How can you best understand company’s true culture during a job interview, before you actually work there? Have you worried you’ll accept a role that
Have you been asked to sign a confidentiality or nondisclosure agreement (NDA) before a job interview, and wondered if you should be concerned? Is this routine, or is something risky going on? What are the potential benefits and risks of signing a confidentiality agreement before an interview?
In this episode of The Career Rx we’ll discuss:
- The increasing trend of requiring confidentiality agreements before job interviews
- Reasons why companies request confidentiality agreements
- How these agreements can protect the company, but may also benefit you
In this episode, we’ll break down the pros and cons of pre-interview NDAs. Learn about common reasons companies request these agreements and how they can impact your job search. Get expert advice on what to look for in a confidentiality agreement and when to seek legal counsel. Listen to learn how to make informed decisions about protecting your interests while exploring new opportunities.
Please note – I am not an attorney, and this podcast is not legal advice.
In this Episode:
[0:42] The norm or a red flag?
[1:30] What kind of confidential information might you learn on an interview?
[4:15] The role of interview case studies, strategic plans, and presentations
[6:40] It’s always a good idea to consult an attorney
Links and Resources:
Industry Insider – 12 hours of CME, learn exactly how to land a rewarding nonclinical career without a new degree, special connections, prior experience, or a pay cut
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TRANSCRIPT: Episode 125 – Should You Sign a Confidentiality Agreement for a Job Interview?
Hey there, welcome back. Today I’m going to be answering another listener question. I love these questions. You guys keep me creative when I have feel like I’ve run out of things to talk about, and you ask great questions. So thank you always for sending them in.
This one is academic really in nature. So it’s really about leadership. But it is, I think, applicable, both to academics, as well as to industry or really any non clinical job that you’re applying for. The question is, someone interviewing for a department chair position, has been asked to sign a confidentiality agreement. So the question at hand is, should you sign a confidentiality agreement before your interview?
So I’m going to give my two cents on this question, I will, for sure, make the disclaimer that I am obviously not an attorney. And I think every circumstance is different.
So depending upon what is within the confidentiality agreement, you know, please be sure that you understand what it means for you what is being asked of you and required of you, should you sign it, and consult an attorney if you’re not sure about that. But in general, I will say I think this is increasingly common.
And, and has a lot of fairly obvious reasons, I guess, for putting that type of agreement in place. And so I’ll tell you what some of those are so that it might put your mind at ease, you know, that this is not really I don’t, I think generally is not a nefarious request. Pretty standard.
So one of the things that is important to know is that as part of the interview process, you will likely be privy to some nonpublic information, right information that is not in the public domain today. And that would actually be important for you to know in order to decide whether the job is right for you.
And that could include other changes in the leadership team, if someone is planning to retire stepped down, that might be important for you, it might play a role as to whether or not you still find that job appealing or give you a sense of you know, coming changes within the organization or relative stability and so on. It may not have anything to do with people, it may have more to do with the institution or the company. But in any case, nonpublic information that would be helpful for you to know, in order for you to evaluate whether or not this this role is of interest to you, that may be part of what you come to learn in the interview process.
That’s, I think, protected by confidentiality. And so that is an example of one way in which it benefits you another way in which it benefits you. And again, you’ll want to check and be sure that the agreement covers this.
But many physicians who are looking at leadership jobs, you know, roles that are in non clinical or in industry, or really just any, anything, that’s a change for you, you want to have some confidentiality in place at the time that you’re interviewing. So that your current employer is not informed. And that this is a very individual thing, right?
For many people, you’re lucky enough to have wonderful leadership who really support you in your development and pursuit of new and different opportunities. Not everybody feels that way. So for whatever reason, if it’s important to you, that you and your exploration of the role remain remains confidential, that might be part of CDA, or, or some other language.
So that’s something I think worth checking on end, and can be a good application mutually of confidentiality. Another reason that you may be asked to sign a confidentiality agreement is because they may expect to, to talk to you a little bit about some intellectual property, perhaps, that that would always be subject to a confidentiality agreement. And maybe this falls within the umbrella of nonpublic information.
But nonetheless, in order for you to really learn more about what’s being done with the you know, what’s on the horizon for the company, you might be exposed to intellectual property, that’s obviously something that for which they’d want to confidentiality agreements in place that’s really standard.
Another common interview activity is the sort of case study or the sharing of strategic plans, whereby your organization or company that that you’re exploring, would talk to you about their vision for the future and some of the potential challenges that they’re facing today and ask you as part of your interview, how you might respond to those and sometimes that’s very informal. Sometimes they’ll even ask you to come back and do a presentation.
Basically tackling one of the current challenges or strategic plans that the organization is working through today. And as part of that, they’ll be sharing again information with you that and they will want to see how you respond to it and how you might actually work on it.
And in that case, not only is the information that they’ve shared with you likely to fall under the confidentiality agreement, but your response to it also would then likely be included under that confidentiality agreement and would be expected to be, you know, destroyed, right that you wouldn’t be sharing that PowerPoint, for example, under any other circumstances, if you have prepared it to discuss one of the challenges with strategic plans, within the context of an interview, it’s also worth taking a look at the well, I mean, you should take a look at the entire document.
But you want to also, I think, be on the lookout for things like non compete clauses, or non solicitation clauses. And generally, this is, you know, to prevent you from taking the proprietary information that you may learn as part of the interview process, and then working for a competing business, or using that information.
Even if it’s an actual company that you’re in presently right to use it in a way that is a competitive advantage for any other company than the company’s proprietary information that you have seen, as well as non solicitation, which is, you know, pretend prohibits you from enticing other clients or often other employees, right, anyone that you come to meet or know about as part of the interview process, that you cannot solicit them back on over to the company where you are currently working.
So again, not an attorney, and you’ll want to do your due diligence, make sure you read the document in full, make sure you understand what is required when you sign it and you know, what you are agreeing to make sure you understand what the consequences of breach are and what would be considered a breach. I mean, obviously, I’m assuming all my listeners would never intentionally violate an agreement like this.
But I think the part where people are cautious is, you know, is it what’s the likelihood of accidentally breaching one right and what would that look like? So I think that’s pretty important to understand.
And so long as you understand the agreement, also recognize that there are benefits to the company, of course, but also to you in order to really get a very full understanding of the opportunity that you’re considering.
There’s benefits both ways and it’s really quite common, especially for senior leadership roles and roles in innovative industries where intellectual property is involved.
So this is not a red flag, I would certainly expect it and I would not have much reservation in terms of signing it but of course, make sure you understand it consult an attorney if you need to. I hope that helps. That makes for a short episode today. Bye for now.
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