The Contract

[Anxious]

I have a verbal offer (including completed negotiations) but am waiting on the actual contract. Do these things tend to come email or snail mail? How long does it usually take to go from negotiated verbal offer to contract in hand? 

[Tyy]

You will not receive any useful information here. Usual practices or average times won't give you any indication of what will happen in this specific case, how your new employer will deviate from the norm. But you can easily find out by simply or calling or writing and asking those questions. "How will you be sending the contract? When do you expect to send it?" Nobody will hold it against you.

[Tyy]

Congrats, btw. You have a job. You'll have plenty of things to get anxious about in the years to come. Take it easy for a few days and take some pleasure in not needing to check this board for a while!

[Anxious]

Thanks, Tyy. I asked about this during negotiations, but did not get a clear answer. I don't really want to establish myself as a pest early on, so I'm hesitant to go back and ask a question I've already asked. There are also some larger issues attached, like a job talk I'm supposed to go on in a couple of days that I'd prefer to cancel and turn over to another candidate. I realize these things differ by institution, but I'd like to hear from others about their experiences in moving from negotiated verbal offer to contract in hand.

[first]

My first job I didn't even get a full contract before starting. I sent back the signed offer letter and that was it until I was on campus.

[Offer Letter]

Right, that's what I meant. From verbal offer to signed offer letter, not the full contract, which I realize has to go through HR and all of that stuff.

[guest2]

It took two + weeks for me to go from verbal offer to initial offer on paper. Note that this occurred during winter break, so it may be faster in your case. I then went back to the chair with a counter offer. That process took another two weeks, maybe less. The university and department agreed to most of my requests - or met me halfway.

In the mean time (after initial offer before final offer), I did a job talk at another university - nothing to lose and I felt that if I get an offer there, I could use that to leverage for more from the other university.

[thismare89]

I came across the same question.

[been there]

ask them to send you the offer in an email.
and congrats!

[legal]

related question...what are the legal ramifications for backing out of a contract once signed?

[ethical]

I'm NOT a lawyer, but if by "legal ramifications" you mean the chances you will get sued by the jilted institution, virtually nil. It is a more serious breach of professional ethics than it is a serious legal risk. It is poor form, and if it gets out it your 'reputation' as a good risk will suffer. For example, I would no longer write job recommendations for someone whom I knew to do this. But, it is really very unlikely that the institution will come after you legally.

[language]

The contract itself should have some language in there about this. I think a lot of it would depend on whether the administration is willing to make a fuss over it.
I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice, but my university has been sniped like that multiple times. Administrators grumble about it for a while and then move on, and 6 months later no one even remembers the name of whoever backed out. People talk a lot about the repercussions of this, but I've never seen this actually backfire on someone.
The chronicle had something on this a while ago:

www.chronicle.com/article/Withdrawing-From-a-Job-Youve/131075