Data collection is rife in the recruitment process; is your recruitment data safe?

We have all experienced the dreaded questionnaire when we have applied for a role. You know that the process is supposed to not take account any of a range of criteria such as sex, age, sexual orientation, religion etc. And yet, with frightening regularity, candidates are asked for all this information under the guise of ‘equality’ to allow an employer to see the range of ethnicity and age etc. that is apply for their roles. Is your data safe?

Your data can be reconnected and used.

Can you refuse?

Sort of. There is nearly always an option in each question stating ‘prefer not to say’ but many of you will, when trying to apply for a role with that employer, be thinking about how that might come across and what it will mean for your chances. So, you answer the questions, feel deeply uncomfortable and press on.

The issue with this is simple. If equal opportunity comes from genuine anonymity, then why does an employer need to know all this information? This is a complex issue and one worth unpacking. There are two sides to this coin. The capture of recruitment data in the process, especially early on, is difficult to justify.

For the employer, they have a need to be able to prove that they are genuine about their intent to be equal opportunists. But without data to back it up, how can they do this effectively? It is actually quite difficult.

For example, if you end up with a company full of middle class, Christian, married, heterosexual men in your company, you may be suspicious that your recruitment processes are not bias. But how do you know? The roles that you have recruited may simply be only attracting those demographics, you have recruited fairly, and the best of the candidates were selected. On the other hand, if most of the applications were from a completely different demographic, then you might have a problem. Without the data it is simply hard to know. The issue comes from the fact that it is no longer acceptable to include this highly personal data in the CV and so it must be acquired separately.

And this is where the other side of the coin comes in.

A candidate must provide this data (likely in fear of the consequences of not providing it even if some semblance of optionality is offered) and they have no idea how it will be used in reality. An employer now has your name, possibly your address, contact details, your entire work history, your education level and school (university or college) and in many cases your hobbies and interests.  Then, add this to your data you have provided on your sexuality, your gender, your gender identity, your religious beliefs, your age range, your ethnic makeup and so on.

And worse, there is no tangible way to know what happens to this data in reality. Nobody to police it, no idea if it is shared or stolen. It is a tremendous amount of personal data. And to make matters worse (in most cases), this data is asked for at the time of initial job application. Only to find, 2 days later (following an automated culling process) that you receive a round robin ‘computer says no’ response. And they have all that data on you.

It is also now well established that this is such a fruitful way to capture copious quantities of personal data that many job adverts are simply fake.

Your recruitment data safe or is it at risk (candidates) and employers and recruiters are putting candidates at risk by demanding all this data up front. This is the same issue banks faced with customers being called by criminals pretending to be the bank. The only fight against that was for banks to say categorically that they will never ring you and ask for your data. As a result, people know not to trust incoming calls asking for banking credentials as everyone knows this is never done. So, it is easy to spot. The same is needed from the recruitment industry. If it is never asked for by legitimate organisations, then it is easy for candidates to spot that they are being defrauded.

Candidates Matter is an ethics and standards organisation for recruitment offering a range of services to bring humans back into the process. Take a look at our services for Candidates, Employers and Recruiters and find out how you too can play a part in improving and protecting the candidates in the recruitment process.