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Recruitment privacy notice
As part of any recruitment process, the organisation collects and processes personal data relating to job applicants. The organisation is committed to being transparent about how it collects and uses that data and to meeting its data protection obligations.
This Privacy Notice only applies to the personal data of job applicants, potential candidates for employment, and our optional recruiting programs and events. It does not apply to our employees, contractors or clients, or other personal data that Second Step collects for other purposes.
By submitting your personal data to us, you acknowledge that:
- You have read and understood this Privacy Notice and agree to the use of your personal data as set out herein.
- You are not required to provide any requested information to us, but failing to do so may result in not being able to continue your candidacy for the job for which you have applied.
- All of your representations are true and correct to the best of your knowledge and belief, and you have not knowingly omitted any related information of an adverse nature. Providing any inaccurate information may make you ineligible for employment.
- This Privacy Notice does not form part of any contract of employment offered to candidates hired by Second Step.
What information does Second Step collect?
The organisation collects a range of information about you. This includes:
- your name, address and contact details, including email address and telephone number;
- details of your qualifications, skills, experience and employment history;
- whether or not you have a disability for which the organisation needs to make reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process;
- information about your entitlement to work in the UK; and
- equal opportunities monitoring information, including information about your ethnic origin, sexual orientation, health, and religion or belief.
At the recruitment stage (pre-employment) the organisation collects this information via your CV and covering letter. We also may collect personal data about you from third parties, such as professional recruiting firms, your referees, prior employers, the Disclosure and Barring Service, Second Step employees with whom you have interviewed, and employment background check providers, to the extent this is permitted by applicable law, this information will be collected with your permission only.
Data will be stored in a range of different places, including on your application record, in HR management systems and on other IT systems (including email).
Why does the organisation process personal data?
The organisation needs to process data to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract with you. It also needs to process your data to enter into a contract with you.
In some cases, the organisation needs to process data to ensure that it is complying with its legal obligations. For example, it is required to check a successful applicant's eligibility to work in the UK before employment starts.
The organisation has a legitimate interest in processing personal data during the recruitment process and for keeping records of the process. Processing data from job applicants allows the organisation to manage the recruitment process, assess and confirm a candidate's suitability for employment and decide to whom to offer a job. The organisation may also need to process data from job applicants to respond to and defend against legal claims.
Where the organisation relies on legitimate interests as a reason for processing data, it has considered whether or not those interests are overridden by the rights and freedoms of employees or workers and has concluded that they are not.
The organisation processes health information if it needs to make reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process for candidates who have a disability. This is to carry out its obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment.
Where the organisation processes other special categories of data, such as information about ethnic origin, sexual orientation, health, religion or belief, age, gender or marital status, this is done for the purposes of equal opportunities monitoring with the explicit consent of job applicants, which can be withdrawn at any time.
For some roles, the organisation is obliged to seek information about criminal convictions and offences. Where the organisation seeks this information, it does so because it is necessary for it to carry out its obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment.
The organisation will not use your data for any purpose other than the recruitment exercise for which you have applied.
Who has access to data?
Your information will be shared internally for the purposes of the recruitment exercise. This includes; members of the HR and recruitment team, interviewers involved in the recruitment process, managers in the business area with a vacancy and IT staff if access to the data is necessary for the performance of their roles.
The organisation will not share your data with third parties, unless your application for employment is successful and it makes you an offer of employment. The organisation will then share your data with former employers to obtain references for you, employment background check providers to obtain necessary background checks and the Disclosure and Barring Service to obtain necessary criminal records checks.
The organisation will not transfer your data outside the European Economic Area.
How does the organisation protect data?
The organisation takes the security of your data seriously. It has internal policies and controls in place to ensure that your data is not lost, accidentally destroyed, misused or disclosed, and is not accessed except by our employees in the proper performance of their duties.
For how long does the organisation keep data?
If your application for employment is unsuccessful, the organisation will hold your data on file for 6 months after the end of the relevant recruitment process. At the end of that period your data is deleted or destroyed.
If your application for employment is successful, personal data gathered during the recruitment process will be transferred to your personnel file and retained during your employment. The periods for which your data will be held will be provided to you in a new privacy notice.
Your rights
As a data subject, you have a number of rights. You can:
- access and obtain a copy of your data on request;
- require the organisation to change incorrect or incomplete data;
- require the organisation to delete or stop processing your data, for example where the data is no longer necessary for the purposes of processing;
- object to the processing of your data where the organisation is relying on its legitimate interests as the legal ground for processing; and
- ask the organisation to stop processing data for a period if data is inaccurate or there is a dispute about whether or not your interests override the organisation's legitimate grounds for processing data.
If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact the HR Team on hr@second-step.co.uk
If you believe that the organisation has not complied with your data protection rights, you can complain to the Information Commissioner. Second Step registration number is Z2235039
What if you do not provide personal data?
You are under no statutory or contractual obligation to provide data to the organisation during the recruitment process. However, if you do not provide the information, the organisation may not be able to process your application properly or at all.
You are under no obligation to provide information for equal opportunities monitoring purposes and there are no consequences for your application if you choose not to provide such information.
Automated decision-making
Recruitment processes are not based solely on automated decision-making.