Job candidate privacy notice

The information set out here applies to the processing of your personal data by the University.  If another organisation is to be a ‘data controller’ of your personal data, for example, if you register with a third party recruitment agency, they will explain this when you apply or when you provide the data as well as how they will use your personal data.

If your application is successful and you are employed by the University, your data will be transferred to the University’s HR systems. Our Staff Privacy Notice on our website explains how staff personal data is processed.

The University collects and processes a range of information about you. This includes, as appropriate:

• Your name, address and contact details, including email address and telephone numbers;
• Details of your qualifications, skills, registrations, experience with previous employers and with the University;
• Academic achievements, publication lists and related research proposals:
• Redeployment details relating to internal candidates;
• Student details (if a student worker);
• Your current level of remuneration, including benefit entitlements;
• Immigration information including immigration and right to work status, visa details, passport number and expiry date;
• Specific candidate queries made by individuals relating to specific  campaigns or generic career opportunities
• Assessment / interview notes detailing a candidate’s suitability for the role applied for; and
• References.

Some of the data about you that we need to process is classed as ‘special category’ or sensitive personal data.  We will ask you for consent to do this. This data includes data about your ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious beliefs or health/disability data.  Health and/or disability data can include:

• Medical or health conditions, including whether or not you have a disability for which the University needs to make reasonable adjustments;
• Data from third parties relating to Occupational Health referrals, GP reports and other health-related intervention relating to the role that you have applied for; and
• Equal opportunities monitoring information, including information about your ethnic origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, marital status, and religion or belief.

Criminal convictions:The University may hold and process data about criminal offences and convictions if it is appropriate given the nature of your role. We will use information about criminal convictions and offences in the following ways:

• To comply with employment and other laws;
• Consider suitability for employment; or
• Consideration of safeguarding issues.

We will only use information relating to criminal convictions where the law allows us to do so and in line with our Data Protection Policy. Personal data relating to criminal convictions will be retained confidentially and securely and access to that data will be strictly controlled.

The University collects this information in a variety of ways. For example, data might be contained in application forms, CVs or resumes, on-boarding forms, obtained from your passport or other identity documents, collected through interviews or other forms of assessment, including online tests or longlisting assessment from recruitment agencies.

In some cases, the University collects personal data about you from third parties, such as references supplied by former employers academics, health monitoring services (for example, for radiation exposure), and information from criminal records checks (see above).

Your personal data is created, stored and transmitted and processed securely in University recruitment systems, campaign HR files, in University management systems, offer and feedback spreadsheets,  departmental management filing systems and in other IT systems (including the University’s email system) in a variety of paper and electronic formats, including databases.

When using video conferencing applications such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams, your name, user name, email address, your computer’s IP address, MAC address and device name may be collected.

The University will process your application data only for the purpose of processing that application. We do not use it for any other purposes, except that if your application is successful and you are employed by the University, your data will be transferred to the University’s HR systems.  Information about how we process data about our employees is set out on our Staff Privacy Notice on our website.

Video conferencing applications

When using video conferencing applications, such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams, personal data such as your IP address and device name may collected by the companies who own these applications in order to schedule and create a record of meetings, improve and tailor your experience when using these applications. Where video conferencing applications are used to record meetings, personal data captured within the recording are stored within the cloud service owned by that company. Where recording is taking place, you will be notified at the beginning of or as you enter the recording session.

Data held and used by the University are compliant with GDPR. Personal data stored by a service provider within the cloud may be stored outside of the European Economic Area. 

We consider the processing of your personal data for these purposes to be necessary for:

• Taking all relevant and necessary steps to determine whether to make an offer to work at the University and to decide on the terms of that offer, that is, to take steps at your request before entering into a contract;
• Compliance with legal obligations (for example, checking a candidate’s eligibility to work in the UK, to make reasonable adjustments for candidates for interview, equal opportunities monitoring) or regulatory obligations (for example, reporting to Government or governmental bodies).

We will only process your special category data with your explicit consent or if it is necessary:

• For the purposes of you and/or the University carrying out its or your obligations/rights in the field of employment providing appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your  fundamental rights and the interests;
• For the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims;
• Very occasionally, when it is needed to protect your or another person’s vital interests and you are not capable of giving your consent (for example, in an emergency);
• When you have already made the information public.

If we require your consent for any specific use of your personal data, we will collect it at the appropriate time, explaining why we are collecting the data and how we will use it, and you can withdraw this at any time.

You can register, through the University recruitment system, to receive notification of future employment opportunities which may be of interest. We will only send you updates if you have asked us to, and you are free to withdraw your consent at any time.

Within the University, your data is shared with only those University staff who need access for the purpose of dealing with your application and the recruitment exercise. This includes members of the HR and recruitment team, occupational health and wellbeing teams where needed, interviewers and administrators involved in the recruitment process, managers in the area with a vacancy, finance teams, and, if access to the data is necessary for the performance of their roles, IT staff.

Your personal data is shared as is necessary, on a considered and confidential basis, with several external organisations which assist with the recruitment process. These organisations act on our behalf in accordance with our instructions and do not process your data for any purpose over and above what we have asked them to do. We make sure we have appropriate contracts in place with them. Sometimes your personal data is processed by these organisations outside the European Economic Area (for example, because they use a cloud-based system with servers based outside the EEA), and if so, we make sure that appropriate safeguards are in place to ensure the confidentiality and security of your personal data.

Your personal data is shared with a range of external people and organisations as is necessary for the purposes set out above and as permitted or required by law, including the following

• If your application for employment is successful and we make you an offer of employment, we will contact former employers and referees to obtain references for you.  We will not ask for information from your referees until a job offer has been made to you without your consent, except that in the case of applications for academic appointments, when referees will be contacted before your interview.
• When necessary, we will contact the Disclosure and Barring Service to obtain necessary criminal records checks. We will provide you with information about that at the relevant time.
• When necessary, we will contact the Baseline Personnel Security Standards (BPSS) department to obtain necessary government checks. We will provide you with information about this at the relevant time and only if relevant to the vacancy applied to.
• Where necessary for expertise and input into a recruitment process we may share applicant details with external interview panel members. These recipients are directly involved in your selection process and adhere to the disposal and retention of your information in line with the information provided in this privacy notice.

Sometimes, we may have to send your personal data outside the European Economic Area (EEA) (for example, the post and or hiring managers are located outside the EEA, such as at the University’s campus in Dubai, or if your reference provider is located outside the EEA). This is usually necessary to consider your application, and we make sure that appropriate safeguards are in place to ensure the confidentiality and security of your personal data.

If your application for employment is unsuccessful, the University will keep your data for 7 months after the end of the relevant recruitment process, after which your data will be securely deleted or destroyed. 

If you ask the University to notify you of future job opportunities, the University will keep the data you provide us with for that purpose until you ask us to remove it.

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. Information about how long staff data is retained is explained in the Staff Privacy Notice on the University’s website.

Details about your rights are set out on the website page ‘Data Protection – How the University Uses Your Data’.  This also explains how to ask any questions you may have about how your personal data is used, exercise any of your rights or complain about the way your data is being handled.

This webpage is effective from 14 May 2018. It is reviewed when necessary and at least annually. Any changes will be published here and you will be notified by email or as appropriate.