Comment by m-ee

You are reading that wrong, the agreement you describe would not be enforceable in California

The only part of a non compete that is valid to my knowledge is that if an employee leaves for a competitor the company can have them sign an agreement not to poach employees, but even that is very limited. If Bob leaves company A for company B and signs such an agreement, his former coworker Alice is free to say "Hi Bob I'm really excited by company B can I have a referral?" Bob didn't make first contact so he's free to help bring Alice over.