Difficulty in landing a higher-education position in New Jersey
July 22, 2015 9:09 AM Subscribe
So, we're thinking of moving to New Jersey to be closer to family - my partner's mother is older and my family is aging and splintered. Sigh. Although we like our current city, we believe Jersey may be our best option.
Shake the snowglobe, 'cause there's snowflakes inside.
Please be gentle as this is my first AskMeFi. I work in higher education and my partner manipulates data, so the options aren't as bleak in that field. I enjoy the current aspects of my role, which is completely administrative (read: senior roles, but only a BA after my name). My partner has identified two places in which to work and it seems they are hiring at a healthy clip. Also, since my partner is a pretty stellar researcher, most of our questions have been answered regarding relocation.
The dilemma: the universities where I'd like to work are awesome, but I think I'll need some outside assistance to break their ivy-covered walls. The university where I currently work is fantastic - it truly is a world-class university. Although I'm only searching in the central to northern Jersey area, any tips on breaking how to get hired would be most welcome.
I've decided on three schools to focus on -- we've visited two out of three:
* Rutgers University (New Brunswick and Newark locations)
* Montclair State University
* Princeton University
My "ask" from the hivemind:
* How difficult is it to break-through remotely in any of the awesome institutions? My school pretty much interviewed all comers, as long as you were qualified and available to travel.
* Depending on the partner's commute (we're thinking to Newark, Jersey City, or *gasp* NYC), where would be the most optimal place to live? We visited and loved Montclair, but I would like to widen the scope a bit. There's only two of us, no kids, no pets.
* I actually enjoy networking! Any suggestions on how to network cross-country are welcome.
Any assistance would be most helpful and thank you in advance!
Please be gentle as this is my first AskMeFi. I work in higher education and my partner manipulates data, so the options aren't as bleak in that field. I enjoy the current aspects of my role, which is completely administrative (read: senior roles, but only a BA after my name). My partner has identified two places in which to work and it seems they are hiring at a healthy clip. Also, since my partner is a pretty stellar researcher, most of our questions have been answered regarding relocation.
The dilemma: the universities where I'd like to work are awesome, but I think I'll need some outside assistance to break their ivy-covered walls. The university where I currently work is fantastic - it truly is a world-class university. Although I'm only searching in the central to northern Jersey area, any tips on breaking how to get hired would be most welcome.
I've decided on three schools to focus on -- we've visited two out of three:
* Rutgers University (New Brunswick and Newark locations)
* Montclair State University
* Princeton University
My "ask" from the hivemind:
* How difficult is it to break-through remotely in any of the awesome institutions? My school pretty much interviewed all comers, as long as you were qualified and available to travel.
* Depending on the partner's commute (we're thinking to Newark, Jersey City, or *gasp* NYC), where would be the most optimal place to live? We visited and loved Montclair, but I would like to widen the scope a bit. There's only two of us, no kids, no pets.
* I actually enjoy networking! Any suggestions on how to network cross-country are welcome.
Any assistance would be most helpful and thank you in advance!
If the partner will be commuting to Jersey City or NYC, couldn't you also do the same? If you live closer to Jersey City, you could take the PATH train and be at NYU, Post, Cooper Union in 15 minutes or less. Or grab the subway and go uptown or to Brooklyn for even more options. Widen your scope for job prospects, then choose a place to live that's within a reasonable commuting distance for both of you.
posted by trivia genius at 12:07 PM on July 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by trivia genius at 12:07 PM on July 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
Just start applying and go from there. I worked at one of your preferences and while it didn't have closed ivory gates, but your chances of landing an interview are close to non-existant for entry level and get slightly better as you go up in seniority, but not "all comers".
posted by WeekendJen at 2:25 PM on July 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by WeekendJen at 2:25 PM on July 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
I grew up in NJ too, and just want to suggest that the East Coast is much *smaller* than people on the other side of the country may expect. So you may find -- depending on where your partner lands -- your actual "reasonable commute" area is much larger than it seems like it should be. Look at NY and CT (and even Eastern PA) schools too; you're really not limited to just "central Jersey" in the way your question seems to assume.
posted by gerryblog at 3:05 PM on July 22, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by gerryblog at 3:05 PM on July 22, 2015 [3 favorites]
Another NJ-an here. I think you should be beginning with more about where you want to live (as in, what sort of community) and what kind of commute you're willing to assume. You've listed some good schools; Princeton/Rutgers/Montclair are not terribly far apart on the face of it, but are extremely differently situated and community life and commutes will be different in each one. Princeton feels like (and at rush hour, is) a long haul from Jersey City or NYC - Princeton, for instance, is a 1 hour 20 minute train ride from NYC, and I wouldn't want to drive it at all. I'm not sure it makes sense to have it on your list. Meanwhile, there are probably more than a hundred interesting higher education organizations in Central-Northern NJ that you could find opportunities in.
Montclair is a pretty upscale town. There are others as upscale, but it's not quite as common to have both the upscale nature and the walkable downtown with good retail and decent housing and all that. What do you value in a community? What kind of people do you want to be around? How will your earning power map against housing prices?
I don't think there's any special magic to getting hired in the administration of any of these places. It's a really competitive state, but there's also a lot of turnover in the area as it's a highly mobile workforce. You could start know poking around LinkedIn and working your contacts for anyone they know at one of these, or any of the other, big NJ institutions.
posted by Miko at 4:33 PM on July 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
Montclair is a pretty upscale town. There are others as upscale, but it's not quite as common to have both the upscale nature and the walkable downtown with good retail and decent housing and all that. What do you value in a community? What kind of people do you want to be around? How will your earning power map against housing prices?
I don't think there's any special magic to getting hired in the administration of any of these places. It's a really competitive state, but there's also a lot of turnover in the area as it's a highly mobile workforce. You could start know poking around LinkedIn and working your contacts for anyone they know at one of these, or any of the other, big NJ institutions.
posted by Miko at 4:33 PM on July 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
There's literally no unincorporated space in New Jersey, so when you're looking for housing ideas, get out a map and look at all the municipalities in a large radius around where you'd be working. It's not uncommon for you to go through five municipalities in five miles of travel, and it can be confusing. They're also often remarkably different from each other even when they're adjacent.
If I were going to be working in Newark/Jersey City/NYC on a normal weekday work schedule, I would definitely aim for taking the train, so be sure to cross-reference that map with the NJ Transit map. And ideally both of you could do that. New Brunswick and Newark are both very easy to get to by train; Princeton's much more of a pain since it's not directly on the Northeast Corridor line (and housing in that area is almost all ridiculously expensive anyway, even by NJ standards.) The buses aren't bad, but they're not nearly as reliably on schedule during rush hour as the trains.
If you have more time for scouting visits, you could ride the various train lines (with map in hand, naturally). You'll get a decent feel for what the different communities you pass through look like. I may be biased about commute options, though, since I still have nightmares about some of my NJ driving commutes and will not willingly go anywhere near that sort of life ever again.
posted by asperity at 5:44 PM on July 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
If I were going to be working in Newark/Jersey City/NYC on a normal weekday work schedule, I would definitely aim for taking the train, so be sure to cross-reference that map with the NJ Transit map. And ideally both of you could do that. New Brunswick and Newark are both very easy to get to by train; Princeton's much more of a pain since it's not directly on the Northeast Corridor line (and housing in that area is almost all ridiculously expensive anyway, even by NJ standards.) The buses aren't bad, but they're not nearly as reliably on schedule during rush hour as the trains.
If you have more time for scouting visits, you could ride the various train lines (with map in hand, naturally). You'll get a decent feel for what the different communities you pass through look like. I may be biased about commute options, though, since I still have nightmares about some of my NJ driving commutes and will not willingly go anywhere near that sort of life ever again.
posted by asperity at 5:44 PM on July 22, 2015 [2 favorites]
Best answer: I have a friend that works in an administrative capacity for Rutgers (New Brunswick). She is required, as it is a State U, to live in NJ. Something to think about if you aren't aware.
I grew up next to Princeton. That would be my choice for quality of life and my impression is that PU would be a decent place to work. Of the people I've known who work there (everything from mail room, to maintenance, to professors)- all have spent years/decades there. I'm guessing they take care of people on all levels. It's also the most expensive choice on your list, as it's a small town of mostly single family homes. There are nearby suburbs with condos etc, but because of the spillover from folks in your exact situation they're generally not cheap, the ones that are are dumpy.
Montclair is a nice place as well. I don't know a huge amount about it, it's upper class but not as much as Princeton. It's actually quite close to NYC- there are spots on hills in town where you can see the skyline. Both Montclair and Princeton have nice, upscale downtown sections.
Newark would probably make the most logical sense if your partner got a job in New York or Newark, however, it's definitely a charmless urban experience with a good amount of crime and blight. Because of the proximity to NYC, it's not as cheap as it should be, and the immediate other options (the nice parts of Jersey City, Hoboken, Edgewater, etc) are all even more expensive. I don't know that salary of Rutgers Newark would justify the cost of living in that area. Not to mention the hassle of having a car (two cars?) in the NYC metro as a whole.
New Brunswick is not a nice place to live. I spent a couple years in nearby Highland Park, which is leagues better. It's not as posh as Montclair or Princeton, but it's got a cute enough downtown, lots of slightly-funky older apartment buildings, and it's very close (walkable) to Rutgers, the train to NYC, and highways. There are also some more suburban/rural (Edison, Somerset County) choices as you get further from NB, most of which are fairly affordable.
posted by tremspeed at 5:47 PM on July 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
I grew up next to Princeton. That would be my choice for quality of life and my impression is that PU would be a decent place to work. Of the people I've known who work there (everything from mail room, to maintenance, to professors)- all have spent years/decades there. I'm guessing they take care of people on all levels. It's also the most expensive choice on your list, as it's a small town of mostly single family homes. There are nearby suburbs with condos etc, but because of the spillover from folks in your exact situation they're generally not cheap, the ones that are are dumpy.
Montclair is a nice place as well. I don't know a huge amount about it, it's upper class but not as much as Princeton. It's actually quite close to NYC- there are spots on hills in town where you can see the skyline. Both Montclair and Princeton have nice, upscale downtown sections.
Newark would probably make the most logical sense if your partner got a job in New York or Newark, however, it's definitely a charmless urban experience with a good amount of crime and blight. Because of the proximity to NYC, it's not as cheap as it should be, and the immediate other options (the nice parts of Jersey City, Hoboken, Edgewater, etc) are all even more expensive. I don't know that salary of Rutgers Newark would justify the cost of living in that area. Not to mention the hassle of having a car (two cars?) in the NYC metro as a whole.
New Brunswick is not a nice place to live. I spent a couple years in nearby Highland Park, which is leagues better. It's not as posh as Montclair or Princeton, but it's got a cute enough downtown, lots of slightly-funky older apartment buildings, and it's very close (walkable) to Rutgers, the train to NYC, and highways. There are also some more suburban/rural (Edison, Somerset County) choices as you get further from NB, most of which are fairly affordable.
posted by tremspeed at 5:47 PM on July 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
Montclair is a nice place as well. I don't know a huge amount about it, it's upper class but not as much as Princeton.
But so very different. One's urban/urbane, the other is small-town/suburban.
posted by Miko at 7:44 PM on July 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
But so very different. One's urban/urbane, the other is small-town/suburban.
posted by Miko at 7:44 PM on July 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
I wouldn't call Princeton urban, really. I would agree Montclair is more suburban than Princeton, but what the towns have in common to me are historic downtowns, which simply don't exist in many towns in NJ.
posted by tremspeed at 10:37 PM on July 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by tremspeed at 10:37 PM on July 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
Oh no. I was calling Montclair urban and Princeton suburban. They do both have downtowns, but there is a world of difference in the degree of activity there, the range of options for events and social life, the housing diversity outside that historic downtown, and, with Montclair, easy access to everything else in the NYC urban matrix only minutes away. Montclair also has well more than double the population of Princeton. I know both towns reasonably well, and Princeton is very sleepy and offers a lifestyle that is much more suburban in nature. And a lot less culturally diverse (Montclair is 38% nonwhite, Princeton 15% nonwhite, to start with). Very different towns, aside from their physical appearance and orientation to the nearest big city.
posted by Miko at 5:55 AM on July 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Miko at 5:55 AM on July 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: The one other thing you might at least check out are independent schools (I don't know New Jersey in detail in that field, but I know there are a bunch.)
Depending on what you like about your current higher ed job, there may be roles that are very similar there, and it would give you more options. You can check out individual schools, or jobs (including non-teaching jobs) often get posted to the National Association of Independent Schools job site. At their best, independent schools have smart, independent, creative people, who like doing a range of different things. (At their worst, they can have weird nepotism or insularity or assumptions about how things should work, but it's often possible to figure that out when you interview.)
Having done three long distance job hunts, being up front about why you want to relocate, and briefly addressing the obvious questions a hiring manager might have up front help. (A combo of 'We'd like to be closer to family, and once I started researching, I found X, Y, and Z particularly attractive about the area' often works well.)
Mostly, your goal is to be convincing that you've done a realistic evaluation of that place, and that you're not going to quit in January when you discover there is winter or traffic, or that the things you really care about in a place just aren't available.
posted by modernhypatia at 7:55 AM on July 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
Depending on what you like about your current higher ed job, there may be roles that are very similar there, and it would give you more options. You can check out individual schools, or jobs (including non-teaching jobs) often get posted to the National Association of Independent Schools job site. At their best, independent schools have smart, independent, creative people, who like doing a range of different things. (At their worst, they can have weird nepotism or insularity or assumptions about how things should work, but it's often possible to figure that out when you interview.)
Having done three long distance job hunts, being up front about why you want to relocate, and briefly addressing the obvious questions a hiring manager might have up front help. (A combo of 'We'd like to be closer to family, and once I started researching, I found X, Y, and Z particularly attractive about the area' often works well.)
Mostly, your goal is to be convincing that you've done a realistic evaluation of that place, and that you're not going to quit in January when you discover there is winter or traffic, or that the things you really care about in a place just aren't available.
posted by modernhypatia at 7:55 AM on July 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
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As you have probably figured out, northern NJ is very densely populated, with a ton of businesses ranging from the HQ of Fortune 500 companies down to two-man computer shops. The population density has resulted in a myriad of public transportation options which you will want to check out. Also check out the traffic for whatever commute you have in mind.
There are other good schools in NJ besides the ones on your list. My sister worked as a patent attorney for the NJ Institute of Technology (at least I think that's the one). Send me a MeMail if you would like to talk to her.
posted by SemiSalt at 10:05 AM on July 22, 2015 [2 favorites]