The announcement arrives on a Tuesday morning, with a video of two chief executives smiling in front of a joint logo. An exciting next chapter. Nothing changes for now. You read it twice and then open the job boards, mostly out of nerves.
Close them for a moment. An acquisition is unsettling, but it is also one of the few times a company's map gets redrawn in public, and people who stay calm and curious often come out of it with more scope than they had before.
First, separate what you know from what you fear. Nothing changes for now is usually true for a few months and rarely true for a year. Expect systems to merge, teams to be compared and some roles to overlap. You do not yet know which. Very often, neither does your manager.
Then go and meet the other side early. Find your opposite numbers in the buying company. Ask how they work, what they build, what they are proud of. Do it out of genuine interest, not to campaign. When the decisions about whose system survives get made, the people who already understand both sides are the ones asked to help, and helping is where new responsibility comes from.
Learn how the new parent decides things. It will have its own review process, its own levels, its own idea of what senior means. Find out how your level maps to theirs, in writing, before the mapping is done for you without anyone asking.
Keep doing visibly good work through the uncertainty. Plenty of people quietly coast while they wait for news, and it shows. The quarter after a deal closes is when new leaders form their first impressions of everybody, and those impressions last.
At the same time, be practical. Update your CV. Have a few conversations elsewhere, so that if the news turns bad you are choosing rather than scrambling. Looking after yourself and showing up properly are not in conflict.
And give it real time before you decide how you feel. The first months are noisy and full of slogans. Judge the new company by what it actually does with you in its second and third quarter, not by the welcome video.
– Asael Shinder
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