Data controller: Formidable

[Data protection officer: [Name and contact details]

As part of any recruitment process, an organisation collects and processes personal data relating to job applicants. Formidable is committed to being transparent about how we collect and use that data and to meeting its data protection obligations.

What information does Formidable collect?

Formidable 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;
• information about your current level of remuneration, including benefit entitlements;
• whether you have a disability for which Formidable needs to make reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process;
• information about your entitlement to work in the UK

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

Formidable will also collect personal data about you from third parties, such as references supplied by former employers.

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 Formidable process personal data?

Formidable needs 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, Formidable needs to process data to ensure that it is complying with its legal obligations. For example, we are required to check a successful applicant’s eligibility to work in the UK before employment starts.

Formidable 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 Formidable to manage the recruitment process, assess and confirm a candidate’s suitability for employment and decide to whom to offer a job. Formidable may also need to process data from job applicants to respond to and defend against legal claims.

Where Formidable relies on legitimate interests as a reason for processing data, we have considered whether those interests are overridden by the rights and freedoms of job applicants, employees or workers and has concluded that they are not.

Formidable processes health information if we need 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 Formidable 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 by contacting hr@formidable.media

For some roles, Formidable may seek information about criminal convictions and offences. Where Formidable seeks this information, we do so because it is necessary for us to carry out our obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment.

If your application is unsuccessful, Formidable will keep your personal data on file in case there are future employment opportunities for which you may be suited. We will ask for your consent before we keep your data for this purpose and you are free to withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us.

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, 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.

Formidable will not share your data with third parties unless your application for employment is successful and we make you an offer of employment. We will then share your data with former employers to obtain references for you.

Your data may be transferred outside the UK for purposes which will be discussed with you beforehand. Data is transferred outside the UK on the basis of relevant safeguards as per client’s needs.

How does Formidable 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, accidentally destroyed, misused, or disclosed, and is not accessed except by our employees in the proper performance of their duties.

For how long does Formidable keep data?

If your application for employment is unsuccessful, we will hold your data on file for 6 months after the end of the relevant recruitment process. If you agree to allow us to keep your personal data on file, we will hold your data on file for a further 6 months for consideration for future employment opportunities. At the end of that period or once you withdraw your consent, 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 your interests override the organisation’s legitimate grounds for processing data.

If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact hr@formidable.media

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 Formidable during the recruitment process. However, if you do not provide the information, we may not be able to process your application properly or at all. If your application is successful, it will be a condition of any job offer that you provide evidence of your right to work in the UK and satisfactory references.

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.