Redefining Recruitment
Redefining Recruitment
This week is international Data Privacy Week and this Friday the 28th of January is Data Privacy Day. Created as a way to promote the importance of privacy and protecting one’s personal information online. This week, it is worth thinking about your own data online and how well protected you are. Do you protect your data on social media and online shopping sites? What about the private data you share online when looking for a new job?
You might register with online job boards, recruitment agencies and other online job sites when looking for a new role. But do you know how they use and store your data?
When you register your details with online job boards such as CV-Library, TotalJobs and Reed, you input private information. Your personal profile will require information such as, your address, age, contact details and place of employment. Recruiters like us here at Allstaff can see all this information you have shared. We use it to match you with roles we think you may be suitable for. Consider the information you are sharing on your profile, is it all necessary? For example, do you need to put your full address or will the town be sufficient? As a Recruiter, we only need to know your general location to ensure the role is within your area. Your full address will only be applicable upon registering with the Agency or once you secure yourself a new role!
As well as this, upon registering you will be required to upload your CV. You should always make sure your CV is up to date with your correct contact number and email address. This is essential if you wish to be contacted for opportunities! Although this information is critical for your CV, there are several things you do not need to include. We often see CV’s with information about their marital status, national insurance number, date of birth, full street address and more! This information is definitely not necessary for a CV and is an overshare of your private data. At the initial CV stage, you should only be including relevant work history and contact information, the rest comes with acceptance of the job offer.
Believe it or not, candidates have often uploaded other files instead of their CV. Some accidentally upload private documents such as bank statements, bills and insurance documents! The websites do not inform you that you have uploaded the wrong file as they only acknowledge the file type. You should be extra careful and ensure you are uploading the correct document. A lot of these job sites will keep your data forever, unless you specifically request the removal. This means if you have uploaded the wrong document, your information will be on shared until you remove it! This Privacy Data Week, be sure to double check your job board profiles and remember to only include the essentials.
When looking for a new job, have you ever registered your details with Recruitment Agencies? We are able to hold your details for a particular amount of time, so consider how many agencies you have shared your private data with. You are able to ask for your details to remain on Agency systems should you still find yourself looking for work, or you can ask for the deletion of all your private data in line with their Data Protection Policy.
As mentioned, Recruitment Agencies find your CV and details on the job boards or if you apply to them directly. Due to GDPR, Agencies must first obtain your permission to hold your personal details and share this with their Clients. This is why we ask you to complete a registration form with us. Upon registration, you may agree to receiving marketing materials from the Agency. You can always unsubscribe from these. However, it is important to note, unsubscribing from emails from Agencies does not necessarily mean you have requested to not be contacted by the Agency. It only removes you from their marketing mailing list. If you wish you have your details removed, you should check the company’s Privacy Policy and contact them directly.
It is important to keep Recruitment Agencies up to date with your current situation. For example, if you are moving to another country, you will likely not need their services anymore and they should remove you from their system. Or, if you have found a new permanent position you are hoping to have for a long time, they should know so they do not try to keep contacting you for new roles.
Often, there is no record of deleted accounts. So should you request the removal of your data and find an Agency attempting to make contact with you once more, this is because they have found your details organically. For example, if you reregister with the online job boards, they can find you again this way and have no means for knowing you had requested the removal of your data previously.
You should be just as cautious about sharing your private data on jobsites as you are with social media and other applications. Remember, as important as your CV is, you should only have your work history and main contact information on it. There is no need for marital status, street address, national insurance numbers, date of birth, family history etc! You should always read the privacy policy pages of sites and only register with those you trust.
Personal information is like money. Value it. Protect it.
Staysafeonline.org/data-privacy-day
We take your private data seriously. We will only share your with our clients with your permission. Read our Privacy Policy and Data Protection Policy today.
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