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If it's a fortune 100 company, and you're in a sales, marketing, or R&D role, expect a very restricting (to the point of being unenforceable in many states) set

If it's a fortune 100 company, and you're in a sales, marketing, or R&D role, expect a very restricting (to the point of being unenforceable in many states) set of agreements that you will be required to sign. You can try the 'ol strike-through trick or just fail to sign them, forget, or whatever, but I wouldn't count on that working at all. But seriously, you're going to work for a company for up to five years, which is an eternity by the way, and then, once you've gained knowledge about their business, perhaps start something that competes? This happens every day, and the language in the documents you sign will have litte bearing on your chances at success in this yet-to-be-materialized future venture. [Edit, adding more] Let's say you work for this company for a couple of years, and think of a way or a technology that can compete with them, and that you're savvy enough to raise money to build and sell it, or otherwise find yourself on the radar screen of your former employeer. This is a huge "if", but if you do, they may come after you. Why not focus your energies on finding a way to help your employeer in a way that they can't help themselves and then implement a product or service and recruit your former employeer as your first customer? This is a much less confrontational way to go, and actually, you'll find it's easier than competing with them. Talk to people who have done this -- they're everywhere. You'll likely meet them, as venders, in your new job. Learn how to do what they did.

TossOut 15y ago
Thanks for the response. Does it seem strange that they're being bullish about letting me review these policies prior to accepting? They've sent me all the benefit information: vacation, medical and dental, stock, etc. I feel like this last piece of information is equally as important when evaluating the offer. As an analogy, the company I previously worked for did application development. It was their policy to release all source as part of the project, but that did not imply that we would never engage on a similar project in the future. After we priced, scoped, built and deployed a project, a client came back to us and requested we sign a non-compete and decline to work on any projects related to it. We replied that we would have been happy to, but would have significantly impacted the cost of the original project (eg, what is the cost of future revenues that we'd have to miss). The conversation stopped there. To rephrase my additional question, is it unusual to ask to review policies related to confidentiality, non compete, non disclosure, non solicitation and other employee covenants?
- euroclydon 15y ago
  You're correct that the policies are an important piece of information, but where you're mistaken is thinking there's a chance in hell they will be favorable to you. You'll find this to be universally true among companies of this size. If you have pre-existing IP, there will be a method to document it laid out in the policies. If you develop unrelated IP completely in your spare time and using your own resources while employed there, there may be language in their policies that describe an avenue to lay claim to this IP.

TossOut 15y ago

Thanks for the response. Does it seem strange that they're being bullish about letting me review these policies prior to accepting? They've sent me all the benefit information: vacation, medical and dental, stock, etc. I feel like this last piece of information is equally as important when evaluating the offer. As an analogy, the company I previously worked for did application development. It was their policy to release all source as part of the project, but that did not imply that we would never engage on a similar project in the future. After we priced, scoped, built and deployed a project, a client came back to us and requested we sign a non-compete and decline to work on any projects related to it. We replied that we would have been happy to, but would have significantly impacted the cost of the original project (eg, what is the cost of future revenues that we'd have to miss). The conversation stopped there. To rephrase my additional question, is it unusual to ask to review policies related to confidentiality, non compete, non disclosure, non solicitation and other employee covenants?

euroclydon 15y ago
You're correct that the policies are an important piece of information, but where you're mistaken is thinking there's a chance in hell they will be favorable to you. You'll find this to be universally true among companies of this size. If you have pre-existing IP, there will be a method to document it laid out in the policies. If you develop unrelated IP completely in your spare time and using your own resources while employed there, there may be language in their policies that describe an avenue to lay claim to this IP.