[Rick Lee]

I doubt most employers know when they have employees looking for work with competitors. Maybe it gets around the grapevine if companies have moles within one another, though that would be unprofessional. I know our main competitor is seen as an arch enemy and their VP of sales was fired by our company and on very bad terms. It was a while ago, o he has no friends left here, and wouldn't hesitate to hire someone who had a non-compete. Sure, you'd be blacklisted if your employer knew you were looking and they pro-actively contacted anyone you might be applying to. But that sounds pretty unlikely and unprofessional.

We have another competitor who's hiring and offering way, way more for the same job than we pay. It's tempting, but I think our company might acquire this one within the next year. And if I ignored the non-compete, left on my own to go there and then they got bought out by my then-former and scorned employer, I'd be fired on day one of the new ownership.