First Person

Choosing the Right Offer in Computer Science

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By Joseph Livingston

By the end of April, my search for a tenure-track position as an assistant professor of computer science was going extremely well. I had several offers in hand and was anticipating more from departments that had not finished interviewing all of their candidates.

Although clearly in an enviable position, I found the pressure mounting with each passing day. Universities that had extended offers weeks ago wanted to know where they stood and why I was delaying a "second visit." Family members wanted to help me make an "ordered list" of what I wanted, which I resisted to avoid disappointment in case some other offers didn't come through. My significant other was eager to narrow the field and focus on places where we would be most likely to live. Finally, I was putting plenty of pressure on myself to make the decision that would lead to the happiest life and the most successful professional career.

My conversations with department heads and faculty members in various departments that I was considering all began to sound the same. Their remarks to me, taken out of context, sounded more like we were dating than negotiating an academic position:

• "We really like you and you really like us, so I think you should consider this a little longer."

• "We've decided we can't wait for you any longer."

• "We're obviously disappointed, but I know you had a tough decision to make."

• "I'm afraid this is not going to work out."

• "I really hope this works out. Please call me at any time if you just want to talk."

Although this realization made me laugh and relieved some of the pressure, it makes clear how personal the hiring process becomes in the end.

Conversations that proved less humorous to me involved actually negotiating the offers. I dreaded the whole process and could tell that the department chair on the other end of the line did too. On the one hand, I was supposed to ask for more -- in salary, graduate assistants, summer support, and equipment -- because if you don't ask, you're not really negotiating. On the other hand, the offers were all fairly similar. Did anyone think a $1,000 salary difference would influence my decision?

I was in the awkward position of asking for more money while not admitting how unimportant it was to my decision. The department head, on the other hand, was in the awkward position of trying both to save money and to use it to show eagerness to hire me.

To get beyond the awkwardness, I found it best to move the negotiations along very quickly. The chairman (all of the ones I dealt with were men) would quote numbers. I would reply with higher numbers culled from my other offers, particularly one I had received that was very generous. The chairman would reply with the highest numbers that he had been authorized to give. In less than a minute, an offer could increase by tens of thousands of dollars (e.g., by adding an extra year of graduate-student support).

I would then go to lunch and have to decide whether to spend $4 or $5. My pride in acting like a rational economic agent had been wounded.

With offers in hand, my attention turned to making the most of return visits to a small number of campuses. While I spent some time talking with faculty members and questioning them about any professional reservations I had, the visits were more focused on allowing my partner to get acquainted with new places. She met faculty members, toured neighborhoods, and obtained more pamphlets from chambers of commerce than she could count.

As it turns out, I have good friends in the places we visited, and I exploited them unabashedly. Having trusted friends show us around was a fortunate opportunity. The departments recruiting me agreed that this use of our time was valuable, but I think it made them nervous that they were implicitly relying on people they did not know.

After the last visit, it was unsettling to realize that I could no longer claim that I needed to collect more data before reaching a decision. It was time to get a good night's sleep, go for a long walk, and cross my fingers that the two people making the decision preferred the same place. Fortunately, we did.

On a random park bench I had never noticed before, we ended the months of job searching that I have chronicled in these reports. In the end, everything just seemed to fall into place. (My adviser disputes this characterization, and insists that someday I will understand how much work people did on my behalf to make this opportunity possible.)

There was, however, the small matter of telling everyone who needed to know. In addition to family and friends, there were colleagues, including faculty members at the dozen places I interviewed. Considering the time everyone had devoted to me over the past year, I decided a mass e-mail message was too impersonal. That decision cost me about eight hours of sitting at a computer.

Then again, sitting at a computer is my job -- as are teaching, research, and service. Actually, I am not quite sure what my job entails, but I will figure that out in the fall. In the meantime, I am managing to squeeze in a few picnics and softball games during what one friend described as "the last break you'll ever have."