

It has not helped matters that the city’s share of the cost has more than quadrupled — to nearly half a billion dollars from the initial optimistic projections of just over $100 million — and that the opening has been pushed back two years to 2012. Taxpayers fear that the project will continue to guzzle their money through endless delays and cost overruns.

But the city government is betting that the problems, and most of all the growing expense, will be forgotten when the Elbphilharmonie stands as the new symbol of Germany’s second-most-populous city, which officials say lacks the kind of signature monument the Brandenburg Gate provides for Berlin or the Eiffel Tower for Paris.

But Hamburg became one of the richest cities not just in Germany but across Europe in part because of its very modesty. According to one local saying, Hamburgers prefer fur in the lining of their coats for warmth, rather than facing outward for show, said Jörn Walter, the city planning director.

“If we had said from the very beginning that we needed 300 million euros for the house, I am sure that the city would have agreed, because it’s a wonderful project for Hamburg,” said the enthusiastic Mr. Walter, who leapt from behind his desk repeatedly during the interview to gesture at a wall-size map of the city. “I am personally completely convinced that in 100 years, people will look back with pride on the fact that our generation succeeded in creating it.”

The contentious project has already cost the job of the previous head of the city-owned building company, who was fired in 2008 as the magnitude of the cost increases became apparent.

As designed by the Swiss architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron, famed for the Bird’s Nest Olympic stadium in Beijing, the Elbphilharmonie is intended to be more than just the city’s new symbol. It is meant to be the capstone of an ambitious 400-acre waterfront redevelopment project in the heart of Hamburg, known as HafenCity (Harbor City). The roughly $10 billion project is an effort to build an entire new section of downtown Hamburg almost from scratch and already includes more than 30 new buildings.

The former harbor area — now too shallow for modern container ships, which dock across the Elbe — is already home to the offices of China Shipping, the consumer-products giant Unilever, and the software company SAP. About 4,000 people work in HafenCity, and 1,500 live there.

And jutting out from the end of the pier, facing westward, are 17 of the Elbphilharmonie’s eventual 26 stories, which, when completed, will stand 360 feet high. On a recent blustery morning, the bowl-shaped main concert hall was still open to the towering construction cranes and gray clouds above it. The acoustics are in the hands of Yasuhisa Toyota, who worked on the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

Many Germans here and around the country have been fascinated by the evolving technical details of the project, or as the newspaper the Frankfurter Allgemeine put it in a headline this week, “The Long Way to the Perfect Sound.”

Construction crews had to gut the original 1960s-era warehouse and drive some 600 new concrete piles because the existing wood supports could not bear the weight of the addition. A documentary on public television here showed technicians blasting the specially designed windows with water cannons and aircraft engines, and crashing heavy tires against them, to simulate extreme weather conditions.

The first few individually crafted glass panels have been installed on what will be an undulating glass facade. It rises to peaks in the renderings that look like cresting waves, but it is the rising costs that have caught the most attention so far.

“Our impression was that the politicians decided they absolutely had to have it before they really gave any thought to the planning,” said Christian Plock, manager of Hamburg’s Association of Taxpayers. “We’re not against it in principle, just the dilettante manner in which it was done.” The project made the national taxpayers association’s “black book” of wasted tax revenue for all of Germany in 2009.

The timing could not have been worse, with the global economic crisis and fall in world trade cutting into business at the city’s port and overall tax receipts.

The publicly financed share of the project is now $465 million. Donations from private citizens have brought in $101 million more, while an undetermined amount of money is coming from the project’s business investors.

The building will also house a 250-room hotel and more than 40 exclusive apartments overlooking the harbor.

In a city with high rents and an acute shortage of working-class housing, the decision to focus resources on HafenCity and its flagship has prompted accusations that the entire development will benefit only tourists and Hamburg’s elite.

On a tour of the construction site, the Elbphilharmonie’s general director, Christoph Lieben-Seutter, disputed that notion, pointing to the plaza facing the river that will be open to the public. “This is a house for all Hamburgers,” he said.

New Year in Hamburg

Last night in Hamburg City Center



Hamburg - New Year's Eve fireworks attract people of all ages into the streets of Hamburg Germany to ring in the coming year with colourful fountains of fire, glittering, noisy displays and loud bangs. However, the festive spirit turns dangerous every year when many a firecracker explodes too close to someone in the crowd. Burns, eye injuries and trauma caused by the blasts are among the most common outcomes. But some of these accidents could be avoided.

"Despite all the instructions and warnings, firecrackers are consistently handled wrongly or carelessly. Typically, alcohol and the heightened mood of the evening are contributing factors," said Klaus Gotzen, director of a German association representing the pyrotechnic industry.

Things go badly when rockets are ignited in the hand instead of on a standing object like a bottle or when they are thrown onto the ground or into a crowd.

"A dangerous firecracker is one that doesn't explode," said Georg Eckert, a spokesman for German professional association of ophthalmologists. "People are surprised when it doesn't go off. They walk up to it to have a look and in precisely that moment it explodes."

The same thing can happen with a rocket and any other type of pyrotechnic - on New Year's Eve and on the following day. Another common situation occurs when revellers try to protect themselves from flying slivers and sparks.

"Very often children are victims, not because they are playing around with firecrackers, but because the adults are celebrating carelessly and are not paying attention to the kids," said Johann Boehmann, head doctor of a children's hospital in north-west Germany. "Children cannot accurately assess danger."

In addition dazzling fireworks magically attract them.

Most of Boehmann's patients have suffered burns or been scalded, most commonly in the face and hands. As fireworks reach extremely high temperatures, these injuries are very painful and especially dangerous, and they result in lifelong scars.

"In acute cases, the most important thing is to wash the wound with clear water and cool it down," said Boehmann. A doctor should always be consulted when the face or hands are injured. The eyes are particularly vulnerable. They are quickly irritated by powder, smoke and other fumes released by fireworks.

"When a firecracker explodes too close to the body, the smoke powder often gets into the eyes," said Eckert. In this case the eye should be rinsed with cold to lukewarm water to remove the smoke powder. Rubbing is taboo because it can make the injury worse and cause bleeding.

Even worse is when a hot ember gets into the eye.

"A glowing, iron-hot, bitten off sparkler can burn into the cornea," said Eckert. "They cause redness, heavy tearing and pain and they must be removed by an eye doctor."

Another sinister danger is the damage firecrackers can cause to the ear. When New Year's Eve firecrackers explode nearby they reach a volume of 130 decibels, said Juergen Matthies, an audio specialist in Nienburg, Germany.

"One single such bang can trigger auditory trauma," Matthies said. Thus, keeping sufficient distance from the explosion is the best protection.//dpa