Negotiation 101: Women, Don’t Demur

By now, you’ve probably heard about the scholar who had a tenure-track job offer rescinded after she tried negotiating on a number of terms. That incident has stoked a lot of talk on an important question: What’s the right way to go about negotiate an academic offer? We asked our experts to dole out some advice.

Given the hiring climate we’re in, what advice would you give to young academics on negotiating?

It’s always hard to negotiate when you might actually be relieved and happy just to get an offer. Women in particular have a difficult time asking for more: We tend to want people to just sort of notice how fabulous we are and pay us what they think we are worth.

I think, though, that the best piece of advice I have received about negotiating is to do as much research as possible as to what is acceptable for that particular institution. Specific requests are not all appropriate for any every school, as we saw in the negotiation “horror story.”

While it’s common wisdom that you shouldn’t negotiate if you’re not prepared for the other party to walk away, we’ve almost never heard of that actually happening. Have you?

I have never heard of an institution withdrawing an offer for a faculty member under any circumstance.

Here’s what other academics had to say in the Negotiation 101 series:

• David Evans: “Know Your Absolutes.”
• Gene Fant: “Be Reasonable, Be Transparent.”
• Paula M. Krebs: “Find Out What’s Really Negotiable.”
• Allison M. Vaillancourt: “Stop Writing, Start Talking.”
• Jonathan Rees: “At the Very Least, Negotiate Your Salary.”
• Rob Jenkins: “At a Community College, It’s Take It or Leave It.”
• Noliwe Rooks: “Women, Don’t Demur.”
• David Leonard: “Don’t Play the Game.”