Would you evaluate this offer?

Would you evaluate this offer?

JustGotOffered (guest) 06 May 2015 19:17

I really need the help of people here for this.

I just received an initial job offer and wonder if any of you can help evaluate it.

Short background info: I have a 3 year postdoc experience with a good publication record and have a consistent research program (well advanced compared to what a fresh PhD would have).
The offer is for a TT assistant prof position at an R2 private school (psych department) in east coast where living cost is high.

My major concern is that I have a family of four, my wife will not be able to work at least for a few years, and living cost in that area is high.

Here's the offer:

Base salary: 74 k (9 months)
Summer salary: 2 months each year for 3 years
Teaching: reduction of total 2 courses in the 1st year or during the 1st two years (normal load is 2-2)
Startup fund: 50 k (to be spent for three years)
Moving expenses: ~5k

I also heard that the school is generous to provide junior faculty with intramural funds for summer research.

I wonder if I can try to ask for a more base salary or it is already on the higher side they can offer. I do know, though, that this will be tricky because the max possible amount cannot be known.

But can anyone confirm that this offer is any good or bad or average?

Thanks in advance!

SLACer (guest) 06 May 2015 19:49

That's a great offer, and I think the salary is quite good. (Well, it's much higher than my SLAC salary after several years on the job!) Of note, your salary is going to be 22% higher for the first three years, which means your salary is ~90k for the first three years, including summer, while you search out your first grant (to get external funding for summer salary). Not shabby at all.

Obviously, you never know if you can get more unless you ask, but I don't think you're being shortchanged.

Congrats!

asstprof (guest) 06 May 2015 19:49

Sounds like a good offer but you should ask for more base, because you should always ask for more base. Also for HCOL area that is a lowish salary for the job type (it sounds like a great job otherwise.)

Congratulations!

Member1928 (guest) 07 May 2015 13:27

You should look at the APA salary data and see where the base offer falls in terms of other assistant professors in years 1-3 for private institutions in your region. Speaking as someone who did this last year, I decided that the third quartile was my target salary. I negotiated with the university twice and it looked like this:
University: 62k initial offer
Me: 71k counter - justified by saying this was the 75th percentile for region, university, and rank.
University: 66k - said that was as high as they could go and asked what else in my offer needed to be negotiated (I was fairly happy with the rest of the package).
Me: 71k is what I am worth given the salary data, my experiences, and I have limited concerns about the rest of my package.
University- 67k - said that was as high as they could go. pointed out that summer salary would bring me up to the 75th percentile.
Me: In my head "shit- why didn't I anticipate that would happen"
Me: Minor requests for remainder of offer- all approved by the university.

Moral of the story is you can, should, and must negotiate your base. Especially in private universities where faculty salaries may increase at a slower pace than public universities (I'd need to check the data on that but I suspect its true where I am at).

Member1928 (guest) 07 May 2015 13:39

Yepp just checked the data. Private universities in my region lag behind and fail to keep pace with the public universities as rank and years of employment increase. By the time you reach full professor there is a 10k difference at the median and a 13k difference at Q3.

8ball (guest) 07 May 2015 14:51

Its a great offer. If you're on the fence, try to negotiate the salary. I mean, if you're not drooling, then there's no harm in trying to see how far you can push it.

Also note that (and this comes to me from a former chair) the department doesn't want to look like psychology can be done cheaply.