Negotiating the terms and conditions of a new job is a sensitive process. Ask for too much and you appear greedy; accept the first offer and you might be missing out on a few extra perks.

For one US scholar, fresh from receiving her PhD and identified on the blog only as ¡°W¡±, discussions with her prospective university employer did not go exactly as planned.

After receiving a job offer, W decided to ask for one or two extras. In an email to Nazareth College, a small liberal arts institution in Rochester in New York state, she said she was ¡°very enthusiastic¡± about the possibility of joining the college, but that ¡°granting some of the following provisions¡± would make her decision easier.

These provisions were a 20 per cent increase of the starting salary to $65,000 (?39,000) ¡°in line with what assistant professors in philosophy have been getting in the last few years¡±; ¡°an official semester of maternity leave¡±; ¡°a pre-tenure sabbatical at some point¡±; ¡°no more than three new class preps per year for the first three years¡±; and ¡°a start date of academic year 2015¡± so as to allow her to finish her postdoc.

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¡°I know that some of these might be easier to grant than others. Let me know what you think,¡± she wrote.

Nazareth, it seems, did not take too kindly to the list of demands. ¡°It was determined that on the whole these provisions indicate an interest in teaching at a research university and not at a college, like ours, that is both teaching and student centered,¡± reads an email from the university, also published on the blog. ¡°Thus, the institution has decided to withdraw its offer of employment to you.¡±

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The college concludes by thanking W for her interest, and wishing her the best in finding a suitable position.

¡°Yup. That¡¯s it,¡± comments the author of the blog. ¡°End of correspondence there. It¡¯s that last part, the refusal to negotiate before rescinding the offer of employment, that I found really flabbergasting.¡±

The blog provoked a great deal of response, from those saying that W could have done more to ¡°understand the culture and needs of the hiring institution, both before and during negotiations¡±, to those disagreeing with the university¡¯s decision to ¡°violate a promise¡±.

In a on the same blog, W seeks to defend herself against those who considered her demands unreasonable.

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¡°I agree with those arguing that I made a mistake in negotiating,¡± she writes. ¡°It was a clear case of a miscommunication between the institution and myself. This is how I thought negotiating worked, how I learned to do it, and, for that matter, how I think it should work: you ask about a number of perks and maybe get some of them.¡±

She says that there had already been ¡°plenty of much warmer emailing going on between Nazareth¡¯s philosophy department and myself¡± before the negotiations began (and quickly ended).

¡°Hopefully a few philosophers on the market can learn from my mistakes,¡± she concludes.

Send links to topical, insightful and quirky online comment by and about academics to chris.parr@tsleducation.com

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