Nine Key Negotiating Points

Laurie Weingart, a negotiations expert and behavioral analyst, provides advice on nine issues that should be addressed when negotiating a junior faculty position.

• Salary:

  
  

• "The more differentiated you are from other candidates, the more you'll be able to negotiate salary."

• Find out if it is a 9-month or 12-month contract.

• Find out the salary "norms" for the job market

• Use your colleagues and peers to estimate starting salaries.

• Find the equivalent starting salary in governmental or industrial occupations.

• "Negotiate for the extra summer support during your first few years and then wean off slowly."

• 
  Teaching load:
  

• You may want to make the "transition argument"--that you need time to settle in and get organized before launching a full-blown teaching schedule.

• "You may want to think about asking to minimize your preps the first year."

• Ask how many unique classes you'd have to teach.

• What will be expected in following years?

• Does teaching help you achieve tenure?

  
  Start-up funds:
  

• "This isn't just your lab money. It's the money you need to get started and to make the transition into the academic world."

• "Think about all those incidentals that you need": Journal subscriptions, office supplies, software purchases.

• Negotiate how much money you'll need.

• Ask when those funds will be available.

  
  Tenure:

• Ask what the renewable status of your contract is. Is it yearly? Is it a 3-year contract?

• "Sometimes promotion and the tenure decision are linked, sometimes they aren't."

• During contract talks, also discuss your starting date.

  
  Lab needs:
  

• Go into negotiations confident that you know that you've thought about everything you'll need to start up your lab.

• Ask whether the institution already has pieces of equipment.

• If they do, is it accessible?

• If you have to buy equipment, will there be space for it?

• Where will that space be?

  
  Research support:
  

• "More people are trying to negotiate a technician for life."

• You don't want to lose a technician if you lose a grant, so find out if you can negotiate for the department to pay their salary during times when your budget is slim.

  
  Travel support:
  

• Do you have a fixed number of trips the department will pay for?

• Is it expected that you present data or research findings at all meetings?

• Some places will give you a pot of money--but make sure you justify why you need X-amount of dollars for travel and other expenses ...

• ... and how you spent it.

  
  Secretarial support:
  

• This perhaps isn't negotiable, but it does affect how you do your work.

• Will somebody help you prepare your teaching materials and photocopy examinations?

• Is there someone who can help you prepare applications and grants, or deal with new hires?

  
  Graduate assistants:

• How do you enlist the help of graduate students and generate interest in your lab?

• Initially, a few "free" hands in your lab will help you get organized, but later you may want to recruit graduate students to perform research.

• What is the institution's policy for this?

• How will you fit in with the graduate/Ph.D. program?

• Will you be required to sit on committees that are responsible for graduate students in your lab?