NDA for job description

[Rp735]

I have been approached for what seems a very senior role in a bank. However, before they disclose more details to me they want me to sign an NDA. This is not for the interview but to even talk about the role. Aibu to think this is suspicious?

I’m a headhunter for senior roles. It’s very common to get candidates to sign a NDA.

Considering the amount of industrial corporate espionage that happens, id say it's quite understandable.

@PrincessButtercupToo thanks

@noloorollasusual my concern was regarding how early in the process this is being signed, how broad it is and has no end date. Previous posters have provided some great insights but yours as an insider to this process will be interesting.

OP, for all you know I’m younger than you, junior to you, and less informed than you, so of course there’s no reason to rank my view anywhere near your own, but for what it’s worth I believe that we nearly always regret the things that we don’t do far more than we regret the things that we do.

We often send them at the very beginning of a process if the client doesn’t want the role to be in the market due to either 1. The incumbent not having been told they are being moved on 2. Some confidential M&A where a hire or replacement would effect the transaction / or public disclosures needing to be made that the role has interaction with or there is an agreed upon time and date that the incumbent is leaving and the role will be confidential until that date 3. There are internal members of the team who would feel estranged and worried if their boss or team lead was moving on and the company has not yet worked out the narrative of how to communicate it to them.

As a headhunter we have a standard NDA which covers client / candidate confidentiality about a process. We use it with all clients. The legal language is quite general. The NDA tends to wear off as the search reaches a conclusion or a shortlist. Once the client has reasonable confidence they can place someone of equal capability, they can start having the internal conversations they need to

*affect

when i say the NDA wears off, there is no official “unbinding,” you just get told you can now talk about it openly.

also forgot reason 4. If there are fractious internals who want the senior job and they are a flight risk if they don’t get it, the company will err on the side of caution around making it public knowledge they are doing an external search. They would not want to risk losing all the capability in the team and being left with nothing

@PrincessButtercupToo yes I will be signing it and seeing how it goes. In any case I have already learned from this experience.
@noloorollasusual thanks that was very helpful.

Just sign it. NDAs generally don't offer much more protection than common law

This is totally normal for senior level confidential roles

You are definitely overthinking this. Many senior roles especially in banks involve personal liability and making judgment calls. Try to avoid quibbling about the terms of a routine NDA for a senior role. I would start to question whether you are even able to take on the responsibility of that role. Of course do read the terms. So long as it is sensible and not asking you to sign over your first born child, you can take a common sense approach.

I’ve had to sign so many NDAs in my career that I lost count. Sometimes I couldn’t even let the person at the next desk know what account I was working on. So it doesn’t seem abnormal to me.