The Academic Job Search Some (hopefully) useful tidbits on your way to landing a good position. PFTP Panel 20/October/2009

Questions about job searching What are the options for jobs? Which one is right for me? The job finding process and questions: Can I negotiate salaries? How important are benefits? Will teaching load make a difference? What if I need a position for my partner? Disclaimer: Can only speak from my own experience… 2/18/2019 Manuel Calderón de la Barca Sánchez

What kind of place do I want? Smaller school vs. bigger school? Pros and cons in each. Bigger/competitive school: Pros: Larger pool of very good students for your group. Cons: Higher pressure on faculty. Harder to get tenure. Smaller school: Pros: If you’re hired, the school has an incentive to see you succeed. Cons: Less visibility, less students to choose from. University vs. National Lab (for example) Teaching+Research Research only 2/18/2019 Manuel Calderón de la Barca Sánchez

Manuel Calderón de la Barca Sánchez Interviewing Department visit Academic job interviews: You won’t have a “supervisor” You are not joining a company, rather a community of equals. One on one chats with many faculty. Questions you should have: What is the environment in this department like? Is it collegial? Questions they will have: Is this a person I would like to be working with until for the next 20-30 years? Have fun discussing the research of the faculty You will learn a lot Always good to know what each faculty you’ll meet is up to. Read their profiles, papers. 2/18/2019 Manuel Calderón de la Barca Sánchez

Manuel Calderón de la Barca Sánchez Negotiating salaries Should you negotiate? Absolutely! Should you be careful how you do it? Absolutely! My take: get as much information as you can. What is the average starting salary for assistant professors? http://www.aip.org/statistics/trends/highlite/salary/salsum06.pdf 2/18/2019 Manuel Calderón de la Barca Sánchez

Example: UC Asst. Professors http://www.ucop.edu/acadadv/acadpers/tab0809/table1.pdf Range of 9-mo Salaries (2007) 53K – 69K UC has a lower salary rate than other universities. “Offscale” salary in UC Need to pay more than official scale to stay competitive. My case (Assoc I): 9-mo: 66,100+12,068 Different salaries for each of 6 steps. All UC salaries are public. Records are kept at the library. 9-mo salary comes from UC… but the year has 12 months… Grant (e.g. NSF) 2-mo summer Can add 0.5 mo from startup My 11.5 mo salary: 99,881 Get as much information as you can! Oct 2008 Annual Monthly 2/18/2019 Manuel Calderón de la Barca Sánchez

Manuel Calderón de la Barca Sánchez Benefits Standard: Health plans Medical, Dental, Optical Insurance Life, Disability, Accidental Death Retirement (401(a), 403(b), 457(b)…) Employer matching? Not so standard… some examples from UC Pension. Example: If I stay at my earning level until age 65: $5262/mo (for life) Housing allowance. UC can give up to 52K (taxable) towards your primary residence. Mortgage assistance UC can provide a mortgage below market rates. Market rate today: 5.2% UC rate today: 3.9% Difference for a $400K 30-year morgtage: $111K 2/18/2019 Manuel Calderón de la Barca Sánchez

Teaching load: variations by field Physics: Teach every quarter. Neuroscience: Teach one quarter for each Academic Year As a starting faculty: teaching release is common for the first year. Find out about sabbatical accrual. 2/18/2019 Manuel Calderón de la Barca Sánchez

Manuel Calderón de la Barca Sánchez Two-body problem What if we need two jobs? Bring this up early on in the process! Some universities have specific programs UC Davis: Partner Opportunities Program http://popprogram.ucdavis.edu/ Key: Apply to places where both partners have good chances. Departments have their own plans, do you and your partner fit in those plans? 2/18/2019 Manuel Calderón de la Barca Sánchez

High Energy Nuclear Physics Group Best of luck! High Energy Nuclear Physics Group 2/18/2019 Manuel Calderón de la Barca Sánchez