During the past few days several people have approached us wondering why we=  are continuing to do college recruiting and continuing with the floor buil= d out given the state of the company today.
We appreciate people's concern= s about adding people and spending money at a time when we ought to be redu= cing unnecessary expenses.
Let us begin by saying that we share these conc= erns and are not hiring people or undertaking significant capital expenditu= res without a great deal of thought.
We would also encourage people to tal= k to their manager or either of us if you don't understand why we are doing=  certain things.
In short, we have decided to continue with the college re= cruiting, although we have not yet decided how many, if any, we will hire.
=  We have decided to delay the beginning of the floor build out for a couple=  of weeks.
Why Are We Continuing With College Recruiting?
During the last few years we have made tremendous progress establishing a p= resence for Enron broadly and the Portland office specifically with leading=  schools in the northwest.
This past year we finally reached critical mass=  and had tremendous success in our recruiting efforts.
Although we are unc= ertain about our hiring needs this year, we feel that it is in our best lon= g term interest to continue having a presence with the schools in the north= west.
We have already made presentations and done initial screenings at mo= st schools.
We have identified the best people from each school and have a= lready made plans for them to come to our office for two super Saturdays.
= The cost to us to finish this process is not large compared to the benefit = that we gain from honoring our commitment to the schools and students as pa= rticipants in their on-campus recruiting programs.
We also realize that it=  is a hard year to be coming out of school looking for a job.
It is our be= lief that students would rather interview with us even if the possibilities=  of employment may be somewhat diminished.
Finally, we would like to empha= size the point that we have not yet committed to hiring anybody.
We will i= nterview people, identify the best candidates, and make hiring decisions ba= sed on the needs of the office.
Before extending offers we will consider t= he potential impact that it could have on people in this office and Enron e= mployees in other offices who have been redeployed.
Stated another way, we=  don't intend to hire a bunch of new people if there are people within Enro= n who could fill positions or if it would put the jobs of the people alread= y here at risk.
We may end up postponing hiring decisions until we are mor= e certain about the state of affairs in the company.
How Will the Floor Move Play Out?
We have decided to postpone the floor build out for a few weeks.
While we = still think that it makes sense for the office, we have decided to pause fo= r a couple of weeks before we start to spend significant amounts of money o= n this.
When talking to the build out team today it became clear that dela= ying would accomplish several goals.
First, it allows us to get final arch= itectural plans in place and firm quotes from contractors so that we can mo= re precisely peg down the costs before moving forward.
Second, it gives th= e build out team breathing room to iron out more of the details of the move= .
Finally, it buys us a little more time to decide whether or not it makes=  sense to do this project given the state of affairs of the company right n= ow.
While we still think that we are going to move forward with this proje= ct, it seems like buying a couple of weeks of time is the right thing to do=  right now.
In about two weeks we will reconvene with the build out team w= ith firm budget numbers and make a decision to either move ahead, cancel, o= r delay again.
=20  As always, we will try to keep people updated on things as soon as new, rel= iable information becomes available.
We recognize that this is a very hard=  time for everyone.
Please try to stay focused on the job at hand and keep=  up the success of this office.
Tim Belden and Chris Calger

Recruiting and Floor Buildout

During the past few days several people have approached us wondering why we= are continuing to do college recruiting and continuing with the floor buil= d out given the state of the company today.
We appreciate people's concern= s about adding people and spending money at a time when we ought to be redu= cing unnecessary expenses.
Let us begin by saying that we share these conc= erns and are not hiring people or undertaking significant capital expenditu= res without a great deal of thought.
We would also encourage people to tal= k to their manager or either of us if you don't understand why we are doing= certain things.
In short, we have decided to continue with the college re= cruiting, although we have not yet decided how many, if any, we will hire.
= We have decided to delay the beginning of the floor build out for a couple= of weeks.
Why Are We Continuing With College Recruiting?
During the last few years we have made tremendous progress establishing a p= resence for <COMPANY> broadly and the Portland office specifically with leading= schools in the northwest.
This past year we finally reached critical mass= and had tremendous success in our recruiting efforts.
Although we are unc= ertain about our hiring needs this year, we feel that it is in our best lon= g term interest to continue having a presence with the schools in the north= west.
We have already made presentations and done initial screenings at mo= st schools.
We have identified the best people from each school and have a= lready made plans for them to come to our office for two super Saturdays.
= The cost to us to finish this process is not large compared to the benefit = that we gain from honoring our commitment to the schools and students as pa= rticipants in their on-campus recruiting programs.
We also realize that it= is a hard year to be coming out of school looking for a job.
It is our be= lief that students would rather interview with us even if the possibilities= of employment may be somewhat diminished.
Finally, we would like to empha= size the point that we have not yet committed to hiring anybody.
We will i= nterview people, identify the best candidates, and make hiring decisions ba= sed on the needs of the office.
Before extending offers we will consider t= he potential impact that it could have on people in this office and <COMPANY> e= mployees in other offices who have been redeployed.
Stated another way, we= don't intend to hire a bunch of new people if there are people within Enro= n who could fill positions or if it would put the jobs of the people alread= y here at risk.
We may end up postponing hiring decisions until we are mor= e certain about the state of affairs in the company.
How Will the Floor Move Play Out?
We have decided to postpone the floor build out for a few weeks.
While we = still think that it makes sense for the office, we have decided to pause fo= r a couple of weeks before we start to spend significant amounts of money o= n this.
When talking to the build out team today it became clear that dela= ying would accomplish several goals.
First, it allows us to get final arch= itectural plans in place and firm quotes from contractors so that we can mo= re precisely peg down the costs before moving forward.
Second, it gives th= e build out team breathing room to iron out more of the details of the move= .
Finally, it buys us a little more time to decide whether or not it makes= sense to do this project given the state of affairs of the company right n= ow.
While we still think that we are going to move forward with this proje= ct, it seems like buying a couple of weeks of time is the right thing to do= right now.
In about two weeks we will reconvene with the build out team w= ith firm budget numbers and make a decision to either move ahead, cancel, o= r delay again.
=<NUMBER> As always, we will try to keep people updated on things as soon as new, rel= iable information becomes available.
We recognize that this is a very hard= time for everyone.
Please try to stay focused on the job at hand and keep= up the success of this office.
Tim Belden and Chris Calger
redeployed stated way concern delay number unnecessary expenses let company floor presentations initial ought redu anybody nterview people compared benefit gain college recruiting continuing