10 May Could GDPR Stop You From Finding Your Perfect Job?

With the new GDPR regulations, only days away and the instruction of revised Data Protection Laws in both Guernsey and Jersey, magazines and papers are awash with quick guides on how to get your business compliant.

But, as the new laws pertain to how your personal data is handled, and most importantly, your “right to be forgotten”, how does this affect the proactive or passive job-seeker?

Andrew Partlow, Director of Alexander Daniels Offshore, gives his insights into how to ensure you’re still top of the tree when it comes to finding your perfect role.

The go-to recruiter

Many of you will have your recruiter of choice, that has helped you, your family and friends secure previous positions and may have indeed helped shape your career too. When you have an excellent relationship with your recruiter of choice that fully understands you and your career objectives as well as knowing what environments will suit you, this is priceless. Finding the perfect role often takes a proactive idea from the recruiter when you aren’t proactively looking for a new role.

Your go-to recruiter is just that because they are good at what they do, they understand you, they actively think of you and thus become your long-term recruiter, not just when you are actively looking for a new role. Consider that you may not have spoken to your recruiter for some time but they have a role they know you will be interested in, what if GDPR stops this happening and you no longer have those eyes and ears watching the marketplace for you, that you have trusted and relied on for many years?

Niche markets

Most markets are now candidate driven, i.e. there is a shortage of talent available, with some markets being more niche than others. Search & selection and headhunting are common tools required, especially for senior appointments or particularly niche roles, so it isn’t just job seekers that could be affected but also clients being able to find the talent they require.

This is more relevant to the Channel Islands than anywhere else given the restrictions that are already in place in terms of the ‘right to work’ and the need for ‘off-island’ talent to fill skill gaps, many positions that are filled with off-island candidates are from headhunts, where the recruiter would have used historical data in order to find the right candidate. It’s food for thought.

Keeping in touch

If you’re dealing with recruitment agencies, an agency worth their salt will always keep you updated regularly. Once your placement process has completed an agency will be required to remove your information from their records, unless you have expressed a desire to be kept apprised of opportunities in the future and generally you’ll be presented with this option during the registration process.

You will no doubt have seen over the past few weeks, many businesses contacting you by email asking you to update your contact preferences, to ensure they are GDPR-compliant, this is no different with a recruitment agency. If you have been contacted, then there’s no need to worry. However, if you haven’t been contacted, either; your data and the permission you gave them are already GDPR-compliant or if the data on-file isn’t GDPR compliant then it will have been purged from their records.

If you’re in the latter camp and you haven’t spoken to your agency in a while, then it would be worth contacting them to let them know that you would like to have your details kept on file for future opportunities, just to be certain.

Your right to be forgotten

The big change brought in by GDPR is your right to be forgotten. It more tightly governs the way you permit the usage of your data and gives the individual more clarity on what will be done with their data and most importantly gives the individual an easier route to having their data removed from an organisation’s records. I, for one, hope I don’t receive any more calls asking me if I have had an accident in the last 50 years that wasn’t my fault, something tells me though that there will be a loophole!

To conclude, if you’re actively pursuing career opportunities or want to be informed of excellent career opportunities, in light of the law changes, it is very worthwhile putting some time aside to re-admit permission to your recruiter of choice to hold your data on file.