---
name: evaluate-an-employment-contract
category: get-hired
description: Evaluate an employment contract against the offer, law, compensation, duties, restrictions, termination, intellectual property, privacy, and negotiation priorities. Use when deciding whether to sign employment terms.
---
# evaluate-an-employment-contract
## When to use
- Use for a complete current draft and obtain qualified legal advice where material.
- Do not treat this workflow as jurisdiction-specific legal advice.
## Procedure
1. Preserve offer, contract, policies, exhibits, dates, jurisdiction, and version.
2. Compare role, employer, location, hours, pay, bonus, equity, benefits, expenses, and start.
3. Review probation, performance, leave, termination, notice, severance, and deductions.
4. Review confidentiality, privacy, monitoring, IP, inventions, noncompete, nonsolicit, and dispute terms.
5. Identify contradictions, missing documents, unilateral change, and post-employment obligations.
6. Rank questions and proposed edits, seek advice, and record final meaning.
## Failure plan
- Pause signing when referenced documents or material terms are missing.
## Worked example
A candidate finds the equity plan absent and an invention clause broader than the offer discussion.
## Done
- A contract evaluation report records versions, matched terms, differences, risks, questions, advice needs, and decisions
- Employer, pay, equity, policy, termination, restriction, IP, privacy, jurisdiction, and final-version checks verify review