So it finally happened. A recruiter contacted me about a job with the “other guys” in town. I’m a little unclear if it’s more of an engineer/drafter position or creative design position, but either way it’s very tempting as the job is A) in the same city, B) Would double my salary. But of course, there’s a catch.
Being young, dumb and desperate as I was, my current company had me sign a non-compete, which, of course, I complied with. From what I have read, it seems as though these things are only 50% enforceable or thereabouts, but the risk of having to drag this situation into court feels rather daunting. Has anyone ever had to deal with one of these? I understand how an employer could be negatively impacted by certain employees leaving to work with a competitor, but reading over my contract four years later I can hardly believe I - or anyone for that matter - would sign such a thing!
So I let the recruiter know about my situation, which he has passed onto “Company B”. A) Hiring manager of “CB” wants to read over my n-c, which I have not yet sent. B) “HM” wants to know what I am currently making! Now, they have already tossed a number out there, which, as previously stated, could basically double what I’m making now, so I’m not about to fold to that BS. Fool me once and all that.
So I was thinking about just going with something like “The salary described in the job posting is very competitive and I don’t feel like my current pay grade would be a good barometer for the value I can provide your company.” or some such deflection. I just now made that up off the top of my head, so I’m open to suggestions/tweaks.
Interestingly, or maybe not, when I told the recruiter about the n-c he seemed a little flustered and said he doesn’t run across these a lot in this industry (and he’s a recruiter who concentrates on this industry in particular). He may have just been blowing smoke, don’t really know, but that’s what he said.
So I guess my main questions at this juncture are A) is it kosher to send my n-c to a recruiter/hiring manager? B) if they look it over and decide they are willing to take on the risk of this all going to court (which I don’t think they will, but obviously I would make sure they’re willing to cover any associated court costs & legal fees) is it worth plunging in and dealing with it? How hairy could it get? I guess they’d probably sift through all my emails and hard drives?
According to sources at work, my employer has taken (or attempted to take) someone to court who left my company for the company who is represented by this recruiter. “Company B” supposedly decided it wasn’t worth it and let him go, and he had to find another gig. I can’t remember now if it was a designer/engineer or not.
I guess that’s enough for now. What are your thoughts, c77 friends?