Candidate Policy

Data Protection Officer: Mark Diffey, MEMS Power Generation

Data Compliance Officer: Tom Badman, MEMS Power Generation

As part of any recruitment process, MEMS collect and process personal data relating to job applicants. We are committed to being transparent about how we collect and use that data and to meeting our data protection obligations

What information does MEMS collect?
We collect 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; and
• information about your entitlement to work in the UK.

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

MEMS may also collect personal data about you from third parties, such as references supplied by former employers, information from employment background check providers and information from criminal records checks. The organisation 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).

Why do we process personal data?
MEMS needs to process data to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract with you. It may also need to process your data to enter into a contract with you.

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

MEMS 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.

MEMS may process special categories of data, such as information about ethnic origin, sexual orientation or religion or belief, to monitor recruitment statistics. We may also collect information about whether or not applicants are disabled to make reasonable adjustments for candidates who have a disability. We process such information to carry out our obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment.

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

MEMS will not use your data for any purpose other than the recruitment exercise for which you have applied.

If your application is unsuccessful
If your application is unsuccessful, MEMS may 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.

Who has access to data?
Your information may be shared internally for the purposes of the recruitment exercise. This includes HR, 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.

MEMS will not share your data with third parties, unless your application for employment is successful and it makes you an offer of employment. We may then share your data with former employers to obtain references for you, employment background check providers to obtain necessary background checks and the Disclosure and Barring Service / Disclosure Scotland to obtain necessary criminal records checks.

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

How does MEMS 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 do we keep data?
If your application for employment is unsuccessful, we will hold your data on file for six months after the end of the relevant recruitment process. 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 MEMS to change incorrect or incomplete data;
• require MEMS to delete or stop processing your data, for example where the data is no longer necessary for the purposes of processing; and
• object to the processing of your data where MEMS is relying on its legitimate interests as the legal ground for processing.

If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact Mark Diffey on mark.diffey@mems.com.

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 MEMS 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.

Automated decision-making
Employment decisions are not based solely on automated decision-making.