Greetings,
I am currently a postdoc (4th year) at a university in US. My partner has applied for the position of lab assistant at the same university but a different lab. The PI of that lab knows me professionally (has attended my seminar talks, etc).
My question/ dilemma: Should I send a courtesy email to the PI letting them know that my partner has applied for the position? If yes, how should I approach the situation?
I don’t want to make anything awkward for myself or my partner, and at the same time “help” them.
What should I do?
Comments
You should do nothing at all. Emailing someone about that is not “courtesy”, it’s trying to pull strings, and no one benefits from it.
What would you get from doing this? It comes off as trying to influence the hiring decision in your partner’s favor, which probably wouldn’t work since postdocs have little pull.
If I received an email like that, it would be a big red flag.
Totally don’t email. If you know the person well enough you might mention that personally next time you chat, but on the other hand if someone I know told me their partner is applying to my lab… I would feel weird about it. Maybe it wouldn’t change my decision, but I would resent it a bit. I don’t like being pressured.
So mind your business, nothing to gain here.
Is it a coi? If not, let them stand their own.
From what I have seen, if they’re trying to you right now, many times partner hires can be negotiated. But once one of the partners is already working at the university, they consider it negatively. In many cases, they won’t hire partner and instead hire someone from outside.
You should do absolutely nothing concerning what you discussed, and you should be very careful that you do.
No. You’re giving them information that is irrelevant to your partner’s work qualifications, and your email would muddy the waters.
This is not unusual in an academic medicine in fact there is now a couple’s match for residents and fellows. I think you should have a conversation with your PI and basically ask for any advice and then move from there.
I am curious to know how that works. It sounds wrong, but I have seen many couples do it. They somehow get their partner a job at the uni despite how undeserving they are. Also, it’s might be a cultural thing. Chinese hire chinese, indians hire indians…. regardless of merit.