How to Turn a Merger Into a Career Opportunity

By DJ Edgerton

People are so worried about keeping their jobs these days that they’re keeping their heads down and can’t stop thinking about whether they’ll be laid off.

Can you blame them? Considering the rate at which mergers are happening in the pharmaceutical industry, it seems like we’ll be down to one massive monolith by New Year’s.

Of course, with every merger come redundancies, efficiencies, rightsizing, and all of those other long words that mean layoffs. Moreover, the ripple expands. With all of those job losses come the corresponding worry of all of the people who worked with and worked for all of those people. Vendors, agencies, consultants: it takes all kinds of supportive companies to make a corporation flourish, and with the changes facing so many of those corporations, those small companies’ futures are in question.

So yes, this fear and preoccupation is entirely understandable, and probably useful – but only to a degree.

To let it consume you is not only unhealthy, it’s completely counterproductive. We’ve seen people in newly merged organizations who have basically just thrown in the towel. What a bad move!

Either you’re going to stay where you are, or you’ll move on. But either way, you have to keep doing good work. And to keep doing your job well, you have to keep thinking!

(And no, not thinking about who’s getting a package or when announcements will be made.)

Thinking about your work. Thinking about solving problems. Thinking creatively.

Yes, think about the uncertainties you’re facing. Do what you can to address them and secure your future. Hedge your bets, have a pity party. And then get over it.

If everyone else is sitting around biting their nails, don’t waste the empty stage. This is the moment to float the ideas, to speak up, to step out and speak up. This is your golden opportunity to shine.