When the competition is soliciting your talents – With the glitter of a contract that is better than your current one, it’s an attractive offer. But before seizing this opportunity, there are some major details to consider. Here are the main ones.
The first thing to do is to know whether your employment contract contains a non-compete clause. Legal in Quebec as long as it complies with the Civil Code, this restrictive provision prohibits an employee from working for a competitor, in a field or at a job, for a period of time and in a given territory.
Depending on the nature of your position and your duties, you may have access to key business information. Any disclosure would be detrimental to your employer who therefore, when you were hired, protected its interest and the access to its strategic information.
However, most recruiters of scarce and specialized manpower are now accustomed to meeting highly qualified candidates bound by a non-compete clause. Competitors are generally prepared to negotiate with yours to avoid any dispute and litigation.
Be that as it may, however promising it is to make contact, an employee who has signed a non-compete contract has every interest in ensuring that an offer from a company that wants to hire him is truly serious.
Weighing the pros and cons
After clarifying this legal point, it’s a matter of taking the time to examine the proposal more closely to determine its true value.
The classic argument of higher pay than your present salary merits some major clarifications. Will there be any freeze or how will it change over the medium and long term? What are the stimulating challenges and possibilities of advancement in this new position?
Although these questions are important in themselves, they are all the more so when compared with the prospects of developing within your current company. Your seniority or merit may mean that you are now not far from a promotion or pay raise.
In addition, will the overall salary scale, insurance for disability, drugs, dental and vision, vacations and sick leave, for example, be more interesting than the employee benefits that you currently enjoy? How much will the amount of contributions deducted from your pay be? When will you be eligible for your new employer’s group plan?
Negotiating
Hiring a highly qualified worker is usually motivated by the need to fill a position with scarce manpower that takes longer to find using traditional recruitment methods. You are logically in a strong position to obtain a more favourable contract. And the more interest the recruiter has, the better will be your room for negotiation.
Aware of your value, your current employer may plan to make a counter-offer, based on your common interests. This attempt at poaching from the competition is undoubtedly an opportunity to renegotiate your contract…