0.4 How and when to negotiate a strong startup package

Our plan for this session

• Components of a Start Up Package
• Faculty Member Perspective
• Chair/Dean Perspective
• Q&A Our Primary Emphasis

Example: a bare bones offer letter

Example: a more detailed offer letter

Faculty member perspective

• You are in your most powerful position during the negotiation process (almost impossible to add to once you arrive)
• The chair is your advocate.
• Teaching reduction buys you time – this is critical!
• Flexibility helps a lot as your needs evolve. Can you change people into equipment? Graduate students into postdocs?
• Talk to as many junior and senior faculty as possible to get advice on what is a reasonable package in your subfield before you start.
• If there is someone at the institution you trust to ask about what a typical package in your field is like that is even better.
• Cannot compare offers w/o understanding a school’s overhead and tuition policies.
• Need to find out how much a graduate student costs and if it changes throughout PhD.
• Also need to understand school’s overhead return policies and academic year buy out policies to compare offers.
• And if it’s not in writing, it doesn’t exist…

The chair/dean perspective

Do

• Realize this is when your chair/dean are forming their impression of you as a future colleague
• Have and communicate a very clear idea of what you need (2-3 pages)
• Differentiate between what you absolutely can’t live without and what would be very helpful
• Know what equipment could be shared with others
• Be prepared on the initial visit for your meeting with the Dean
• Be prepared during the dept interview to say which courses you can teach in the dept. you are interviewing in.
• Know your space needs (special power, cooling water, etc.)

Don’t

• Repeatedly change your needs (This was the only comment that every single chair/dean independently mentioned)
• Try to raise your offer at one school to make another match – it becomes obvious and reflects very poorly on you
• Wait until everything else is finalized to bring up a two body issue (when to bring this up is a possible Q&A topic)