Negotiating A First Academic Job
WHAT IS A FAIR SALARY? CAN I ASK for moving expenses? When can faculty members negotiate reductions in their teaching loads? These are the kinds of questions graduate faculty often hear from their students who have just been offered academic jobs.
Besides training young scholars as teachers and researchers, we also mentor them in their search for jobs. As a result, we're expected to know the answers to such questions. In this article, I offer suggestions to the just-appointed faculty member who seeks to be a savvy participant in negotiating the terms of a first job. More senior faculty members can share these suggestions with their students to help them avoid feeling surprised or taken advantage of during such negotiations. Academic departments conducting job searches may also find this information useful: by thinking from the candidate's point of view, departments may be better able to help newly appointed professors make a smooth transition from graduate student to faculty member.
Navigating the Process
ONCE A JOB OFFER IS MADE, ONE LARGE TASK REMAINSnegotiating the terms of the position. As a successful candidate, you can express enthusiasm, joy, and even gratitude. Just don't say "yes" right away. You need time to collect your thoughts, clarify the details of the offer, and gather more information. Then you must evaluate the offer in terms of your priorities, negotiate for what you want, and determine whether the final offer is acceptable.
Knowing Yourself Most people begin by considering the two most tangible aspects of the job: salary and institutional prestige. That is the traditional, competitive view of a college or university appointment: what is the "best job"? But your day-to-day work will involve many facets. Now is the time to start thinking in terms of "best for me." At the center of your considerations should be this question: what do I need to be happy, productive, and (yes) get tenure? Try to set priorities for different aspects of your future faculty life. Figure out what you need to be maximally productive, and establish what you can get by on. Ask for the former, settle for the latter. Your ability to understand and articulate what is important to you will ease the negotiation process. Once you describe explicitly and concretely what it is you want, it becomes easier for others to work with you to satisfy your needs.
Keep in mind that the department has constraints, and that you will probably not get everything you want. Some schools work with fixed salary schedules by convention or union contract. Others simply have limited resources, and principles of equity between people and departments limit the number of special arrangements that can be made. Moreover, the money to supply certain items may be controlled by different people (the department, dean, or provost), and it may be impossible to predict which terms and conditions of the appointment are negotiable. Do not assume: ask.