Recruitment activities
Introduction
This section of our privacy statement describes how and why we collect and use personal data in connection with our recruitment activities. It applies to individuals making applications for employment to us or those who are making an application on behalf of a candidate (such as recruitment agencies).
If your application is successful, we carry out pre-employment screening checks as part of our onboarding process. Depending on the role you have applied for, these checks may include criminal records checks.
Collection of personal data
We will collect the following personal data in connection with our recruitment activities:
Much of the personal data we collect as part of our recruitment process is provided by you, including:
- Contact details (name, address, email, telephone number);
- Photographs to verify your identity;
- Areas of interest;
- Username and password to create an account with us in order to apply for a role;
- CV, experience, education, academic and professional qualifications;
- Information provided as part of virtual interviews and assessments;
- Social mobility data (where you choose to provide this);
- Diversity and equal opportunities data (where you choose to provide this); and
- Biometric data in connection with right to work checks.
We also create personal data in the course of our recruitment activities with you:
- Assessment results and feedback from online and face-to-face assessments/tests; and
- Employment offer details.
If your application with us is successful, we will collect:
- Additional information as part of our pre-employment screening process (background checks, qualifications and professional status, employment history and referencing for example);
- Information about your and your immediate family’s financial relationships; and
- Bank account details, national insurance number (or similar) and tax status.
We also collect personal data from third party sources such as:
- Recruitment platforms and websites including, for legal recruitment, the Aspirant Analytics Reveal Lawyers platform which sources data from news articles, professional social media accounts, firm websites, bar and other professional representative bodies;
- References from your named referees;
- Information from your referrer (where applicable);
- Verification of information you have provided to us during the recruitment process by contacting relevant third parties (for example, previous employers, education and qualification providers) or using publicly available sources (for example, to verify your experience, education and qualifications, and financial status);
- Information from social media sites that you are a member of about your engagement with our recruitment campaigns; and
- Results of Disclosure and Barring Service checks (where necessary for the role you have applied for).
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Use of personal data
We process personal data to attract and secure the best talent to work with us as follows:
- To attract talent and market opportunities at PwC including by arranging, hosting and participating in events, marketing and advertising our job opportunities, and using recruiters to help find talent for us.
- To identify and source talent including by searching our existing talent pool and publicly available sources (such as social media and job websites of which you are a member).
- To process and manage applications for roles at PwC, and evaluate you for open positions that match your interests and experience throughout the PwC network.
- To manage your candidate profile, send you email notifications and other announcements, request additional information or otherwise contact you about your application.
- To screen and select talent by evaluating your suitability for employment with PwC, including through face-to-face interviews, video interviews and conducting appropriate background checks.
- To hire and onboard talent by making offers of employment and carrying out pre-employment screening checks (which vary from role to role).
- To conduct statistical analyses and create internal reports, for example regarding usage of our careers websites, demographic analysis of candidates, on our recruitment activities, and analysis of candidate sourcing channels.
- To administer and manage our careers websites, virtual campuses and other recruitment tools and solutions.
- To communicate with you about careers at PwC.
- To make reasonable adjustments to our selection processes (including using health and other special category data as outlined below).
- Any other purposes stated when you provide your personal data information to us.
Legal grounds: Legitimate interests
This processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests to manage our recruitment process, including to assess and confirm suitability for employment.
We carry out criminal records checks for the following purposes:
- To comply with our legal obligations to ensure an individual is eligible to work in the UK and to report relevant information to the Home Office as part of PwC sponsored visa applications.
- For our legitimate interest or that of a third party to carry out pre-employment screening including a full background and criminal records check, depending on the role: (i) to establish whether an applicant has committed an unlawful act or been involved in dishonesty, malpractice or other seriously improper conduct; or (ii) to comply with government and public sector clearance requirements.
We collect and use information about race and ethnicity, religious, biometric and philosophical beliefs and health data for the following purposes:
- For our legitimate interests to manage our recruitment process, including to assess and confirm suitability for employment
- For reasons of substantial public interest, including to identify or keep under review the existence or absence of equality of opportunity or treatment.
- For carrying out our obligations and exercising our specific rights under employment, social security and social protection law and for health and social care purposes, including to comply with our legal obligation to make reasonable adjustments (for example, as a result of the outcome of a pre-employment medical assessment), and, if your application is successful, to provide information on relevant PwC support and access to relevant PwC networks.
Data retention
We retain personal data processed in connection with our recruitment activities as follows:
- If your application is successful, we retain relevant personal data as part of your employee record.
- If your application is unsuccessful, we will retain and use the information you provided to PwC as part of your application for a reasonable period of time to deal with any matter which may arise in connection with your application or future applications. In addition, we will use it to contact you (unless you have asked us not to) about any other relevant employment opportunities that may arise, and for our legitimate business purposes (for example, to make sure we do not contact you about a role for which you have already applied).
- Interview recordings are held for two years after the tests and then deleted. The retention of this data is necessary to support our processes of retrospective review, challenge and quality assurance.
- If you choose to join our talent pool, we will retain your personal data for as long as you are a member of it.
- If you have breached PwC’s recruitment policies, PwC retains the right to hold information about this breach and your application for a period which it believes reasonable to safeguard the integrity of the firm and its recruitment processes.
Where we sponsor a person from outside the UK we are required by the Home Office to keep personal data about the other applicants to evidence that we are complying with applicable law and regulation.
