Last year, the company that I work for was acquired. From the fact that I’m using the present tense “work” here, you can correctly conclude that the acquisition worked out fine, and I’m still happily employed at the same company. However, when the acquisition was first announced, I was definitely shaken up. I didn’t know what to expect. As I watched the changes unfolding around me, it was fascinating to observe how different everyone’s reactions to those changes were.
Having gone through this, there’s something that I would now recommend to anyone, whether or not you’re going through an acquisition, and that’s to decide how you’re going to measure your satisfaction with your job. This can be a challenge, but it’s important to figure out in advance. If you ever decide to leave your job, you don’t want that to be a rash decision, and if you decide to stay, that should be your choice, and not inertia keeping you somewhere where you’re unhappy.
There are lots of different ways that you can evaluate this, so I’ve just put together a few of my favorite techniques below. If you have any other suggestions, I’d love to hear about them in the comments!
Caity Thinks 