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[anon]

I asked this question in another thread, but it was buried. Does anyone have experience in negotiating spousal hires when spouses are in different fields (such as humanities and science)? Is it easier or harder than when the two people are in the same discipline? R1 vs SLAC? We are willing to accept a non-TT position, but would like a permanent position. Do we start by asking for a TT position and see what they can do?

[Anon]

The answers to your questions may depend on your situation (do you have an offer?) and the school (their history with spousal hires). Many people do not like spousal hires because they feel they lost a job to someone's spouse or because their department was basically told to hire someone they didn't otherwise want. I've also seen many cases where spousal hires were treated like second-class citizens because they didn't compete for the job on their own merits. So while spousal hires are common, you may run into people with these attitudes, whether they say it our not. I would not be too forceful if I were you unless you really won't take the offer without a t-t position for your spouse. I have never been a spousal hire or negotiated one for my spouse, so maybe others can give you more advice.

[LuckyDuck]

Hi,
my experience is this: I was interviewed & hired at a master's granting second tier university.  Upon the offer, the old "what will it take to get you" was phrased as "it's about the spouse, right?" Yep, I said.  I had been on half a dozen interviews, so had many irons with which to burn myself (which they knew, more or less).  They were able to cobble up a 1-2 yr full time, non-tenure track position for my spouse.  

One year later, they converted spouse's position to t-t.  I think that really, that's all you can ask, unless the spouse is established on the track elsewhere & definitely a proven, or hot, commodity.  To ask someone to whip up an interview schedule, approval, and a spousal offer right away is asking a lot.  To bring them there temporarily & let that person prove their worth/colleagiality, etc. to the new dep't.  Of course, my spouse worked very hard that year...

I definitely think that the farther apart the two people's fields are, the better. Mine: life sciences, spouses: social sciences.  I guess that SLAC vs. R1 may not matter.  SLAC's might be more willing to be flexible in expertise? So I'd address the issue of needing a full-time, t-t, but see how they approach it.  

Some places I was interviewing, the dean looked up on the internet nearby (60 miles!) schools to see how their openings were, offered to give me the spouse's dep't chair phone number.  (Like, duh!  Don't you think I did that already???)  Other places asked for spouse's CV & considered how it might fit with them.  That made me feel like they were at least open to the possibility.  This best one mentioned the concrete possibility of starting out full-time but non t-t, with possibility of converting.  That, again, let me feel that they considered that route a real possibility, like they had done that.  Try approaching it that way, I guess; gauge from their reception of your needs what they might be likely to do.

Like the New York lottery catchphrase: "Hey, you never know!"
Good luck!

[%sig%]

[Seeker]

I've been dealing with the spousal situation myself. My wife and I are both in the social sciences, but in very different fields that are sometimes housed in different colleges/schools. Our experience thus far, and what we've consistently heard from other people, is that location tends to make more of a difference in how friendly departments are to spousal issues than any other issue. While the size, prestige, and funding of the institution also matter, the overwhelming trend seems to be that schools in Podunk, USA, really go the extra mile to secure positions for spouses. Schools in small towns with limited other educational institutions tend to be much more flexible about spousal hiring than institutions in large metropolitan areas.  Pretty much the only couples we know where a school created a TT job for the spouse are in very small towns in rural areas.  However, this is not to say that all schools in urban areas will not consider spousal hires. For example, I recently received my first offer from a university with at least 20 universities and colleges within 30 minutes drive, and the dean at that institution immediately offered to forward my wife's file to the appropriate department. And I have a friend who is at a university in the middle of nowhere, and that school did almost nothing to help find a position for her husband, who is in another field. In general, it does seem that those in different fields fare better than those in the same field, and that if at least one person is really "hot," even schools that generally don't do a lot of spousal hiring will consider it. We all wish this could be a more predictable process, but unfortunately spousal hiring policies and practices vary considerably across institutions. At some schools, you may be able to find information about spousal hiring policies on their websites, and many have reputations for rarely, if ever, accommodating spouses (especially common among large R1s). Personally, I would definitely aim high and see what can be done. My wife recently asked for a TT job for me, and while we haven't received an official reply, the dean and chair seemed very amenable to the proposition. But definitely be prepared to end with something less.