Graduate Program: Going on the Market

Negotiating an Offer

• Remember that when you get a call offering you a job that this is simply the opening offer. It's a starting point and you will be expected to negotiate up from this point. A lot of things are up for grabs, but most places will not offer you things unless you ask for them.
• Find out as much as you can about the financial stability of the institution. If it's a state school, how good are relations between the school and the state legislature? Have there been hiring/pay freezes recently? Are any anticipated in the near future?
• Find out how relations between the department and the deans/higher muckety mucks are. Are there any higher level administrators who are actively hostile to the department and its mission?
• What is the cost of living like in the area? How expensive is real estate? How far will your salary go?
• Find out details regarding leave time. How much do they give you before tenure; how much do they allow you to take if you raise money elsewhere or go on unpaid leave?
• Find out what the teaching load is. How many courses will you teach per year? How many preps? Will these be graduate or undergraduate courses? Is the load negotiable? How large will the classes be? Do you get teaching assistants for large courses? Will you be repeating the same courses often? How easy is it to develop new courses or to team teach?
• Find out how teaching ties into tenure evaluations. How much does teaching count? How is teaching performance measured?
• Find out other information about tenure. How long is the tenure clock? How often will you be reviewed? What are the norms for these reviews? What are you expected to do to get tenure?
• Find out how much administrative stuff you will be expected to do. For this, you should ask not only the chair but also other junior faculty.
• Find out how TIAA/CREF contributions work. Does the university pay all of it? How much can you put in?
• Try to negotiate a deal for your significant other, if this is an issue. Many schools have trailing spouse programs that will enable your partner to have something for the first year that you're there. Get some kind of commitment, formal or informal, from the school that they will help your significant other to find a job for the long term.
• Find out about the department's child bearing leave policy if this is relevant. Also ask about the religious community if this is important to you.
• Find out what kind of computer resources they will provide for you. Ask how often they will buy you a new computer.
• Find out about administrative costs: coverage of your xeroxing, telephone calls, computer network costs, and access to Lexis/Nexis. faxes etc. etc. If access to legal stuff is important, see if they will be willing to negotiate a courtesy appointment with a law school for you.
• Find out about summer research money. How much is available and how easy is it to get?
• Find out about research assistance -- will you have a fund to hire graduate or undergraduate students to help you with your research?
• Ask for the department to cover your moving expenses. They will give you a low figure to start with -- you should call a few moving companies and come back to them with a figure that will cover all of your expenses.
• Ask the department if they will give you some money to come out and look for a place to live.

Dr. Julie Novkov
April 1996 Placement: University of Washington