Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Information about Job Offers/Hires


38 comments:

Anonymous said...

As job offers start rolling in, it would be really helpful if people would share information about their offers. It could be as little as a dollar amount only or include details on general location (e.g., northeast, southwest), type of university (large research university, small liberal arts college, etc.) and other relevant info (e.g. tenure-track, visiting position, etc.)

Share as much info as you feel comfortable providing and hopefully it will be helpful for others!

Anonymous said...

I've been following the wiki progress for High Point University's psychology position. A poster gave dates for his/her phone interview, then campus visit, then job offer. I have a question for the candidate offered the position:

(1) Initially, the offer date was listed as 11/30. After the apparent wiki sabatoge and reconstruction, the offer date was listed as 12/4. Which date is correct? Or, are these entries from two different people (two different candidates offers, the first having declined)?

The latest wiki entry is for an offer declination on 12/13. That leads me to another question for the candidate who declined the offer:

(2) Why did you turn it down? Was it something about the position or school (location, salary, benefits, teaching load, students, colleagues, etc.)? Or did you simply get a better offer elsewhere?

I posted this same question in the "The Interview Process" forum on the CHE jobs page, but am trying it here as well, not knowing where the candidate in question would be most likely to see it.

Anonymous said...

I doubt anyone is going to answer this question, doing so would be very risky.

Anonymous said...

About the High Point position:

I don't feel comfortable posting details, but I will say that it was a very difficult decision to decline the offer. But, in the end, the job just wasn't the right fit for me and my family.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your response, HPU decliner. I understand, from the significant chastisement I received on the CHE "Interview Process" forum, that my question was inappropriate, and I agree that I should not have asked. For the record, I am neither a SC member nor a rejected interviewee, despite people's assumptions. I had my reasons for wanting to know, but no bad intentions. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

I hear $67K is the current starting salary at my R1 social science grad dept in the Midwest.

Anonymous said...

On my campus visits have gotten some variation in potential starting salaries from 40K to 50K. Public better than private. All medium-size schools and SLACS. I am ABD. I think these offers are low....

BTW, start-ups have also ranged from $500 to $2000. Moving is $500-$1000.

Anonymous said...

On a recent interview at a SLAC in New England, I was told by the dean that the salary was 43K. Start-up was not nailed down, but my feeling was that it would be minimal for my field (maybe 5K for neuroscience). I almost laughed...you can make more than that as a postdoc! On the other hand, the salary at medium-sized midwestern U was 62K and 100K start-up. There is a huge range and it varies by speciality, school, and experience.

Anonymous said...

To those with offers: how long did you have from the day the offer was made to when you had to make a decision?

Anonymous said...

January 17, 2008 1:21 PM: Two weeks

Anonymous said...

I have received 2 offers, both were made in the second week of Decemeber, both set deadlines for me to respond to their offers in the second week of January. I think that there is some discount for the Christmas Holiday, though negotiations continued through the holidays.

Anonymous said...

What is a reasonable starting salary at a small-ish liberal arts college on the west coast?

Anonymous said...

If you go to the AAUP Faculty Salary Survey information on the Chronicle of Higher Ed. website, you can get unofficial salary information (based on surveys) for many, many schools. Keep in mind new hires will likely be a little below the average assistant prof.

Anonymous said...

Great! Thank you!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for posting about the Chronicle's salary survey, that's really helpful! Does anyone know if there is a comparable source of info about average start-up funds? Or anywhere else to get specific tips about negotiating start-up funds?

Anonymous said...

I've interviewed at a half dozen LACs, some small private, some mid-size state schools in the midwest and northeast. Starting is from mid40s to high50s (low end in former rust belt areas). Sometimes they do not offer startup or your own lab space, but rather have shared facilities that are bankrolled with a 'technology fee' or departmental clout. In general, I have been surprisingly impressed with the shared facilities - all had several computer stations, PC or Mac your choice, one had sophisticated video facilities, another had a poster printer, and two were seriously willing to discuss buying an eye-tracker ($32K+) as part of the hiring package. Otherwise, a startup of $8-10K did not seem to be problematic during the visits.

Anonymous said...

Start-up seems to vary widely. The range I've heard is $5K to $50K (developmental psychology or human/child development departments). The $5K was at a large R1 (college of ed), and the $50K was at a mid-sized private R1/R2 (psych dept).

During interviews, it's certainly not taboo to ask what's reasonable for start-up. Newer hires can be particularly helpful in this regard!

Anonymous said...

I've been told that at R1 Psych departments, 100 K is a "bare minimum" these days for start-up. Unfortunately, I still can't say anything about that based on personal experience.

Anonymous said...

One R1 chairperson mentioned that $80-120k for non-neuro research was normal. I've heard of recent amounts closer to both $80k and $150k. Neuroscience work is more like $350k. The guideline is generally how much is needed for 3 years worth of research

Anonymous said...

On recent Interviews at Mid-sized Universities in the MidWest, the range for start-up was not "set in stone". Recent hires got ~70K at one and ~100K at another. These were biopsych hires. R1s will be more than that, but how much probably depends on the place.

Anonymous said...

Well, those of us in non-bio, non-neuro areas can probably "get by" for 3 years on a lot less than $70-100K. Such large amounts seem unlikely in developmental, but then, we also don't usually need to buy fancy-schmancey equipment, care for animals, etc. Such funding would be helpful for retaining participants, but creativity can compensate somewhat for financial limitations. After all, kids like to be "paid" in stickers!

Anonymous said...

I know of some recent (in the past couple of years) developmental hires at R01 schools with large start-up packages (e.g.,$120K).If your research involves longitudinal studies, for example, you can negotiate for larger start-up packages. So, if you're in Developmental, don't settle for lower start-up packages!

Anonymous said...

is it really reasonable to expect something like 350K for cog.neuro startup at R1s? even at state schools?

Anonymous said...

Yes, it ($350K plus) is reasonable.

Context: behavioral neuroscience

Just this week have been hashing out final details on offers. The 9-month salary range has been from a low of 65K to a high of 90, with a median around 75-78. Startup offer totals (i.e. including everything, equipment/salaries for labmembers/animals/whatever) have ranged from a low of $250K to a high just below $800K, median around 550. I got lucky with offers this year, so n=6 here.

I've generally been asking for a max of a month to make decisions, basically to allow me to have all the information/details; I gave folks a date once I started having deadlines, and everyone seemed to understand the need for that.

I just wish I understood why I didn't even get interviews elsewhere :).

[edit: yes, state schools were fine in terms of offers, btw.]

Anonymous said...

About start-up: I am putting together a package (i.e., counter offer) and wondering what the protocol is for summer salary? The offer is ~50K (SLAC)but doesn't specify. It is normal to use some of this as summer salary?

Anonymous said...

to the behav neurosci anon who listed startup/salary info. thanks that is very very useful to know. and congratulations on the offers!

Anonymous said...

Can anyone speak to typical start-up packages in clinical psychology? I'm guessing that they would be similar to those in developmental, but I'm not sure. Is it okay to ask the search committee what is typical for them? The chair asked me for specifics for start-up over email, but I have not yet received an offer and don't want to commit myself to anything before that...

Anonymous said...

Can someone comment on a typical start-up for cognitive? This would be for a lab that does mainly behavioral work with no fancy equipment.

Anonymous said...

Regarding summary salary: DEFINITELY negotiate extra for summer salary. Recent hires that I know at large state schools have negotiated from $5-15K for their first summer and some have negotiated for their first two summers. I guess the exact amount you ask for depends somewhat on your salary offer. I don't think it's unreasonable to ask for this...if they support you, you can use that time in the summer to write grants and then bring money to the school. Even if they say no, it doesn't hurt to try and negotiate for summer salary.

Anonymous said...

Great advice around here! Thanks, everyone.

Anonymous said...

Regarding start-ups, salaries, etc: I just went through negotiations with several schools (a SLAC, a small research university, and a large state school). Although the resources of each institution obviously differ, I found that each was very willing to negotiate in terms of salary, research start-ups, moving costs, or non-monetary perks (reduced course loads, etc.) The advice given to me (which seemed to work well) was to simply explain what you need to be successful. I even sent quotes from equipment manufacturers so the deans (who were all from other academic fields) had an idea of the purchases I'd need to make to get my lab up-and-rolling. Keep in mind that you've been selected from a huge pool of applicants. They want YOU to come and to be able to shine at their institution. I think most will do what they can to make that happen. Best of luck to all.

Anonymous said...

For those who have received offers, in your experience, how much time passed between your interview (or the final interview, if you know more details about scheduling) and the offer notification?

Can't tell if it's time to panic or not.

Anonymous said...

Definitely try to negotiate for summer salaries, I got 2 summers. Also, time between interview and job offer seems to vary. One was a month, the other about 2 weeks. The month was over winter break though. A friend of mine heard in a week. Don't panic yet!

Anonymous said...

I was offered a job almost 2 1/2 months after the interview. (Someone else turned them down and then it was offered to me.) So don't give up yet!

Anonymous said...

how much time passed between your interview (or the final interview, if you know more details about scheduling) and the offer notification?

Varied, but all very short: between a few hours (in one case) and a week at most.

Anonymous said...

start-ups vary wildly in my experience (for basic behavioral research in social, devo or cog) with good state schools being in the $80k-$180k, great state schools being in the $150-$300k range, and top tier R1 private schools being in the $150-350k range. It's much higher for imaging or animal work.

Anonymous said...

These startups may be at R1s, but they aren't anywhere near what you will get at a smaller place. I recently accepted an offer from a state school/liberal arts uni (BTW the offer was made 3 days after the interview) and I received $1500 in startup. I am leaving a SLAC where I received no startup. I'm in social, so I don't need much. I know that a developmental person at my new employer received a few thousand. Actually, I don't know anyone who has received more than a few thousand. But none of us is at an R1 either.

Anonymous said...

Chronicle article on university going back on offer to psych candidate:

http://chronicle.com/jobs/blogs/onhiring/503/the-disappearing-job-offer