# Salary negotiation practice for professor candidates

Salary negotiation practice on Intervieux runs a spoken conversation with an AI playing a department chair, negotiating a new tenure-track offer's base salary, startup research package, and course release terms, or asking a current department for more, before that conversation happens for real.

A tenure-track offer is rarely one number. Base salary, a startup research package for equipment or research assistants, and course release in the first years can each move separately, and negotiating well means knowing which one actually matters for the research agenda.

## An offer with a fixed base but room in the startup package

Picture a candidate with a tenure-track offer where the department chair states early that the base salary matches a set university scale, but the startup research package, equipment funds, summer salary, graduate student support, has more flexibility. New-offer mode runs that exact conversation. The AI department chair holds the line on base pay, points to the university salary scale as fixed policy, and the candidate has to decide whether to push on the startup package instead, ask for an additional semester of course release, or make the case for both using the specific research agenda as justification.

## What the session actually asks

In new-offer mode, expect the conversation to open with naming the specific term being negotiated, startup funds, course release, or moving expenses, since a vague request for a better offer gets a different response than a specific one. Pushback follows naturally, a comment that the base salary is fixed by university scale, or a question about what the startup funds would actually be used for. In internal-raise mode, the same session instead runs a tenured faculty member's request for a retention-based raise after receiving an outside offer, testing whether that specific outside offer gets used as the actual argument. Whichever mode is running, the conversation is expected to close on something concrete rather than fade out unresolved.

## How the report reads a negotiation, not a research answer

This isn't graded like a job talk, since nobody is deciding whether to hire the candidate. The written reasoning in the report focuses on whether the specific term being negotiated was named clearly, how well pushback about the fixed salary scale got handled without folding immediately, and whether the conversation closed on something concrete, a number restated, a timeline for a decision, rather than trailing off. Wrapping things up abruptly costs points under the same penalty system used across Intervieux, since a negotiation that ends without a real next step reads as left hanging.

## Frequently asked questions

### Which mode fits negotiating a startup research package when the base salary is fixed?

New-offer mode. It's built for the conversation that happens after an offer lands and before it's accepted, which fits pushing on startup funds or course release when base pay has less room.

### Does the AI department chair actually push back, or just agree to the ask?

It pushes back. Expect a comment that the base salary follows a fixed university scale, or a question about what specific research needs the startup funds would cover, the way a real department chair managing a budget would respond.

### Is this scored the same way as a research-talk interview?

It ends with a scored report and written reasoning, the same format used across Intervieux's interview types, but the content is a negotiation rather than a research or teaching evaluation.

### Can I practice this before I've received an actual offer?

Yes. Running the session doesn't require a real offer to be in hand yet, which makes it useful for deciding how to open a negotiation in the first place.

## Related pages

- [Professor interview questions](/interviews/professor)
- [Salary negotiation practice](/features/salary-negotiation-practice)
- [Browse open roles](/jobs)

## Rehearse the offer conversation before you have it for real

Practice negotiating base salary, a startup package, or a retention raise with an AI that pushes back, then review a scored report on how the conversation actually went.

Start practicing free: https://www.intervieux.ai/register · Hire with Intervieux: https://www.intervieux.ai/employers/signup