i have signed them for companies i have worked for in the past and clients of mine now. mind you, they have all been for graphic and industrial design companies.

mine were non compete for a year after leaving and not being able to seek out their employees for employment. i have never seen the unlimited access to your assets, or a portion of your salary, or a penalty fee. the penalty is usually a cease and desist letter and/or lawsuit against you. the firm sizes have varied, but they tend to be larger firm or firms that have a lot to lose by you talking about or doing what they don't want you talking about or doing. i have been both the peon and the owner in these situations. we all have financial stakes in firms. at a minimum, it's your job. at the max, you are the owner. i have never had it effect my employ-ability. this depends on the terms of the agreement you sign though. i know some radio personalities must sign that they will not work in same market for x number of years after leaving their current employer. this usually comes with the station paying the personality money not to work though. no gentleman's agreement here. a gentleman's agreement does not hold up in court. the agreement was a one-two page agreement. i did not have a lawyer review it because i needed a job, the language was rather straight forward, and i knew i could keep my mouth shut. these contracts are usually straight forward and common place. if it is not, i would have a lawyer review it.

are you being asked to sign one?

at the beginning of 2003 we were being required to sign them as part of the disclosure that we had read and agreed to the new employee handbook. the penalty, at least as stated, was termination. part of the non-compete clause said, in my opinion, that SOM retained first right of ownership over ANY creative product made by the employee while they were employed at SOM. thus, if i, say, wrote a novel in my off-time (yeah, right) then SOM could exercise right of ownership over it. there were some other nefarious things in there, too. i found a new job and moved to TX in feb 2003 and never signed it. probably about 50% of the firm didn't either, from what i heard. mostly newbies signed it

in my experience, such agreements tend to be used mostly by larger firms and usually in connection with individuals who are entering the firm at a fairly high level

if you are being asked to sign one, you probably ought to obtain a little legal advice - however, be prepared for that advice to be a bit vague - there is some evidence that non-competes can be non-enforceable or only partially enforceable - but, you still may have to sign something to get the position - for you, that then becomes a business decision

these things can be intimidating if you've never had to deal with them before - remember, you can use this as a basis of discussion with our prospective employer - if you have objections or concerns, don't be shy about raising those for discussion - but, don't raise the question until you know what kind of changes you want - the firm should respect you for this - they certainly would want you to question other complex documents that you will be dealing with in your work

most things are negotiable - if there is motivation on the parts of both parties