Q. You’ve been offered a new job, and your prospective employer wants you to sign a noncompete agreement, but the document makes you uneasy. What should you do?

A. Take some time to scrutinize the terms. Robin Bond, managing partner of Transition Strategies, a law firm in Wayne, Pa., says it’s perfectly reasonable to ask to review the details of the agreement before accepting the job.

“When it comes to legal documents, you can never be too careful,” Ms. Bond said. “The last thing you want to do is sign something that could affect your ability to earn a living.”

Q. What do noncompete clauses cover?

A. Generally speaking, these agreements are one-sided contracts designed by companies to prevent employees from competing with them after leaving the fold. Paula Weber, a partner at the San Francisco law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, said that companies generally use the documents to protect trade secrets, customer contacts and other forms of intellectual property.