How to survive and thrive after an acquisition

Get to know new managers
Paula Kosin, career consultant for Career Vision, advises employees to “put your CEO hat on” and figure out what the top leaders would want from a business standpoint. “They want to make the merger a success and they are not looking to rape and pillage and destroy things. They want to make sure what is going well in the acquired company continues, but they are also looking at what they can do as far as creating efficiencies.”

Chances are, higher-level employees will probably be invited to meetings with top managers at the acquiring firm. If not, you need to start connecting with the new management and get your name out there so you can snag a seat at the integration table.

Learn everything you can about the new company. You can even make calls or send e-mails to key officials when you have an appropriate opening so you can get to know them — and they can get to know you. Talk about what your unit is doing and outline your responsibilities. And offer suggestions on how to make things better, or how to compliment an existing project, or how to grow a division, experts say. But do this all with real information about the new company and its business strategies and goals.

For rank-and-file employees, it’s easy to become a nameless face in the crowd after a takeover, so you have to do what you can to raise your profile.

“There’s a natural tendency to duck and cover after a merger,” says Will Werhane, global managing director for Hay Group Insight. “No one wants to be the person that stands out and might be identified as being redundant.”

But executives are looking for people who “step up, even in difficult times, and find ways to make a difference,” Werhane says. “Our experience has been that those who make their presence known are the ones that stay around.”

If you can, it might be a good idea to move over to a division that’s actually making money so you don’t end up on the merger trash heap just because your particular unit or office is struggling.

Focus on doing a good job
And don’t slack off now. Focus on doing your job well and even consider putting in extra hours so your bosses think they can’t live without you.

Attend every informational meeting the new owners hold, and make sure to get the new managers' cards so you can follow-up with an e-mail to say, “It was nice meeting you.” Be sure to slip in some information about yourself and what you do.

Try not to come across as an arrogant jerk. Instead, just let them know who you are and what you can do to help make the combined company great.

“It’s a fine line you walk,” says RHR’s Schalm. It’s hard to just go out there and sell yourself, she adds, but be on the lookout for opportunities and people you need to know.

“The acquiring company is very interested in the talent because what these organizations are buying is the people that come with it,” she explains. “They actually want to know who they have and where the talent is.”

Many managers will rely on what other managers say about their staff, Schalm says, and they’ll also be looking at past performance reviews if they decide to cherry pick in a certain unit and not just get rid of the whole division.

It’s not uncommon for workers to be interviewed by a so-called integration committee and even be asked to take a psychological assessment test, she adds.

Whatever you do, resist the urge to say, “That’s not how we used to do things around here,” Schalm says.

You have to come to terms with the fact that, indeed, it’s not the same around here anymore, and focus on how you can make this new place the best for your career.

In the end, you may decide the new owners just aren’t your cup of tea. So dust off your resume, just in case.

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