Ask the Administrator: Waiting for the Official Offer

A returning correspondent writes:

First I want to thank you and your readers for responding to a couple of different questions I've submitted in the past few months about applying for jobs and moving from a faculty position at a community college to a faculty position at a four-year college. It appears everyone's advice and my efforts paid off and I am going to be offered the position I want.

Second, I want to ask a couple more questions.

1. Two weeks ago, the chair of the department I will be joining contacted me to tell me I was the choice of the committee and department and that I would be contacted "soon" with an "official
offer." I asked how soon and by whom I'd be contacted and the answers were "within days" and "by the dean." Two weeks have gone by and I have heard nothing official. I contacted the chair after ten days and she said, "Don't worry." I'm not worried-much. But I am very curious about what could be taking so long. Dean Dad, as an administrator, can you shed some light on all the "behind the scenes" stuff that has to happen to make an offer for a faculty position official?
2. Any advice on negotiating an offer?

This is painfully familiar.

I'll outline the process at my college, which isn't all that unusual. Your mileage may vary, but I think the outline is common enough.

Departmental search committees screen the candidates, interview them, and usually decide on a ranking. They then submit their top two or three candidates to my office. I act as a sort of reality check, making sure that their choice isn't just a result of inbreeding or other bias. (I've only shot down a committee's first choice once, in a really egregious case that even the nominating department now sheepishly admits was a mistake. Since then, I've found that the value of my participation is mostly as a deterrent to the kinds of shenanigans that used to ensue; at this point, the departments are much better about saying what they mean and meaning what they say.) Assuming they've made a reasonable choice, I endorse it and send it to the VP. He settles on a salary figure, negotiates with the candidate, and makes a formal recommendation to the President. The President then takes it to the Board of Trustees. Nothing is actually official until the Board of Trustees ratifies it. They've never actually shot one down, but the potential is always there.

It's a slow and clunky process. The candidate doesn't get a salary figure until we're pretty far along, which makes for an awkward interview with me. The Board only meets once a month, so if you miss the deadline for a particular month, the process can drag.

Although our process is frustratingly (even maddeningly) slow, it does a pretty good job of quality control. I can honestly say that everybody hired on my watch has turned out well, which is a point of real pride.

So it's entirely possible for a candidate to knock it out of the park, get unanimous approval, and still take several weeks from the interview to wend through the process. I'd rather that weren't true, but there it is.

I've heard of cases elsewhere - thankfully, not at my college - in which a search gets canceled or a position downgraded after the wheels have already been set in motion. (An example of downgrading would be reclassifying a position from 'tenure-track' to 'one-year visiting.') Sometimes it happens for reasons outside the college's control - midyear state budget cuts, for
example, as happened this year in Kentucky - but usually it's a result either of dreadful planning or of internal politics. Although it's rarely, if ever, intentional, in effect it amounts to bait-and-switch for the candidate.

The key points from the candidate's perspective are:

1. It's not about you.

2. It's usually, though not always, harmless.

3. Always take the high road.

At this point, I think you'd be well within your rights and the boundaries of professionalism to ask the chair to walk you through an anticipated timeline. Don't be emotional when making the request; just ask for some clarity. Annoyingly, the clarity may take the form of "the Board doesn't
meet for three more weeks," but at least then you'll know. On the other hand, if the answer you get is evasive or mysterious, then you might want to keep other options open.

Good luck! I hope, and expect, that this will turn out to be harmless.

Wise and worldly readers - what have you seen? And what should the candidate do?

Have a question? Ask the Administrator at deandad (at) gmail (dot) com.