next »

[basil_midwest]

Hi everyone,

I'm asking for some strategic advice here. My spouse and I are in two different fields. My field's hiring cycle typically attempts to fill their positions before the winter holiday break, while my spouse's field conducts all of their initial interviews at a conference held in the beginning of January.

We are looking for jobs at PUIs, and have total location flexibility. I understand these PUI positions typically have very tight timelines with regards to hiring, so everything really needs to fall into place just right for us.

This really is a sticky wicket.

The current plan is for me to apply for jobs this Fall where there are positions for my spouse nearby (or likely positions for my spouse as many of them are not advertised yet). If I make it past the phone interview stage at any of these positions, I will make it known that my spouse is applying for a job in the area and contact my spouse's potential department to ask if they would like to conduct a phone interview and to see if they would like to bring my spouse out for an on campus interview- so we could both be on campus within a short period of time.

Does this sound like a reasonable strategy? Would it be bad form for us to contact a department to which my spouse is applying to request an interview in the instances when I am invited on campus? Or, would it be better for me to request the hiring department contact my spouses department?


Thanks for your advice!

[second_body]

I'm not sure I'm following the plan. Are you considering asking departments in the university where you are interviewing to also interview your partner? Are you also considering asking nearby universities with searches in partner's field to consider interviewing your partner?

Either way, both strike me as incredibly forward and misguided. If it's the same university, broach the topic of a spousal hire when you are on the campus visit or, better yet, have an offer and are at the negotiating stage. It's really up to the dept chair to contact admin or other depts on your partner's behalf assuming the chair is amenable. If it's a different university all together, I just can't see how your actions would help. At that stage in the other department's search, its your partner's letter that should make the most convincing case for why they want to be in that dept. Not a phone call from you.

Sometimes nearby universities have relationships with one another and can make arrangements (i.e. rich private law school paying the salary of partner hires at much less wealthy but nearby state school). But these are arrangements that faculty and administration broker.

[offthemarket]

It sounds like you don't have a position from which to bargain.

These schools need to fill the positions quickly, they don't want to let good candidates slide by while someone is waiting to decide.  If your taking a job is contingent on the success of the decision in a different department, and this decision happens months later, then they won't offer it to you, or they will pull the offer if you ask them to wait for your spouse to see if she gets hired.

It sounds like you need to look into a spousal hire situation, instead of a couples-search situation, unless the searches can be done around the same time.