Prepare for a BIG gap in your cash flow. Chances are, your first paycheck won’t come until at least one month after the term starts, and that’s probably at least six weeks after you have all the expenses of moving. After accepting an offer, ask how the paycheck schedule operates, and be prepared to borrow, beg, or be broke. I borrowed. You may also have a gap in health coverage to finesse somehow.
Expect a busy fall. I started with a woman who had just had a baby in June, and negotiated the fall off from teaching. But she wound up coming to campus so often for orientation meetings, new faculty welcome receptions—in women’s studies, by the dean’s office, etc—anyhow, that it wasn’t the most efficient use of a semester without teaching.
Follow up on new faculty acquaintances. I made a couple of friendly acquaintances, people whom I later went to concerts with, etc, just because I had seen them twice at two different receptions and said “hey, we’re on the same circuit, let’s do coffee.” Coffee is very low pressure.
Don’t get miffed if senior people don’t reach out. I have friends who think it is the responsibility of senior people in their department to come introduce themselves, suggest coffee, etc. Result: years later, there are still people they don’t communicate with freely. Don’t let this happen to you. Knock on anyone’s door and be friendly.
Argue or add in the comments. There’s a bit of a social theme here, but no need to feel trapped by that.
12 April 2008 at 4:07 am
I got lucky. At my school, I got paid two weeks before the semester started, and I had no idea until I went to the ATM and saw all this money. I was teaching summer at the previous school, so I had two paychecks arrive the same day. It is good to check first. Because of my summer gig, I wasn’t worried about when pay was starting, but I should have been. What if it had been six weeks into term?
12 April 2008 at 6:54 am
I started at a small college with a woman who negotiated a July 1 start date instead of an August 1 start date. She got her first paycheck on July 20 instead of August 20. She was smart. Some colleges and their fiscal years won’t allow this, but ours did. (Of course, if you do this, your annual contract ends earlier too.)
13 April 2008 at 11:29 pm
Yeah, I summer-taught, and *still* borrowed money from my sister, but some of it was just a cushion so that I wasn’t counting every penny and could eat out with other new folks.
Negotiating an earlier start date is a great idea! Even if you wind up with a 4-month no-salary first summer after, you’ve been better able to save for it.