next »

[chaud]

That's good news! I think some places are more willing to do this than others.

[prof_smartypants]

Anyone know anything about a non-academic spousal hire? I'll be on the job market for a TT position next year, and my husband would be interested in (and qualified for) an administrative or non-teaching research position at the University. This seems more likely to be negotiable, but maybe I am kidding myself. Anyone negotiate a spousal hire like this before? What about having people at the University use their networks to help him in his job search outside of the university setting to facilitate your ability to relocate?

[beppo]

To the OP: so how did everything turn out in the end?

[wonderland]

To the OP: so how did everything turn out in the end?

An update. Both schools I got the offer from have promised a t-t position for my SO who has been on a tt position elsewhere. Although I may have to make my decision before the appointment for my SO is finalized, it seems that we can work things out quite nicely. The choice of which school to go to has become the harder thing now since both are great schools and have their different comparative advantages. Thanks for all the suggestions we have got so far.

[heronhouse]

Congrats, wonderland!  Now, why don't you start giving *us* suggestions about how you have been so successful!!!  ; )

[wonderland]

Congrats, wonderland!  Now, why don't you start giving *us* suggestions about how you have been so successful!!!  ; )

Hi Heronhouse. Sorry for the delay because I have been trying to tie together the loose ends of the offer. I am not sure to what extent our situation has relevance to others with two-body problems, because we feel extremely lucky that the schools we have dealt with this year are very (or perhapas unusually) generous and accommodating (given that this is my first time on the market in the Humanities). But just in case it may be helpful to anyone at all, I will share some of our experience or thoughts here.

In a nutshell, one of my offers has a institutionalized policy of providing a fix-term position for a new hire's SO (for a few years at most). This created enough pressure for the other school to search for more attractive deal, and thus a tt for my SO within two weeks, and this in turn encouraged the first school to go for a tt as well. The fact that my SO already holds a great tt position significantly helped in this situation in demonstrating SO's qualification for such a position at the new school.
 
What we have learned from this case are as follows (of course partly based on some inferrences): (1) In order to create a SO, it might be crucial to have at least two offers; (2) both schools are genuinely interested in getting you (presumably, you are not only the first choice at both schools but also have substantial edges over the next candidate); (3) the two offers are comparable in academic standing and but have DiFFERENT/comparative advantages, so both might have the incentive to "outbid" the other by accomodating the SO as an additional edge; (4) if one of the schools has regularly offered some accommodation for a new hire's SO (even if not a tt position), this might serve as a good start for the negotiation to proceed; (5) another important thing is to have patient and nice Chairs and Deans to work with throughout the whole process at both schools, so that at least one of the schools will create a tt (hopefully) for the SO. (Even if we had to make a choice btw the schools, we really admired and will remain gratefuly to the Chair and Dean of the school that we won't join for their accommodation and patience).
Some of this might sound like a matter of pure luck, but it also takes the initiate and efforts to work the whole thing out. Above all, one also needs to handle the negotiation professionally and in good faith, since it is not easy for all parties involved in this process. Either way, as job candidates, we (at least I) should be thankful to the schools and administrators who were willing to seriously explore the possibility of a spousal hire, even though they might not always be successful, due to institutional culture, budgetary restraint, and so on. Best of luck to all. 

[larryc]

To answer the original question, it is damned unlikely.

Hah! Take that LarryC, you boring old know-it-all!

Seriously, congratulations. You guys must be great, and good for the institution to have such progressive policies.

[tenured_feminist]

Some of this might sound like a matter of pure luck, but it also takes the initiate and efforts to work the whole thing out. Above all, one also needs to handle the negotiation professionally and in good faith, since it is not easy for all parties involved in this process.

This is well worth pulling out and emphasizing. Congratulations on handling this so well. I suspect that part of the reason you succeeded is because you had this attitude.

[canadia]

What we have learned from this case are as follows (of course partly based on some inferrences): (1) In order to create a SO, it might be crucial to have at least two offers; (2) both schools are genuinely interested in getting you (presumably, you are not only the first choice at both schools but also have substantial edges over the next candidate); (3) the two offers are comparable in academic standing and but have DiFFERENT/comparative advantages, so both might have the incentive to "outbid" the other by accomodating the SO as an additional edge; (4) if one of the schools has regularly offered some accommodation for a new hire's SO (even if not a tt position), this might serve as a good start for the negotiation to proceed; (5) another important thing is to have patient and nice Chairs and Deans to work with throughout the whole process at both schools, so that at least one of the schools will create a tt (hopefully) for the SO. (Even if we had to make a choice btw the schools, we really admired and will remain gratefuly to the Chair and Dean of the school that we won't join for their accommodation and patience).
Some of this might sound like a matter of pure luck, but it also takes the initiate and efforts to work the whole thing out. Above all, one also needs to handle the negotiation professionally and in good faith, since it is not easy for all parties involved in this process. Either way, as job candidates, we (at least I) should be thankful to the schools and administrators who were willing to seriously explore the possibility of a spousal hire, even though they might not always be successful, due to institutional culture, budgetary restraint, and so on. Best of luck to all.

This kind of jives w/ what one school told my partner:

1. the SO must have a tt-job, preferably from a relatively comparable school OR a cv that shows scholarly worth

2. when that gets taken care of, partner goes out on the job market and gets an offer

3. partner goes to dean/provost and negotiates a spousal accommodation at that first school.

This preferably happens when the first also has a line open, according to what we were told.


For what it's worth, we didn't go with this school, instead choosing a school that gave me a better offer that would help me land a tt job next job season. The dept we chose is quite large and thus has lines opening up quite frequently.