I share with you an interview with Burak Ersoy who has a great success story from Turkcell to Lifecell. I would like to extend my thanks them for his support.
Can we recognize you briefly?
Burak Ersoy was born in 1970 in Ankara.He has graduated from Ted Ankara College, METU Mining Engineering and Master of Business Administration. He is married and father of two boys.
My career, which started with finance, continued with 25 years of different sectors and functions, including fast consumer marketing, sales and finally in the telecommunication sector. Coming to İstanbul in 2000 was one of my important changes and decisions in my life. Since the beginning of 2018, I have been working on my own business.
What kind of student were you in your education life and did you have a career goal that you set during this time? What have you done to achieve these goals?
When I graduated in 1992, there were no resources that students could benefit as much as they did today, at least the internet was not so widespread and effective. Since there is no enthusiasm like my academic work, my social and academic life has also become a balance. I took the time to learn everything but I did not neglect the private life.
Life is full of goals and needs to be constantly watched on the way. What is important is that one’s dream is to be more accessible and to identify success points that will motivate them in short periods and to make them enjoy. This will prevent frustration and provide the opportunity to make the necessary corrections.
How do you have a working system? How is your day going in business?
As the responsibilities increase, the intensity of the day and the complexity of the issues increase, but responsibility and experience are taken under all the learning opportunities if appropriate.
My basic principle was always about learning, so recurring things were not the main reason except for necessity. As a matter of fact, 30 percent of the regular meetings and the rest of the time, depending on the opportunities of the project to distinguish the work.
Hierarchical order is necessary for the flow of affairs, but communication never listens to hierarchical order, and there may always be a loss of meaning between stages. For this reason, a considerable part of the time is also devoted to talking directly with friends visiting the site and especially the customers.
How did you get it when you were offered to work in Lifecell in Ukraine?
It was a very exciting proposal because Turkey is a separate issue, but I work in an environment that is dominated almost every variable. However, you have to retest everything that you think is right across cultures. So I happily accepted that my life was a crucial opportunity to learn continuously as philosophy.
How do you assess the telecommunications industry in Ukraine compared to Turkey?
Ukraine is one of the countries of the world with grown human capacity in the IT sector. There are also universities with strong traditions and inventions that have cost the world. Nevertheless, it is not possible to say that this potential could be used especially in the last years due to the distressing process that the country has gone through.
Although the fixed internet infrastructure is very sophisticated and widespread, it is an old technology like 3G but it could reach a certain prevalence in 2016. Of course, the purchasing power of the country does not support the development of this business very much.
Was it your first mission abroad? Could you give us some advice for our new graduates’ desire to work abroad?
Yes, I have worked in international companies, but my first assignment was to live abroad. Turkey is a country that is growing, of course, needs smart young people. But it is also an important skill gained by working with people who are in a different world, who are a real-world citizen. For this reason, my advice to my friends is to follow the opportunities that are possible and to benefit from taking the experience abroad. No matter whether it is for internship, project or business purposes, each will contribute to personal inventory.
What kind of features are you looking for in young people who will start work?
Of course, each position has its own characteristics. There are tasks here both in the workplace and in the new friends. As time progresses, the new generation comes with its own value judgments. Of course all the design of this generation
it is not possible to make changes according to change, but it is important that managers also adapt to this changing world.
It is crucial that your job aspiring friends feel that they are open-minded, have a good sense of self-expression, have developed their skills in different projects, and that their motivation is at the top, but most importantly they will adapt to the company they want to work with. So if this does not happen otherwise I would like to work here, it is important to know that these are my reasons in this. At the end of the day we are actually asking ourselves, do I want to work in the same place after 5 years with this opposite person?
Should we be ambitious? How do you look at the concept of greed?
It’s a mixed subject, because it’s very important how you describe the ambition. The crucial reason for the 2008 World Economic Crisis was greed and the unlimited win that it brought was a hunger. For that reason, I would of course recommend it if you define yourself as a result-oriented style that will not hurt yourself and everyone in your domain will suffer short and long term, and will not create ethical problems. On another issue, the ambition should not darken the eye, it must be awake enough to make a change on the way.
Are there any other things we would like students to say?
Every human being is a world and a separate wealth. While reading the prescriptions of successful people, the only correct way may be an approach like this. This is not true, of course there may be topics to be learned. But do not forget the system approach, you can gradually reach similar results in different ways.
People need to know well with their strengths and learn new talents while using these talents as a good leverage on the way to their goals. Especially friends, I have an important stimulus here, it is very important to be patient, the most important disappointment I see is to enter high expectations in times when it is very unlikely.
