Is it Belcamp? Somebody must live there...

[mlist -at- safenet-inc -dot- com]

We're a branch office, having been swallowed by a couple 
of larger companies in succession. So today the Pres/COO 
came by on a whirlwind tour of our cubes. In fact, I hear 
that she caught an earlier flight out of Maryland, in 
order to be here (in Ottawa, Canada) long enough to meet 
people individually rather than just doing a group "Hiya" 
in the cafeteria.

So, when she learns that I'm a/the techwriter for our 
division, she makes a strange remark. "Ah, one of the 
few. We're having a hard time getting enough writers 
for everything."

I expressed surprise, noting that there seem to be 
bunches of us lying around, under-employed, ripe for 
the picking. Cheap, too.   :-)

She asked for my card. Fortunately, I was able to lay 
hands on a fresh, shiny SafeNet card, and not one of 
the Chrysalis or Rainbow ones (previous incarnations 
of this company/branch). Since she hadn't done that 
with other people in the cube-hood, I get the impression 
that she's actually got something in mind, and may 
follow up.

The company seems OK, as companies go, so I think that 
scarcity of tech-writers may be due to location of the 
head office in Belcamp MD, and the fact that the writers 
from the former Rainbow Technologies all went away 
after the acquisition, while morale out in Irvine was 
at low ebb.

This is not an ad. There are no actual positions at the 
moment, but those who are lean and hungry might keep 
their antennae tuned.

Before now, I would have thought that mergers and 
acquisitions were times when writers and lots of other 
people would be finding themselves redundant, but 
apparently there's another perspective. Integration of 
companies, especially companies that are geographically 
scattered, takes some time, and it's not unheard of for 
people at various divisions (in both the acquired and 
the acquiring companies) to feel anxious, untethered, 
etc.  So they quit "ahead of the axe" and search out 
greener, more stable pastures.

With integration mostly complete, half a year after the 
merge, the resulting company finds itself short of some 
skills that it *thought* it had acquired... or that it 
just overlooked in the early excitement and confusion.

If you are currently un-/under-employed, take a look 
around your area for local branches/divisions of 
companies that are sporting new letterhead. Might be 
some opportunities.

Kevin


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