As part of any recruitment process, we collect and process personal data relating to job applicants. We are committed to being transparent about how we collect and use that data and to meeting our data protection obligations.

What information will we collect?

We will collect a range of information about you during the job application process. This includes:

• Your name, address and contact details, including email address and telephone number
• Details of your qualifications, skills, experience and employment history
• Information about your current level of remuneration, including benefit entitlements
• 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

We collect information in a variety of ways. For example, data might be contained in application forms, CVs, obtained from your passport of other identity documents, or collected through interviews or other forms of assessment.

Prior to employment we will conduct an employee background check and will inform you that we are doing so. This includes:

• Right to work in the UK
• Criminal records check through the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
• Reference checks from your named referees
• Validity of professional qualifications
• Financial background check – for those in finance positions

Data will be stored in a range of different place including HR and other IT systems, including email.

Why do we process personal data?

We need to process data to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract with you. We also need 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.

We have a legitimate interest in processing personal data during the recruitment process and for keeping records of the process. Processing data from job applicants allows us 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.

As we rely 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.

We process health information if we need to make reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process for candidates who have a disability. This is to carry out our obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment.

We 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 team, manager of the department, interviewing team and reception team.

We will not share your data with third parties, unless your application for employment is successful and we make you an offer of employment.

Your data will be stored in the UK and EU.

How does the organisation protect data?

We take the security of your data seriously. We have internal policies and controls in place to ensure that your data is not lost, accidently destroyed, misused or disclosed, and is not accessed except by our employees in the proper performance of their duties.

How long do we keep your data for?

If your application for employment is unsuccessful, we will hold your data on file for 1 year 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 our cloud-based HR System, PeopleHR, and will be retained during your employment.

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 us to change incorrect or incomplete data
• Require us 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 we are relying on its legitimate interests as the legal ground for processing
• Ask us to stop processing data for a period if that 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 Liz Diez, Head of Compliance whose details can be found below.

If you believe that we have not complied with your data protection rights, you can complain to the Information Commissioner.

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.

We do not use automated decision-making as part of the recruitment process.

Data controller: Research Opinions, Bank House, 147 Buxton Rd, Stockport, SK2 6EQ

Head of Compliance: Liz Diez  liz.diez@researchopinions.co.uk

RESEARCH OPINIONS JOB APPLICANT PRIVACY NOTICE – REVISED JUNE 2022