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[sociological]

I am finishing my first year of a TT job in the social sciences at a very good R1 (school A). My spouse has been offered a TT job at a really top R1 (school B). At the moment, top R1 is not able to do a spousal hire. My R1 is only able to offer him a non-TT job. So, spouse is inclined to take the job at School B. They are not within driving distance, so we will have to live apart, which we are reluctant to do because we're trying to conceive. But we're willing to do it for a year or two to see while we try to see if we can get jobs together. We have been told by someone in the know that the best way to get a spousal hire at school B is for spouse to negotiate for me to be a visiting prof there for a year, while taking a leave of absence from my current job, and then hope that they will be willing to turn the visiting job into a permanent one (perhaps if there is a job opening in the appropriate department). This would also perhaps make School A more willing to accommodate my spouse.

The other strategy most people mention is that we should both be on the market trying to get outside offers.

Given that it's April, it seems like it would be too late to negotiate the visiting position for next year. It would certainly not endear me to my current department. But does it make sense to wait till the 2011/2012 academic year? I am also concerned that if I wait a year and do the visiting position, and then it doesn't end up working out with school B, I'll jeopardize my 4th year leave, which I want to use to do research overseas.

Has anyone else dealt with this kind of situation?

[drpud]

Ugh, that is an awful situation personally. Professionally you are both doing really well and should be congratulated, but I can understand the torment involved with the rest of it, especially since you would like to have a child.
I know a few academic couples who managed to (eventually) solve their dual career problem. I am still struggling with mind, so please keep in mind that the anecdotes offered here are not from my life. One scenario worked like this:

Person A got a great TT job at a R1 (Univ. X)
Person B, A's spouse, remained unemployed for a couple years. They had 2 kids. Hu published, won a big fellowship, got a TT job in another state a mid-tier Univ. (Univ. Y) but not too far apart (like 4 hrs drive) from A's job
A and B worked at separate jobs for 2 years. A got tenure.
Both went back on the market. Person A landed a coveted TT job at a TOP R1 (Univ. Z) . Person A's school--Univ. X--was keen to keep hu but A would only stay if they offered person B, currently at Univ. Y, a spousal hire
Univ. Y was unable to counter and Univ. Z was unwilling, so both spouses ended up on the tenure track at Univ. X.
This whole process took 5-6 years and that was before the recession.
Bottom line: spousal deals are rare unless you've got the goods or your spouse does AND someone else is willing to snatch you away from your current univ.

I've never heard of the visiting thing working out in the end I'm afaraid. Only separation and patience and lots of applications and interviews.
 
 

[drpud]

I am still struggling with mind

This is a telling typo . . .

[niceday]

I am finishing my first year of a TT job in the social sciences at a very good R1 (school A). My spouse has been offered a TT job at a really top R1 (school B). At the moment, top R1 is not able to do a spousal hire. My R1 is only able to offer him a non-TT job. So, spouse is inclined to take the job at School B. They are not within driving distance, so we will have to live apart, which we are reluctant to do because we're trying to conceive. But we're willing to do it for a year or two to see while we try to see if we can get jobs together. We have been told by someone in the know that the best way to get a spousal hire at school B is for spouse to negotiate for me to be a visiting prof there for a year, while taking a leave of absence from my current job, and then hope that they will be willing to turn the visiting job into a permanent one (perhaps if there is a job opening in the appropriate department). This would also perhaps make School A more willing to accommodate my spouse.

The other strategy most people mention is that we should both be on the market trying to get outside offers.

Given that it's April, it seems like it would be too late to negotiate the visiting position for next year. It would certainly not endear me to my current department. But does it make sense to wait till the 2011/2012 academic year? I am also concerned that if I wait a year and do the visiting position, and then it doesn't end up working out with school B, I'll jeopardize my 4th year leave, which I want to use to do research overseas.

Has anyone else dealt with this kind of situation?

Is your spouse already on the T-T?

You have the most leverage during the initial hiring. This place is full of stories of people who were told that the administration hoped to do a spousal hire down the line ... and never did. Once the person is stuck at their job, administration becomes less willing to part with dwindling resources to appease someone who's already there.

It will likely require being constantly on the job market for a few years to solve your problem. So, your best strategy depends on how competitive you both are, how crowded your subfields may have become as well as the biological clock.

Good luck.

Good luck.

[tenured_feminist]

If you've only finished one year at school A, unfortunately I think this is not the right time to consider decamping for school B either in terms of your tenure clock or in terms of the time of the semester. If I were a department head, I would understand why you wanted to go to school B as a visitor, but it would make me question your commitment to stick it out and do what's necessary to get tenure at school A. And it would leave me with a somewhat bad taste in my mouth if I had to go to the dean to beg for a leave for you and scramble to find someone to cover your classes next year.

The other thing is that unless school B has an established track record of hiring trailers as visitors and then converting the line into a tenure-stream position, I'd be highly skeptical. Do your research, and do not resign from school A without a firm tenure-track position in hand. In the current market, new tenure-track lines are about as plentiful as hens' teeth, so do not let school B bedazzle you with cotton candy and rainbow stickers to your ultimate detriment.

Look for a school that will hire you both outright, and keep the pressure on subtly at both of your institutions. Good luck -- it's tough.

[buleguy]

This is a difficult situation indeed.

If your spouse accepts the non-tt position at School A is there reason to believe it would become tenure-track at some point in the next few years?

If s/he took the offer from School B is there really reason to think School A would be more inclined to come up with a tt position for her/him?

Seems like you might be caught between staying together with your spouse stuck in a non-tenure position or being apart with two nice tenure-track jobs.

Quite a tough call. Wish I had more wisdom to pass along.

[sociological]

Thanks for the advice/comments. I agree with tenured feminist that going off to School B (where spouse will be) next year would not endear me to my current department. Here's what I am currently thinking. I would try to get a visiting position at School B for 2011-2012. Not permanently leaving my job but taking a leave of absence, if they will let me do so. My hope is that this might give my home department some incentive for trying to get another faculty line, while also allowing us to be together. And fall of 2011 we would both be on the job market. From what I have heard about School B, there is some precedent for visiting positions to turn into tenure track. But I think it would probably require one or both of us to get a counter-offer. If nothing works out, we both go back to our jobs and keep looking for institutions that will hire both of us at the same time.