🎯 The Goal: Never sign an employment agreement on emotion alone. The offer letter is exciting; the attached agreement is a contract written by their lawyers, for them. Skip the salary paragraph you already know and go straight to the termination and IP clauses — that's where 'at-will' exit traps and sneaky wording claiming ownership of your personal side projects hide.
🧨 Step 1: Hunt the IP clause — it can own your nights and weekends. Look for 'Assignment of Inventions' or 'Intellectual Property' sections. The trap wording: the company owns anything you create 'during the term of employment' — read literally, that includes the app you build at home on Sundays. What you want: ownership limited to work created (a) within the scope of your job, (b) using company time/equipment/confidential info. The fix is one sentence: ask for an exclusion listing your existing projects (attach the list — 'Exhibit A' style) and confirm personal projects outside work scope stay yours. Several states (like California) legally protect side projects anyway — but get it in writing regardless.
🚪 Step 2: Read the exit BEFORE the entrance. Termination clause questions: 1. Notice period — do THEY owe you notice/severance, or only you owing them? 2. Repayment traps: signing bonuses and relocation often must be repaid if you leave within 12-24 months — know the cliff dates. 3. Non-compete: how long, what geography, what 'competitor' means (overbroad ones are unenforceable in some states — and banned in several — but fighting one is expensive even when you'd win; negotiate scope NOW). 4. Non-solicit: can you recruit old teammates or serve old clients later? 5. 'Garden leave' or unpaid restrictions. Companies expect pushback on these — 'can we narrow the non-compete to 6 months and direct competitors only?' is a normal, safe ask.
🔍 Step 3: Sweep the remaining fine print. 1. Job title/duties 'subject to change at company discretion' — normal, but pair it with a compensation floor. 2. Arbitration clauses: you're waiving jury trials; increasingly standard, worth knowing you signed it. 3. Bonus/commission terms: 'discretionary' means exactly that — if your comp depends on it, get the formula and payment timing in writing. 4. Equity: vesting schedule, cliff, and — critical — what happens to unvested AND vested shares if you're terminated or the company sells. 5. Verbal promises ('we'll review salary in 6 months', 'remote is fine') are worth $0 unless written — reply to the offer email listing them: 'confirming our discussion that…' A yes costs them nothing now; missing proof costs you everything later.
📋 The Offer-Scan Checklist (20 minutes, in order): 1. IP clause — personal projects excluded, in writing ✓ 2. Non-compete/non-solicit — narrow scope, short duration ✓ 3. Bonus/relocation repayment cliffs noted ✓ 4. Commission/bonus formula in writing ✓ 5. Equity vesting + termination treatment ✓ 6. Every verbal promise confirmed by email ✓. Negotiation reality: asking for clause changes does NOT rescind offers — recruiters see it weekly; the worst case is 'no, standard terms.' For senior roles or weird clauses, one hour of an employment lawyer's time (~$200-400) before signing is the cheapest insurance in your career. Sign excited — but sign informed.