Should you sign an NDA for a job interview?

Is it normal to be asked for an NDA before an interview?

It is not universal, but it is common in some situations: a start-up that has not announced its product, an agency that will show you client work, a role where the interview includes a tour of a lab or a walk through internal dashboards, or a take-home exercise built on real company data. Some companies simply ask every visitor to sign one at reception. None of this says anything bad about the employer or about you.

What should make you pause is not the request but the content. A two-page NDA about what you will see in the interview is routine. A long document that also restricts your next job, claims your ideas or tries to keep you quiet about the company's conduct is not an interview NDA any more.

What to check in a candidate NDA

Scope: the definition should be limited to information disclosed to you during the recruitment process. If it covers “all information relating to the company” however you learned it, ask for it to be narrowed.

Take-home tasks: if the process includes an assignment, check whether the NDA or the task instructions say the company owns what you produce. Using an unpaid exercise in production is a different matter from keeping it confidential; ask how the work will be used.

Talking about the interview: most candidate NDAs protect information about the business, such as products, clients and figures. Some also cover the interview questions. Either way you can normally say that you interviewed there. Read the definition to see where the line is.

Restrictions: a candidate NDA should not contain a non-compete or non-solicit, and should not stop you from applying elsewhere. If it does, ask for those clauses to be removed before you sign.

Do not bring your current employer's secrets

The NDA you are asked to sign is not the only one that matters. Your current or previous employer's confidentiality obligations still apply while you interview. Talk about your skills, your results in general terms and publicly known facts, but do not share client lists, internal numbers or code from your current job, even if an interviewer asks. A good employer will respect that, and it protects you on both sides.

The NDA that comes with a job offer

Signing a confidentiality agreement when you start a new job is normal. It is often part of the employment contract or a separate agreement on confidentiality and intellectual property. It usually goes further than an interview NDA: it covers everything you learn as an employee, assigns work you create in the job to the employer, and may contain restrictions that apply after you leave. Read it as part of the offer and negotiate it with the offer.

Whatever it says, some disclosures stay open to you. In the United States, pre-dispute non-disclosure clauses cannot be enforced in disputes about sexual assault or sexual harassment where the conduct is alleged to break the law; a confidentiality agreement may not be used to stop anyone from contacting the SEC about a possible securities violation; and employers must tell employees about the whistleblower immunity for reporting suspected violations of law in confidence to officials or an attorney, or lose certain remedies against them. In California, an employer may not make a job, a raise or a bonus depend on signing a document that takes away the right to disclose information about unlawful acts in the workplace, and a clause limiting what an employee may say about workplace conditions has to state that it does not prevent such disclosures.

For England, Scotland and Wales, ACAS guidance says an NDA cannot stop a worker from whistleblowing, reporting a crime to the police, or discussing pay for equal-pay reasons. In England and Wales, a clause is void so far as it would stop a victim of crime from telling the police, a lawyer or support services about it.

Can you refuse to sign?

Yes. There is no obligation to sign an NDA as a candidate, but the company may decide not to continue the process without one. A middle way works well: ask what the NDA is meant to protect and whether the extra clauses can be removed. Asking what a clause is for is a reasonable question at any stage of hiring. If an employment agreement restricts where you can work after leaving, or you are unsure what you are giving up, ask an employment lawyer before signing.

Sources

• ACAS: non-disclosure agreements (what an NDA cannot stop)
• 42 U.S.C. § 19403 (Speak Out Act)
• 17 CFR § 240.21F-17: no impeding communications with the SEC
• 18 U.S.C. § 1833(b): whistleblower immunity and employer notice
• California Government Code § 12964.5
• Victims and Prisoners Act 2024, section 17