H Job Prospects (help)

[winnied]

H is finishing up his phd and is applying for higher ed teaching jobs at the moment. Being his first year out of grad school, he'll be pretty green. Still, his alma mater contacted him to schedule a phone interview this week. This is great! We've talked about moving to that town for a number of reasons including:

-Friends and family there
-It's becoming a cool little city
-Drastically lower COL

Additionally, H loves his alma mater and the teaching philosophy really reflects his values and approach. 

That all being said, the pay would be pretty bad. If he did well, he would get an increase according to their grading system. We know a few people who currently teach or have taught there, and they did just fine over time. It would be more than enough to live on and give us a few luxuries here and there, but we wouldn't be Scrooge McDuckin' it up. 

Another issue is that I'd possibly have to find a new job. Currently, I work at a great org and I travel a lot for my role. It's an organization that's fairly open to working remotely or in other offices. I make good enough money now and am slated to get a relatively significant pay increase in the next 3 months. If I receive what I'm projecting, I will make 65% more than H if he even got this job. If my boss isn't open to me working remotely, though, I'll have to look for other work in the new city.

If you read all of this (bravo!), how would you feel about H's job prospects? It's so early in the process and there's a very good chance he won't get this job, but I'm a planner and freaking out. 

[crashgizmo]

Man...that's tough. Do you think you could find a somewhat comparable job in the new city? Since you're the breadwinner, that is definitely a consideration. Which of you is in an easier field to find work? I know that for DH and I, I have a very specific skillset and can find work anywhere, so we go where his job goes since it is a rarer field. However, we make the same $$ so that makes it easier to decide.

[smock]

Ph.Ds unfortunately can't be very picky about salary, location, etc. He is very, very lucky to have an interview at a school he likes in a desirable location.

I'm the Ph.D in my relationship, and we have arranged our lives around me career, with H acting as a trailing spouse. It stinks sometimes, but that is unfortunately the life of an academic these days.

[jm1982]

Speaking as someone in academia who will be on the job market next year, I'd be overjoyed if I had a real shot at a school where I actually wanted to be.

[5thofjuly]

I'm a PhD as well. I had to live in BFE for 3 years to even get back to the region I wanted to live in. If he gets offered a tenure track job, the prevailing wisdom in higher education is that he'd better take it. Is this job tenure track or is it an adjuncting or visiting position?

[winnied]

I'm confident I could find a job in the other city. I'm in HR, which is a booming field and the city is growing. I would get less pay, but I'm sure I could negotiate something reasonable.

This job prospect is tenure track.

I guess we're just shocked at how poor the pay is. At least they told us up front, right?

[5thofjuly]

Nov 5, 2014 22:03:18 GMT -5 winnied said:

I'm confident I could find a job in the other city. I'm in HR, which is a booming field and the city is growing. I would get less pay, but I'm sure I could negotiate something reasonable.

This job prospect is tenure track.

I guess we're just shocked at how poor the pay is. At least they told us up front, right?

Yes, unfortunately, this is another common feature of most academic jobs. Some of my colleagues in other departments earn around $35,000/year with a doctoral degree. For me, the pay worth it because control of my time and having a job I love is worth more than money, but I also totally understand when people choose to go into industry instead. But, yeah, it's definitely not what people think professors earn.

[smock]

Nov 5, 2014 22:03:18 GMT -5 winnied said:

I'm confident I could find a job in the other city. I'm in HR, which is a booming field and the city is growing. I would get less pay, but I'm sure I could negotiate something reasonable.

This job prospect is tenure track.

I guess we're just shocked at how poor the pay is. At least they told us up front, right?

Yeah, it's depressing, my starting salary offer with a PhD was in the range of average salaries for undergrads with a degree in my field. I guess my 7 years of post-BA education don't count for a whole lot!