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May 07, 2008, 07:05 PM ET
The Siren Call of an Overseas Position
In my previous post on good advice from mentors, I mentioned that of not taking an overseas position while I was A.B.D. I thought I’d follow up on that.
During my doctoral program, I received a February phone call out of the blue from a dean at a college with an overseas branch. The campus was in a quiet, tropical country. It was near the beach. The pay was extremely good in terms of the local economy: “most of our faculty have house servants, in fact.” It was near the beach. The position included two round-trip airfares, special insurance for medevac air ambulance if necessary, and the prospect of tax-free income if I kept my days in the States within a certain limit that’s established by the feds. It was near the beach. The teaching load was very nice, with extended vacation periods. Did I mention that it was near the beach?
I was intrigued by the position and the prospect of such an experience, but I was in the early stages of being A.B.D. My mentors each said, “NO! DON’T DO IT!” I think they actually spoke in all caps, in fact! They were emphatic.
My A.B.D. status was in large part the reason I declined the kind offer, but it was so tempting. I have a feeling that there are wonderful opportunities afforded by overseas positions, but I likewise sense that timing is everything in terms of how such appointments will impact the job search down the road.
In most of the searches I’ve run, we have had at least one applicant who was serving in an overseas appointment. They are hard to treat equally because of time differences for phone calls, costs related to on-campus interviews, relocation expenses, and a ton of other reasons. Mind you, we have always tried to treat them fairly and to ignore those kinds of factors, but the challenges for overseas candidates are nigh unto insurmountable.
I do, however, know a few people who’ve held those kinds of positions and who have benefited from the experiences, though the benefits have been more personal than professional, I suspect.
I’m curious, though, about two things.
First, if you’ve had experience in an overseas appointment, what is your advice to others who are considering such a position?
Second, for those of you on the hiring committees, what’s the reality about how overseas candidates are treated?
Categories: Faculty-hiring
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