I started my first salaried job today and encountered this for the first time. If it were just that an employer doesn’t want me taking a second job with a competitor while I’m still working with them, that would make sense. But I have to wait a full year after leaving my current job before I can work for a competitor? I’m sorry, but what? Once I no longer work for you, you should no longer have any authority whatsoever over where I work. I work for your competitor now? Tough. Should have outbid them. The ability to quit and take work elsewhere for higher pay if offered is my main bargaining power as a worker. I get that non-compete agreements can’t be so broad as to prevent me from taking another job anywhere in the industry, but the fact that I’m restricted at all in this respect is ridiculous. This just seems like a blatant mechanism for keeping wages low.