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[randomlife]

After a night without sleep and half day of my first interview ever, I literally felt asleep while I was writing a thank you email to the chair, and just woke up to find out I was offered the position. Hooray! (So thank you email doesn't count :) Thank you guys very much for answering my earlier posts in this forum.

A few things came into my mind, which I would greatly appreciate some comments/suggestions.

1) I promised two weeks of decision time, so I was given two weeks to decide. I guess it's reasonable? What kind of things I could and should get to know about before making the decision? I like the city and like the university & people. What else would be concerns?

2) I was questioned about the starting date during the interview. While the panel chair said it would be flexible, then the HR rep in the panel said that the position should be started within 6 months since the advertisement of the postion (in my case January 2012), which she said was the UK legal requirement or something. My question is: is this the case when it comes to the starting date for accepted jobs? I was informally told by staff members during lunch that it was flexible too. I imagine this would be the most important factor that I care at this moment. Ideally I would like to defer the starting date to next summer or even later, for family as well as academic reasons.

3) The salary is on the pay scale of 8.1, which is the lowest in the ad. While I really don't care much about the minor differences, it would be nice to know how much room (if possible) I can negotiate to increase it?

4) Final question, was the decision mostly made by the department chair? I felt that he liked me the most among the panel. This question is mostly out of curiosity...

I will collect my thoughts and communicate my questions with the department chair soon. Many thanks again!

[drspouse]

It is flexible - the HR rep is talking out of their elbow. Some UK academics have six months or even longer notice periods at their current university. You may not be able to defer later than Sept 2012, though, as the department may lose the money if you wait too long. Use your current position (and other factors, though that's the most likely to fly) as a reason for not being able to start earlier ("I'm committed to teaching through June 2012/summer school").

There is definitely room to negotiate, it's worth a try.

If there is severe disagreement among the panel, usually they will discuss for longer, or sometimes not even appoint. So I think it sounds like most or all liked you, as it was so quick.

[babbinacara]

2) I was questioned about the starting date during the interview. While the panel chair said it would be flexible, then the HR rep in the panel said that the position should be started within 6 months since the advertisement of the postion (in my case January 2012), which she said was the UK legal requirement or something. My question is: is this the case when it comes to the starting date for accepted jobs? I was informally told by staff members during lunch that it was flexible too. I imagine this would be the most important factor that I care at this moment. Ideally I would like to defer the starting date to next summer or even later, for family as well as academic reasons.

4) Final question, was the decision mostly made by the department chair? I felt that he liked me the most among the panel. This question is mostly out of curiosity...

Re: 2), you are not UK/EU, right? Then special rules apply. (Welcome!) The univ will have to request a CoS (Certificate of Sponsorship) for you from the UKBA (UK Border Agency). The scenario is that the CoS cannot be requested any longer than 6 months from the time the advert went out, and the CoS must then be taken up within 3 months of its delivery.  That gives 9 months between advert and your absolutely latest arrival at the univ. There is, additionally, a nation-wide cap on the number of CoSes in any month, so there might be an extra month in there, max. I've not yet known the UKBA to be particularly relaxed about their rules, so your might have a good hard think about this timing. If you delay, the UKBA will not issue a CoS and the whole search will need to be run again (or they will simply go with whomever was second to you, if that person is UK/EU or can start sooner). If you rock up at Heathrow with an expired CoS, they can and will throw you back out. In this case, heed the HR person...these rules are relatively new and the staff and academic ctte members might not have heard of them.

4) Depends on the univ but there will have been a committee, and everyone should have gotten one vote. The dept chair might be able to turn opinions, but not necessarily. I wouldn't think about this again, if I were you. It's probably not healthy.

Congratulations.