Academic Job Offers: How to Navigate Negotiating, Accepting and Rejecting Them
GSIG’s Vice Head, Hayley Markovich, spoke with experienced professors, newer hires, and ABD Doctoral Candidates who were recently on the job market to get their perspectives on how to approach academic job offers. She has compiled their tips and advice here to share with our members.
The Interview
The way a school treats you at the interview is a good signifier of how you’ll be treated as a faculty member. At the campus interview, you are a special guest to the department and should be treated as such. One contributor noted, “I know it’s hard when you need a job and the market is tight, but paying attention to how well you’re treated can help you see if you want to be there.”
Pay attention to what they emphasize during your visit and the discussions you have. This will also help indicate what the department finds important for the position. For example, is the teaching load higher and research funding less? Then it’s apparent the school values teaching very highly.
At the campus interview, you are a special guest to the department and should be treated as such.
Do your research
Salary ranges for publicly funded universities are available online, so take some time to look those up (both for the university you’re applying to, as well as comparable/competition universities). At your interviews they will ask about how much you hope to make in the position so knowing the salary ranges is key. Also reach out to trusted mentors for advice on salary ideas as well.
When trying to decide if a school or position is the right one for you, take time to really think about what you want out of the job. Consider things like geography, salary, if the people you talked with are family friendly. Were they collegial and welcoming?
Also think about where you might fit research-wise. If you hope to attend multiple conferences a year and publish on a regular basis, see if others in the department do the same. One contributor recommended checking out previous conference programs and seeing how many people from your school of interest attended and presented. Are they publishing journal articles or books? Is the research qualitative or quantitative? Do they produce lots of sole-authored papers or is there a lot of collaboration happening?
Ask for advice from mentors
Going to your advisor or other individuals that you consider mentors can be super helpful! They’ve been down this road before and can offer some great advice on the offer you were given. You aren’t in this alone! As one contributor told me, their advisor and another mentor were really instrumental in helping them decide whether to accept a job offer they were presented.
Negotiation
According to the contributors I talked to, there are some things you can try to negotiate. These include salary, research funding, travel funds, job packages for partners, and even house hunting tours and moving expenses.
One individual mentioned that they received a job information packet during the campus visit that contained all of the expectations for the job as well as information regarding salary, research funding, and other details. While they had expected to have had the ability to further negotiate some of these details, the school’s department chair was not open to it.
Turning down an offer
If you’ve decided to turn down an offer for whatever reason, be gracious. Contributors emphasized the importance of thank you notes (either hand written or emailed) to the program chair and search committee chair. You may also consider sending notes to the search committee members. You don’t have to tell them why you’ve turned down their offer, but thank them for the consideration and how much you enjoyed the visit. You’ll likely see the search committee at conferences and other functions in the future. And who knows, down the line a new job opportunity may pop up and someone might keep you in mind for it, recommending you to apply, so keeping in touch (if you choose) might have some future benefits too. Overall though, keep in mind that you have to make the decision that is best for you and others in your life. The school will understand. Understand your worth and know that you have the right to be happy.
Understand your worth and know that you have the right to be happy.
Don’t give up
Sometimes you might end a job search cycle without receiving an offer for a position. While that’s disheartening after you spent so much time on your applications and related materials, the contributors I talked to had some wisdom here. For one, continue researching and publishing. Keep an eye out for positions that get posted in the spring. These are often yearly renewable positions, but they can help as you continue to search for something more permanent. Also, if it’s appropriate to your research area, a post-doc position might be helpful if you might have some gaps in your CV.
Talk to your advisor, members of your committee, and other trusted mentors. They might know of different positions or calls for post-docs that might be appropriate for you. Also if you feel comfortable, you could always reach out to someone on the school’s hiring committee what you could do to make your application stronger. You might not hear back, but it is worth a shot.
The importance of connections
All of the contributors emphasized how important and helpful getting involved is to the job search. Going to conferences that are important to your field and area of study is only the first step. Make sure to get involved in the divisions and interest groups that are part of the organization. Network and meet people! Things like the AEJMC Job Hub are a great way to also lay the foundation for the job search. One contributor mentioned how much the Job Hub helped in their job search and that it was one factor that helped them get their current position.
