Job Tracking - Week 20

Okay, readers: let's take a moment to catch our breaths. A lot has happened since last week.

First, I want to say again, thanks to all of you for your advice on travel reimbursement and job negotiations. This week sees another job cancellation and the first job offer. As it turns out, I wasn't wrong in my guess that good news was around the pike. And the beginning of the week also saw me finish off the second of on-campus visits. So now I have an offer, and I'm waiting to hear from a second school. That leaves this week's numbers here:

Total # of academic jobs applied for/# of jobs identified: 23/25
Total # of non-academic jobs applied for/# of jobs identified 0/0
COST OF THE SEARCH
Total spent in U.S. dollars on applications: $192.90
Average cost in U.S. dollars per applications: $23.94
Total spent in U.S. dollars on travel, etc: $357.78
Total amount in U.S. dollars reimbursed: $0
WHERE THE CALL CAME FROM:
The Chronicle of Higher Ed: 9
HigherEdJobs.com: 0
Other online service (listserv, etc): 14
Friend/Colleague: 2
Personal Research: 1
THE JOB IS IN THE DETAILS
Total number of paper submissions: 19
Total number of e-submissions: 4
Total weight in pounds of application packets: 22.13
Total number of recommendation letters requested: 48
Total number of requests for references: 5
Total number of "proof of teaching excellence" packs : 9
Total number of requests for Teaching Philosophy :11
Total number of research packs: 13
Total number of transcripts requested: 3
WHAT THE CRITICS ARE SAYING
Total number of acknowledgments of receipt: 21
Total number of confirmed reference contacts: 0
Total number of phone interviews: 2
Total number of conference interviews: 0
Total number of on-campus interviews: 2
Total number of offers: 1
Total number of rejection letters: 11
Total number of canceled or unhired positions: 2

Now that we're caught up,that leaves new dilemmas. Of the two schools I interviewed at, I prefer the second one, the one lacking an offer, to the first one. If nothing comes from the second school, the first school will certainly be a good fallback, so things are a win/win thus far. Both schools are 98 percent positive the funding is there, but would like to hurry their processes to make sure i's are dotted and t's crossed before anyone higher up the ladder gets wet feet. This means a few things:

1. I don't want to say anything to anyone at my current job until I have a letter in hand
2. I have to try to stretch out the talks with the school with the offer until I hear from the second school

My plan for this - I was thinking/hoping ahead - was to leave some questions from the campus interview that I could ask during this process (ideally, things that would justify some research - and hence, some time - on my part or the person I'm asking). I'm also working through a few comparisons of cost-of-living (see here for the one I think is most useful, here for the one The Chronicle uses, and here for a third which will probably disagree with each of the others). One of the things I've been trying to do is to make a list of the things I want in my future (for example, how much do I really care about owning a house?) and trying to decide whether it's possible in that job and market. Those are the sorts of things that take time.

And, of course, having the one offer is great, but because I'm more excited about the second job possibility, that's more of what I'm finding myself focused on thus eliminating of the joy and happy-dancing that I should probably doing in favor of "I wonder if they liked me?" sorts of questions.

So that's the status of things here. Your thoughts and advice are, of course, always welcome and encouraged.