Interview questions and attitude for a particular case

[jari001]

Hi everyone and sorry in advance for a long post!

I will be interviewing for a position with a company in a week and I wanted to get some advice about extra steps I should take given the company's current situation.
I am interviewing with Company A for a standard process engineer position within the aseptic filling market within pharmaceuticals. Company A was just recently bought by a much larger Company B; Company A is unique to Company B's portfolio but Company B is known for acquisitions. Some contacts in geographic proximity of Company A have told me that a lot of people recently left Company A.

The team I am joining is brand new, meaning the manager is just starting to hire his team. Since this group would be mostly responsible for daily support activities, I find it disconcerting that such a group is having to be formed. On the other hand, the site had a recent and large expansion so maybe this is another process engineering group to support the additional capacity. Another thing I find odd is that my interview party has only 1 out of 4 members with more than 3 years at the company. EDIT: I will be interviewing with my potential manager, two automation managers (one of whom is the person with 3 years exp), one director of engineering, and one of the reliability engineers.

Question -
I am hoping forum members can suggest some ways to gauge how the acquisition has affected the site morale and staffing (aside from directly asking which might not be well received during an interview).

Concern -
Joining a team/company during a rebuilding period is interesting to me because I think I can really set my own direction and earn good advancement opportunities but I don't know any warning signs of a impending disaster. I've been working for 3 years with mostly contract working experience, so I'd like to take a full time position so I can have some stable career growth but I don't want to walk into a situation that becomes a disaster after a year when I was thinking about making it my 3 to 5 year plan.

Thanks,
~J

 

[berkshire]

You may find as you already suspect, that you are part of the " New Broom" . You may be part of replacing a team that has already been terminated, Keep your ears and eyes open during the interview, and watch body language of the interviewers . Hopefully you will be interviewing with the managers , not HR.
B.E.

You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.

 

[CWB1]

Pessimism says there is something wrong with the company if large groups are leaving. Optimism says they left because there was something wrong with them that the new management wouldnt tolerate. I've experienced both and admittedly the second did seem a bit implausible at the time, but when decision time came the offer was excellent, the work interesting, and the general attitude of most employees was very happy and friendly so the decision was fairly easy.

 

[RossABQ]

It is also possible that many of those who left did so to ensure their pension rights, or simply retired, or were encouraged to leave to bring in cheaper, younger talent. All you can do is ask in the interviews, and judge the position they offer on its merits.

 

[jari001]

I had the interview yesterday and it looks like the Process Engineering group is forming basically from scratch because it didn't exist formally. I think this situation is a far cry from my thoughts of a sinking ship/a purging of the old guard. Now to wait and see if I get an offer.