Elisa Freschi drew my attention to this Twitter thread on negotiating academic offers. Here's the thread re-posted:
1/My first piece of advice is simple: negotiate the terms of a TT offer you receive. Negotiation is expected, it’s the norm, even if no one ever taught you how to do it.
2/Approach the negotiation with a positive attitude (not entitled). Let them know you are excited to be their colleague.
3/Overall, don't frame your ask as "I need/deserve more" but more like "there are just a few things I need to do THE BEST JOB I CAN FOR YOU."
4/The Chair is likely your go to person. They are “on your side” and can help you frame your ask in ways that make sense for that institution. Remember THEY WANT YOU!
5/SALARY. Your based salary is the place to start because it will make the most difference in your earning power long term (your raises will be a % of if).
6/In graduate school someone showed me a graph that said on average men get 4% more salary they are first offered, for women that number is 1% (b/c women don’t ASK). Everyone should ask for at least 5%. AT LEAST. I asked for (and got) 10% more on my first job offer.
7/Do your homework. Public institutions make salaries public. When I was negotiating with for my first job at UNCG I knew the salary of every member of the department. The Chronicle has averages for most other institutions by rank.
8/The Chair likely can’t offer you what an Associate Professor is making if you are hired as an Assistant, but she can offer you almost as much (and then has a recent to ask for an equity raise for that Associate next year).
9/Asking for money is awkward, I get it. A simple, “I am excited about the possibility of joining your department and a salary of X would make my decision easier” or “I was hoping for a salary of X” should work.
10/RESEARCH SUPPORT. Depending on what you need, this is the time to ask! And just b/c you are in a humanist doesn’t mean you don’t need guaranteed research funds. In my case I needed to do a lot of international travel of research so got a hefty start up fund for that.
11/Research funds can also pay for computer upgrades, professional dues, developmental editors, fancy office supplies, all kinds of things that will make you more research productive. And they are NOT TAXED.
12/TEACHING SUPPORT: If you have to teach new classes at the new job, ask for course develop funds (perhaps as summer salary) to get those new courses prepped. Think about if you need funds to purchase materials for library collection (that you can assign).
13/COURSE RELEASES: These can make a huge difference to you. First TT job? Ask for 2-3 course releases to take as a pre-tenure leave. If the institution already has a pre-tenure leave, ask for 1-2 to help you get new courses prepped and keep your research on track the first year.
14/Keep in mind that depending on the institution some things are easier to give you than others. Sometimes research funds are a no go, but course releases are fine. And vice versa. This is what the Chair can help with.
15/And just b/c they say no to something you ask for doesn’t mean they don’t value you. Institutions tie chairs'/deans’ hands on some matters. Don’t take it personally. The negotiation is a business transaction.
I wonder how accurate readers in the know think this advice is for philosophy. Six years ago, a job-candidate in philosophy had their offer rescinded mid-negotiation. I don't know how often this happens, as there may well be people who keep these things quiet (I don't know). In any case, for what it's worth (and I could be wrong), the Twitter thread above seems to me probably far too optimistic (and potentially dangerous) for the philosophy market (with the exceptions, perhaps, being the R1 and elite SLAC markets). My spouse recently negotiated competing offers in a STEM field, and in her case the above thread seems to me exactly right. But her discipline's job market is very good. Philosophy's market, as we all know, is horrible: it's a "buyer's market", meaning that there are far more qualified candidates than positions. My sense is that in general, this means that hiring institutions may be a heck of a lot less willing to negotiate. Sure, there are probably really good R1's that have the money and desire to negotiate substantially to get the candidate they really want. But R2's? SLACs?
In my case, all of my offers (after my first VAP) were from SLACs, and in each case the only thing the institutions were willing to negotiate on were salary. Further, I think it's really important to be sensitive to the norms at the institution that has an offer to you. For example, to the best of my knowledge (from fairly good first-hand experience), many SLACs just don't negotiate course releases, additional teaching funds, travel funds, or research funding. Salary may be the most you can get, and asking for a lot more could go very poorly. And, while I'd like to say that the worst that can happen is that "they say no", the above case shows that assuming this can (perhaps rarely) result in disaster. My suggestion, then, is this: try to find out what the norms are at the institution that has given you the offer! For example, suppose you have a good rapport with someone in that department: the chair, search chair, or another faculty member. Consider asking them what they think can and cannot be negotiated before you actually try to negotiate. My sense is that these people typically only want to help you. They're not deans or provosts looking to keep costs down. They want to hire you, and they probably want you to be happy! So, consider asking. See what they say. That's my advice.
What do you all think about the above Twitter thread, my alternative, and negotiating in general?
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