Processing of personal data for staff and volunteer applications.
Updated: September 2022
Contact details
Your personal information is collected by the Fairtrade Foundation (“we”/”us”/”our”).
You can contact us via email: jobs@fairtrade.org.uk.
If you have any questions or complaints in relation to the use of your personal information or this Recruitment Notice, please contact our data protection officer via email: data.protection@fairtrade.org.uk.
Personal data we collect
We collect the following personal information about you during the recruitment process:
- Information provided in your CV, application form, covering letter and during the interview process. This includes: your name, date of birth, age, gender, home address, personal email address, education, qualification and work experience details, and references.
- Information collected or created by us during the recruitment process. This includes: interview notes, test scores and correspondence between us.
- Information about criminal convictions. We carry out background checks as part of the recruitment process.
- Special categories of personal data. This includes: racial and ethnic origin information, information relating to disabilities, religious beliefs or sexual orientation, physical or mental health information and immigration/naturalisation records (if this discloses racial/ethnic origin information).
How we use personal data
We use your personal information to:
- Progress the recruitment process
- Assess and make a decision about your suitability for a role
- Communicate with you
- Carry out reference checks.
We will also use your information to comply with legal and regulatory requirements.
Sources of information
This information is either:
- Provided by you
- Obtained from third parties through the application and recruitment process, or
- Created by us during the recruitment process.
Why we use personal data
We will use the information collected from you because:
It is necessary for us to do so before entering into a contract with you.
We need to process your information in order to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.
Or, because we, or a third party, have a legitimate interest to:
- Ensure the effective administration and management of the recruitment process
- Ensure we hire a suitable individual for a role
- Deal with disputes and accidents and take legal or other professional advice
- Ascertain your fitness to work.
How we use special category personal data
We will process your special categories of personal data in order to:
- Consider whether we need to provide appropriate adjustments during the recruitment process and to ascertain your fitness to work
- Develop approaches to improve diversity of our workforce
- To comply with any legal or regulatory obligation
- For equal opportunity monitoring purposes.
Why we use special category personal data
We will use special categories of personal information collected about you because:
- You have provided your explicit written consent
- We need to do so to carry out our legal obligations
- It is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims in relation to court cases
- There is a substantial public interest
- It is needed to protect your interests (or someone else’s interests) and you are not capable of giving your consent.
Information about criminal convictions
As part of the recruitment process we ask you for information in relation to unspent criminal convictions. We carry out criminal background checks for relevant roles.
We use this information and these checks:
- To assess your suitability for a regulated role
- To protect your interests, our interests and third party interests
- Because it is necessary in relation to legal claims. We are allowed to use your personal information in this way where it is necessary to carry out our employment rights and obligations.
Information that we share
We will only share your personal information with the following third parties for the purposes of processing your application:
- Employment agencies
- Background check and online test providers
- Credit reference agencies
- Regulators and competent authorities.
We will also share personal data within our group for the purposes of administration, accounting and reporting purposes.
Retention of your information
We will retain your personal information for the duration of the recruitment process and for the length of any applicable limitation period for claims which might be brought against us later.
If you are successful in applying for a position, your personal information will be retained for a further period, as required to administer your employment with us.
For volunteering applications we retain speculative applications for one year if we are unable to find a suitable volunteering role.
Where your information will be held
We may transfer the personal information we collect about you to countries outside the EU for the purposes of administrating the recruitment process. This is subject to us implementing appropriate safeguards. If you would like to obtain copies of such safeguards you can request them from us on the contact details above.
Your rights
You have the following rights in connection to your data: the rights of access, correction, erasure, objection, restriction, transfer, and the right to withdraw consent and to complain to a supervisory authority.