This is one of the worst possible things that can happen to you in your career.
Imagine the scenario...
You have had a fairly stable and successful career. You have been in a leadership position for several years now, and you still have another decade or so to look forward to in your career.
You recently came across a great job opportunity which scored on all fronts : company credentials, scope of the role, designation, growth prospects, learning opportunity, compensation, etc. The leadership team is a great set of professionals who you vibe very well with; and your chemistry with the manager, you would be reporting into, has also been great.
After discussing the opportunity with the important people in your life and after some serious introspection, you decide to take up the offer and move into the new role. You are very excited about the new chapter in your professional life.
And before you know what hit you, you are out of a job!!!
Within a short period of your joining the company (weeks or months), the company is acquired by another organisation (and these days, the acquiring company doesn't necessarily have to be a larger organisation) and in the reorganisation exercise, your role has been eliminated.
So what do you do when you find yourself in such a situation? Here are a few things you could do :
1. First and foremost, try find out as much as possible about the company you are joining, to avoid being caught in such a situation. Reading all about the company through news items on the internet, analysts' reports, etc. would give you some idea about the possibility of the company being a take-over target in the near horizon.
2. As far as possible, ensure that a severance clause is included in your appointment letter/ contract, so that if such a situation were to arise, you would have bought yourself some time (paid for by the company) while you found an alternate job.
3. Go back to your previous employer and have a conversation about the possibility of moving back into your previous role or a related role. This could be the quickest way of getting back into a job. (But the assumption here is that you have not burned bridges and had exited the previous organisation gracefully.)
4. Speak to the manager who hired you in the acquired company to identify possible alternate roles in the acquiring entity. It might make sense to take up a different role, even if it is not the ideal role, since it buys you time to plan your next career move.
5. Work your network to connect with the key leaders in the acquiring company to have informal conversations wherever possible. This would give you some idea into the acquiring company's working style and its plans. At the least, it helps you build some brand equity with the new leadership team, which could count when roles are being defined.
6. Connect with the search consultants you know and let them know about the situation so that they can reach out to you if they are working on any relevant assignments. Also connect with the leaders in the industry, especially the key competitors of the acquiring company, to explore possible roles.
Most importantly, be mentally prepared for a 4 to 6 month horizon before you can come up with relevant options for yourself.
And before long, your career should be back on the fast-track!
Imagine the scenario...
You have had a fairly stable and successful career. You have been in a leadership position for several years now, and you still have another decade or so to look forward to in your career.
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You recently came across a great job opportunity which scored on all fronts : company credentials, scope of the role, designation, growth prospects, learning opportunity, compensation, etc. The leadership team is a great set of professionals who you vibe very well with; and your chemistry with the manager, you would be reporting into, has also been great.
After discussing the opportunity with the important people in your life and after some serious introspection, you decide to take up the offer and move into the new role. You are very excited about the new chapter in your professional life.
And before you know what hit you, you are out of a job!!!
Within a short period of your joining the company (weeks or months), the company is acquired by another organisation (and these days, the acquiring company doesn't necessarily have to be a larger organisation) and in the reorganisation exercise, your role has been eliminated.
So what do you do when you find yourself in such a situation? Here are a few things you could do :
1. First and foremost, try find out as much as possible about the company you are joining, to avoid being caught in such a situation. Reading all about the company through news items on the internet, analysts' reports, etc. would give you some idea about the possibility of the company being a take-over target in the near horizon.
2. As far as possible, ensure that a severance clause is included in your appointment letter/ contract, so that if such a situation were to arise, you would have bought yourself some time (paid for by the company) while you found an alternate job.
3. Go back to your previous employer and have a conversation about the possibility of moving back into your previous role or a related role. This could be the quickest way of getting back into a job. (But the assumption here is that you have not burned bridges and had exited the previous organisation gracefully.)
4. Speak to the manager who hired you in the acquired company to identify possible alternate roles in the acquiring entity. It might make sense to take up a different role, even if it is not the ideal role, since it buys you time to plan your next career move.
5. Work your network to connect with the key leaders in the acquiring company to have informal conversations wherever possible. This would give you some idea into the acquiring company's working style and its plans. At the least, it helps you build some brand equity with the new leadership team, which could count when roles are being defined.
6. Connect with the search consultants you know and let them know about the situation so that they can reach out to you if they are working on any relevant assignments. Also connect with the leaders in the industry, especially the key competitors of the acquiring company, to explore possible roles.
Most importantly, be mentally prepared for a 4 to 6 month horizon before you can come up with relevant options for yourself.
And before long, your career should be back on the fast-track!
