Dear LeafSpring,
I'm trying to decide whether to look for jobs elsewhere, or stay
in my current job. Do you have any advice on when and how to think
about moving institutions?
On The Move
Dear OTM,
There are any number of reasons why you might want to move. Even
applying for other jobs can be a lot of work and the process should
be approached with care. Changing institutions is a tremendous
amount of work so the new situation should be clearly better than
the old!
We feel that loyalty is owed to friends and colleagues, not
institutions. Friends and colleagues will often understand your
motivation, particularly if you explain why you are trying to
leave. They can be valuable allies in retention. Our experience is
that institutions will try to use loyalty as a cheap way to retain
you. It is probably worth critically thinking about how far their
loyalty would extend if your funding lapsed - generally the answer
is, not terribly far.
Some of the reasons we've seen for moving, or trying to move,
are:
-
Family or location issues (two body challenges,
etc.). Maybe your family is unhappy with your location,
your partner can't find a job, or there are legal restrictions that
affect you. Many academic institutions are in communities that are
somewhat isolated and it can be hard to find opportunities for
spouses there. We've also seen situations where same sex partners
made a family decision to leave a location because of the hostility
of state laws to child adoption and family rights.
-
Resource issues. Perhaps the resources that you
need to be successful are not being provided, which is preventing
you from getting your work done. Problems may include a lack of lab
space, access to core facilities, teaching obligations, etc.
Looking for a better situation may end up prying loose necessary
resources in a competitive environment. It may also help the
chair/dean/etc pry loose those resources for you.
-
Tenure. You may want to go up for tenure early,
or provide yourself with an alternative if you don't get tenure.
Most places will seriously negotiate about tenure as part of a
retention, especially if an equally strong or stronger department
is offering you tenure on the other side. On the one hand, tenure
is inexpensive to provide in the immediate term. On the other hand
tenure can be administratively tricky with lots of rules involved.
Changes cannot always be easily guaranteed. For example, one of us
took an external offer with the expectation, but no guarantee, of
tenure. That scientist did subsequently receive it; but was
informed that if tenure wasn't granted, they could renege and not
move.
-
Pay. If you feel that your current compensation
(often pay, but potentially benefits, salary coverage, or other
factors) is not competitive with what you would earn elsewhere, you
could look for new positions. Salary changes are a standard part of
many retention packages or external offers. Other factors
(benefits, salary coverage expectations) may be substantially more
difficult to negotiate. Many universities have programs that are
available to faculty to help with specific challenges. It may be
possible to negotiate for specific benefits that are important to
you. However, this can be challenging so a dollar figure on salary
that is equivalent may be easier to achieve.
-
Environment. Sometimes the environment in your
current institution is problematic and sometimes there are exciting
things happening at a different institution that make it more
appealing. If you're working in a negative environment consider the
fact that it is rare for environments to improve quickly, so the
best thing to do may be to consider leaving. If you're feeling
undervalued, try to talk positively about what you want to achieve
in the future. It may be helpful to talk with your department
chair/dean/etc and present yourself as if you were applying for a
job as future you. Explain what you would like to achieve at your
current institution. The chair/dean/etc's reaction to this may help
you determine if you need to move, or if your goals are achievable
where you already are. Sometimes environment is a positive reason
for a move. One of us recently moved not because there was anything
wrong at their old university, but because a different university
was building exciting new programs in their areas of interest. This
made the new environment more exciting with lots of potential for
interesting colleagues, seminars, and collaborations.
-
Responsibility. Maybe you want more or
different responsibilities. Perhaps you have learned that there is
a particular aspect of your job that you don't get to pursue at
your current position. Maybe you want a leadership position. Maybe
you want to run a core facility, or maybe you do now but don't want
to continue running one. Whatever the reason, a move may provide
opportunities to change responsibilities.
-
Fit. Maybe you were hired at your institution
for what you, and they, thought you'd do, but time has passed and
that has changed. In addition to responsibilities, maybe your
research program changed and you are now a better fit for a
different department/institution/colleagues.
-
Change. Maybe you just want a change!
We suggest that if you want to move, you take the following
three steps:
-
Say yes to invitations to speak. This is particularly true if
you are invited to a place that you might like to move. These trips
can lead to offers. Sometimes, you'll meet with someone and they
will offer the opportunity to move outright. Other times, you might
be meeting with the relevant department chair, dean, etc and you
can ask about their hiring plans in your area. If you think that
you might like to move, you may want to ask specifically about your
suitability for such a position. In some cases an invitation to
speak can even be an intentional move to pursue a hire. One of us
moved after being invited to give a seminar, and we were later
informed that it was actually more of a pre-interview.
-
If you have trusted friends at other institutions, you may want
to tell them of your interest in moving and why. In combination
with the previous point, this may lead to seminar invitations at
goal institutions. Also, when they hear about opportunities at
their own institution or in the field at large, they may either
bring them to your attention or put your name forward. Some of us
have previously recommended others, who we knew were looking for
positions, to hiring committees. This may lead the committee to
invite you, even if you don't apply.
-
Apply elsewhere. This is the easiest way to let a hiring
committee know that you are interested in a position. It is a lot
of work to send out applications again, but for a major environment
change it may be worth it.
We are of different minds about whether or not to keep applying
for new jobs a secret. In good environments if a department
chair/dean/etc wants to retain you, they will actively look to keep
you happy. However, in less positive environments it is possible
that administrators or colleagues will be unhappy that you are
considering leaving with potentially negative consequences. Of
course you won't be able to keep being on the market a secret
forever, so you will have to weigh the risks and benefits to decide
when to share this with administrators, colleagues, and lab
members.
If your leadership knows that you are considering other
opportunities, they have probably already done some leg work to
prepare. They may be able to get a retention package together in a
couple weeks. If your request blindsides them, they may need a few
weeks, if not a month, to do so. Your prospective new institution
will of course be pushing you to decide to go there, so timing may
become critical. As soon as you make it known that you have an
offer somewhere else, you should expect the fact to spread. Your
lab will probably hear about it. In our experience uncertainty is
stressful for everyone involved, and it doesn't help (and may hurt)
to try to keep it secret.
Once you have identified one or more opportunities and have
received an invitation:
- Go on interviews & hope for an offer.
- Once you get some concrete idea of what the offer will be,
bring it back to your current department chair. If you have any
interest in staying, prepare to discuss what you need to stay at
your current institution.
- When negotiating, make it clear what you're negotiating for and
why. Asking for more resources without explaining what you want to
do with them may make it harder for an institution to provide them
to you. This can be specific to each institution (for example, some
institutions have free compute clusters, others don't; so for the
first type, you can simply negotiate access; for the latter, you
need think about what compute you need and how much). If you
explain why, then it helps the people at the institution justify
the request up the chain to their chair, dean, etc.
When negotiating for retention, remember that:
-
Misunderstandings rule. Don't assume everyone (or even anyone)
is talking to each other. We've seen situations where the chairs
and the deans were thinking completely different things from each
other, and not being honest about it.
-
Retention will be dependent on the personality and relationships
and interactions of the chair, dean, etc. involved. Of course, if
they seem unable to coordinate on retaining you, that might be a
sign that you'd be better off elsewhere.
-
Your retention may be more generous if a lot of people have left
recently. A large number of departures without corresponding hires
can make a department or institution look bad. Alternatively, many
departures may indicate that your institution is not in a financial
position to match outside offers.
Moving is costly for everyone involved. Think about your current
students, postdocs, and techs; your family; hiring new people at
the new location to replace people who did not move; figuring out
new admin situations, hiring and buying rules; etc. Consider how
you can make this time less stressful for your team. Some of us
have negotiated for moving expenses for our lab members as well as
ourselves. Moving is also an opportunity to revisit the
compensation that your team receives. It may be easier to give team
members a raise during a move.
Whenever you take a specific external offer to your current
leadership to negotiate over, make sure you're serious about your
willingness to take it. We would advise you to never bluff over an
offer that you wouldn't accept. This can burn many bridges, even
outside of your institution!
Finally, OTM, we've got some questions for the audience as well.
What situations apply for moving into a more senior or
administrative position? Are there any additional tips that we
should be offering? Feel free to reply in the comments, or submit
your thoughts to leafspring.labcarpentry@gmail.com
and we will put them into a new post without naming you.
More reading
Yikes! Your advisor is moving to another institution. Now
what?, by Rosa Li. Read this to understand what your students
are thinking!
Applying for jobs when you have a job, by hashb8ng. Some good
specific advice for dealing with a two-body problem, among other
things.