How Will the Housing Market Affect Hiring?

A few weeks ago, I attended my university’s welcome dinner for new faculty and staff members. Of the dozen or so newcomers in attendance, five of us (including me) were still trying to sell houses in our previous locations.

Not all of the hopeful sellers were senior administrators but had varied job titles, duties, and, of course, compensation.

The housing dilemma will clearly affect hiring at all levels, introducing new and complex distortions into the academic market this year. A report on that issue appeared in The Chronicle this past summer, and a thread in its On the Money forum focuses on whether people can consider applying for jobs in light of the difficulty or impossibility of selling their current homes.

The buyer’s market is potentially good news for faculty members starting their first academic jobs (presuming, of course, that they are not already homeowners). But it’s going to have long-term implications for professors and administrators at many institutions. It will make it harder than it already is to hire strong faculty members into their second jobs, and to recruit administrators from other institutions.