Hewetson & Co is a full service legal sector recruitment firm specialising at The Bar, UK and international law firms.
As part of our recruitment process, we collect and process personal data relating to candidates. We take privacy very seriously and are committed to being transparent about how we collect and use that data and in order to meet our data protection obligations.
Data protection principles
At Hewetson & Co., all personal data shall be:
- Processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner
- Collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner that is incompatible with those purposes
- Adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they are processed
- Accurate, and where necessary, kept up to date. Every reasonable step must be taken to erase or rectify inaccurate data without delay
- Kept in a form which permits identification of data subjects for no longer than is reasonably necessary for the purposes for which the personal data are processed
- Processed in a manner that ensure appropriate security of personal data, including protection against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage, using appropriate technical or organisational measures.
What we collect from you
Hewetson & Co collects personal data from you in order to provide recruitment services and solely for the purposes of our core business.
Data is typically contained in CVs or resumes, applications, email correspondence or social media profiles We do not use job boards.
This data will include:
- your name, address and contact details, including email address and telephone number;
- details of your qualifications, skills, experience and employment and education history;
- information about your current level of remuneration, including benefit entitlements;
- your preferences, e.g. preferred country of employment as well as your preferred way of being contacted by us.
- information about your entitlement to work in the UK.
It is not our policy to seek any sensitive information unless legally required in order to complete the particular assignment. Sensitive information includes data relating to physical or mental health, religious or similar beliefs, trade union membership, race or ethnic origin, political opinions, sexual life or criminal record.
Our Legitimate Business Interests
Our legitimate interests in collecting and retaining your personal data is described below:
- As a recruitment business and recruitment agency we introduce candidates to clients for permanent employment, temporary worker placements or independent professional contracts. The exchange of personal data of our candidates and our client contacts is a fundamental, essential part of this process.
- In order to support our candidates’ career aspirations and our clients’ resourcing needs we require a database of candidate and client personal data containing historical information as well as current resourcing requirements.
- To maintain, expand and develop our business we need to record the personal data of prospective candidates and client contacts. Due to the nature of our business we will never store your personal data for a period longer than 6 years without contacting you in this time to receive explicit consent.
How we use your data
Hewetson & Co will collect, use, store and otherwise process your Personal Data for the purposes of our recruitment or resourcing activities. By submitting your personal information to Hewetson & Co., you indicate your willingness to be considered, when appropriate, for any of Hewetson & Co’s confidential assignments.
Your data is therefore used to:
- Assess your suitability for a role.
- Communicate with you about the recruitment process and progress
- Inform you of opportunities and vacancies
- Obtain additional information when necessary
- Schedule interviews and request references
How we share your data
- All CVs are formatted into our in-house style with all personal contact information like home address, mobile number, date of birth and email address, removed.
- We never send out an in-house style CV unless we have written consent from a candidate
- We always approach clients initially on a no-named basis.
- We request written consent either by email or from a candidate to release their name to our clients.
- We retain a candidate’s contact information (gathered from their CV or email exchange) in order to keep in contact with them and we use their postal address for the sole purpose of a client sending an employment contract should they be offered.
- For the Bar, the only candidate data we release to clients is an individual’s CV (if they have one), their chambers biography and at a client request having initially met our candidates, we send them a barrister’s financial data (work done report, payment summary, aged debt report and diary for the proceeding 12 months. This is standard information all chambers require to conduct an interview process. On occasions we will send an individual’s business plan if one is requested – invariably this is something we have worked on with the individual.
- For law firms, the only candidate data we release is an individual’s formatted CV with their personal contact information removed. On occasions, at the law firm’s request, this information is uploaded onto a law firm’s recruitment portal against the specific role being applied for.
- There is therefore never any personal contact information about any candidate released to any third party. On occasions a client may want to contact a candidate directly during the interview process and again we request written consent from a candidate before releasing their mobile number.
- At offer stage it is likely personal data will be required by the third party, to initiate the signing of contracts.
Keeping your data secure
We take the security of your data seriously and 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.
All Candidate data is stored on an encrypted contact management system. This system also tracks the end-to-end process with each candidate, from receiving his or her CV/details to offer stage.
Candidate data will also be found on our Email Exchange. These accounts are not only password protected but also require a 6 digit PIN, a new one of which is generated every time an account is logged into.
Retention of data
The firm will not use your data for any purpose other than recruitment. We will keep your data for future opportunities.
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 to change incorrect or incomplete data;
- require to delete or stop processing your data,
- object to the processing of your data where the organisation is relying on its legitimate interests as the legal ground for processing; and
- ask the organisation to stop processing data for a period if data is inaccurate or there is a dispute about whether or not your interests override the organisation's legitimate grounds for processing data.
If you have a concern about the way we are collecting or using your data or wish to exercise any of these rights, please contact our Data Protection Officer Guy Hewetson.
Staff engagement, training and support
Hewetson & Co will provide information, support and training to all staff to help them to understand their responsibilities when handling and using data.
Updates
This Privacy Notice was updated in May, 2018. We reserve the right to amend this Privacy Notice from time to time to reflect changing legal requirements or our processing practices. Any such changes will be posted on our website and will be effective upon posting.