How we use your personal information – job applicants

‘Personal information’ means any information which relates to or identifies you as an individual.

Please see further information on our Data Protection pages.

The information published here applies to the use, sharing and disclosure of your personal information by Cambridge Enterprise.

Cambridge Enterprise 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 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.

Some applicants may be required to undergo an application for immigration purposes where a Certificate of Sponsorship through UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) is required. In such a case, we will only use any information gathered as part of the relevant checks or procedures for that specific purpose, and we will handle, store, retain and destroy relevant materials in accordance with applicable legislation and codes of practice. This means that access to any relevant materials (including any forms completed by Cambridge Enterprise) is strictly controlled, and they are retained for no longer than strictly necessary to fulfil the purpose in accordance with the legislation. Wherever possible we will not retain original documents or print-outs and instead will make a note on our HR database that the relevant check or procedure has been completed. We will only share any relevant information with external parties insofar as we are required to do so. We recognise that for some checks and in some circumstances it is a criminal offence to pass any information on to anyone who is not entitled to receive it.

Cambridge Enterprise 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 Cambridge Enterprise processes other special categories of data, such as information about ethnic origin, sexual orientation, health or religion or belief, this is for equal opportunities monitoring purposes. Cambridge Enterprise will not use your data for any purpose other than the recruitment exercise for which you have applied.

We record, store and securely transmit your personal information in paper and electronic formats, in email and voice recording. We limit access to your personal information to your personal information to our employees and those at the University who have a need to know. They will only process your personal information on our instructions, and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We may collect certain information automatically as you navigate around our website.

Cambridge Enterprise collects and processes personal data relating to job applicants in order to process your job application. Please see How we use your personal information – Job applicants for further information.

We use Teamtailor for handle recruitment. Teamtailor is a third-party service that is not owned or managed by Cambridge Enterprise. Please refer to the privacy policy that relates specifically to the use of Teamtailor for further information.

Please see our Cookie Policy and How we use your personal information – website users for further details.

Cambridge Enterprise collects this information in a variety of ways. For example, data will be contained in application forms, CVs, obtained from your passport or other identity documents, or collected through interviews or other forms of assessment. We will also collect personal data about you from third parties, such as references supplied by former employers. We will seek information from third parties only once a job offer to you has been made and will inform you that it is doing so.

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).

Cambridge Enterprise 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.

We will process your personal information for a range of contractual, statutory or public interest purposes, including to:

• Confirm your identity
• Process and manage your job application
• Verify the information provided
• Assess your suitability for the role (including any relevant right to work checks)
• Communicating with you throughout the process and the outcome of your application
• Protect our legitimate interests and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests
• Prevent or detect fraud
• Conduct equal opportunities monitoring
• Help us make reasonable adjustments for any disability, as requested by you
• Provide statutory returns required by applicable legislation
• For research and statistical purposes, but no information that could identify you would be published

We consider the processing of your personal information for the above purposes to be either necessary for us to take steps with a view to creating a contractual relationship with you (for example, to assess your application for employment with us), or necessary for compliance with a legal obligation (for example, equal opportunities monitoring), or necessary for the performance of tasks we carry out in the public interest (for example, non-statutory reporting or research). We require you to provide us with the information we ask for during the application process in order to assess your application properly except where its supply is marked as optional. Recruitment decisions are not automated.

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

Cambridge Enterprise 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 Cambridge Enterprise processes other special categories of data, such as information about ethnic origin, sexual orientation, health or religion or belief, this is for equal opportunities monitoring purposes. Cambridge Enterprise will not use your data for any purpose other than the recruitment exercise for which you have applied.

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

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.

We set out in the table below, details of the lawful basis for which we process your personal information.

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.

Cambridge Enterprise will not share your data with third parties, unless your application for employment is successful and it makes you an offer of employment. We will then share your data with former employers to obtain references for you.  Where relevant and as required, we will share your data with UK Visas and Immigration in order to administer relevant recruitment checks and procedures.  On occasion we might share your data with companies or organisations providing specific services to, or on behalf of, Cambridge Enterprise.

We will not transfer your data outside the European Economic Area.

You have the right to access the personal information that is held about you by the Cambridge Enterprise. Further details can be found at Making a Subject Access Request.

You also have the right to ask us to correct any inaccurate personal information we hold about you, to delete personal information, or otherwise restrict our processing, or to object to processing or to receive an electronic copy of the personal information you provided to us. Please email us via the button below if you believe we have some inaccurate personal information held about you.

EMAIL US

If you are not happy with the way your information is being handled, or with the response received from us, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF. We would however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance.

If your application for employment is unsuccessful, Cambridge Enterprise will hold your data on file for two years after the end of the relevant recruitment process (except if the person appointed to the post is sponsored under the UK’s points-based immigration system, when we are required to retain the applications of all candidates shortlisted for final interview for one year or until a Home Office compliance officer has examined and approved them, whichever is the longer period). 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 and for seven years following the end of your employment. The periods for which your data will be held will be provided to you in a new privacy notice.

As a subsidiary of the University of Cambridge, we follow the University’s guidance on information retention. Information about how long different types of information are retained by Cambridge Enterprise is published on our Records Management page.

This web page was last updated December 2023. It is reviewed when necessary and at least annually. Any changes will be published here.

It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.