• be honest with her employer
  
• use good judgment in her role as an employee
  
• put her employer's interests above her own (avoid conflicts of interest)
  
• protect confidential information

• trade secrets (for example, the recipe for BBQ King's top secret sauce)
  
• client lists, files and contact information
  
• the company’s financial information
  
• business strategies (for example, marketing plans or sales presentations)

• not do certain tasks or occupy certain jobs (e.g., you will not sell or advertise certain products)
  
• not do these tasks or occupy these jobs in a specified region (e.g.,in the 5 km area surrounding your old workplace)
  
• not do these tasks or occupy these jobs for a certain period of time (e.g., for 120 days starting on the day you leave your old job)

• The agreement must be written down. It must be signed by you.
  
• The agreement can only prevent you from doing specific tasks or jobs that put you in direct competition with your former employer.
  
• The agreement can only prevent you from doing these tasks or jobs in a specific geographical region and that region must be reasonable considering your former job.
  
• The agreement can only be valid for a specific time period, and no longer. That time period must be reasonable considering your former job.

• the former employee's right to earn an income
  
• the former employee's position within the company before she left (for example, a manager of a company will not be treated in the same way as an office clerk)
  
• the reasons why the employer feels he needs to be protected by a non-competition agreement

• whether or not you have signed a valid non-competition agreement with your former employer
  
• the circumstances of your departure

You did not sign a non-competition agreement with your former employer:

• You can go work for a competitor. You must, however, act fairly and reasonably, and remain loyal to your former employer by not intentionally damaging his reputation, or sharing confidential information that you learned about in your old job.

You signed an agreement not to compete with your former employer:

• If you quit or were fired for a serious reason:
  
  You must respect the terms of a valid non-competition agreement. Depending on what your agreement says, you may or may not be able to go work for a competitor right away. Your non-competition agreement will outline what you can and cannot do.
  
  
• If you were fired without a serious reason:
  
  Even if your non-competition agreement is valid, your former employer cannot force you to respect it. You can go work for a competitor because you did not decide to leave your job, nor did you do something that got you fired. However, you must still act fairly and reasonably, and remain loyal to your former employer. For example, an employer who fires an employee to reduce his operating costs and increase his profits cannot prevent the employee from going to work for his competitor.

• Information about your former employer's business:
  
  You must keep this information confidential for a reasonable period of time following the end of your job. To know what this means in your particular case, you can consult a legal professional.
  
  
• Information about the reputation or personal life of your former employer or colleagues:
  
  You must always keep this information confidential. You can never reveal information you came across while in your old job that concerns the personal life or reputation of another person (for example, medical records).

• You must continue to avoid putting your interests above those of your former employer for a reasonable amount of time following the end of your job. This time period will depend on factors such as the type of position you held within the company before you left. To find out how this applies in your particular case, you can consult a legal professional.