job shop--non-compete clause??

[Randy Burgess <ghost -at- DAVINCI -dot- NETAXIS -dot- COM>]

Hi, all--I have a question about non-compete clauses.

I am a semi-novice at tech writing--I've been working part-time for a
documentation house for the past two years, but that relationship has
ended. Now I'm shopping around for contract work.

I've interviewed with a woman who has been a contractor for over a decade
and has now started a placement/management service, i.e. she will place
writers with clients such as Banker's Trust, etc., in Manhattan. She does
a certain amount of liason stuff too, in exchange for her cut--I'd
actually be paid by her, rather than directly by the client. She'd pay me
as a 1099.

She wants me to sign what she says is a standard "non-compete" clause
before she even thinks of introducing me to a client. Effectively it would
bar me from working for a company she "introduced" me to "directly or
indirectly" for up to a year after I leave her employ. It seems very broad
to me, and I think an experienced contract writer would probably refuse to
sign it--but I'm not that experienced, and she would a) presumably help me
get jobs and b) offer somewhat more in the way of support than a big
recruitment firm like KTI. Her whole pitch is that she's not a big
anonymous recruitment firm, she's more selective in whom she hires and
where she places--really tries to make a good match, etc.

Does anyone have any thoughts about this, pro or con?

Thanks--

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Randy Burgess                                               ghost -at- netaxis -dot- com
freelance writer,
tech writer, ghostwriter
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