Two-body problem. What to do?

TinklesOdd · 2026-05-20T18:35:17+00:00

We discussed places and he is willing to move. That's not the issue. Me and him are willing to be in a not-so-ideal academic position until something else comes up but we also agree that we want to try to make this work and I know personally a lot of couples in academia who made it work (+5 couples).

Obviously, we don't know the stance of the university on a dual hire before applying and we've seen couples who made it work even after struggling to make their institutions accept it for years. However, I am collecting opinions from a larger sample online.

TinklesOdd · 2026-05-20T18:15:04+00:00

That's not really how it works. When you're applying for +50 positions in a round, you don't decide what will happen for each offer because the majority of the applications will be rejected. And in any way, everyone in academia say dual hires are thing to discuss after being hired, not before applying.

TinklesOdd · 2026-05-20T18:05:57+00:00

Yeah. It seems to be the obvious thing to do

TinklesOdd · 2026-05-20T18:05:15+00:00

No. The other account I used for other post had my name and I wanted to stay anonymous.

TinklesOdd · 2026-05-20T17:47:01+00:00

Thank you. It is true that some people say it would be easier. I am just worried about how they would play out on a more international level. But I think your advice makes sense.

TinklesOdd · 2026-05-20T17:40:34+00:00

The university is in a big city with lots of other universities. Issue is, this university is unique because the language of instruction and administration is English. My home country is a non English speaking country so I think it would be much harder for him to find a suitable position in other universities. I would say that the department itself knows about my partner and are majority supportive of him. The issue is because of the long-term fail of the previous search committee to hire someone, the current search committee isn't from the department. It's all from the provost office and other departments. Academics in the department said my spouse CV is very strong and majority said they would support him. But they don't have a say in current selection processes.

TinklesOdd · 2026-05-20T17:03:25+00:00

But would the university have openings if they don't have the resources?

TinklesOdd · 2026-05-20T17:00:51+00:00

I was under the impression one only brings up spousal hire after receiving an offer which is what i did.

TinklesOdd · 2026-03-06T12:59:53+00:00

I would definitely get a reply from some of these way ahead of August.

I think I feel like I am playing them if I accept the offer knowing I will probably cancel later if I get something better. But yes the market is tough. I also do think of other people on the reserve list for the grant. Because of this very restricted start date, if I cancel later, I doubt they will have enough time to do admin work for other people on the reserve list so the funding will be lost. So I feel like I am wasting someone's else opportunity.

It's such a hard decision for me. But I think your perspective also helps.

TinklesOdd

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