Applicants for employment

The Privacy Notice for Applicants for Employment should be read in conjunction with the overall Privacy Notice.

As part of the recruitment process the University collects and processes personal data relating to job applicants. All of your personal data will be treated strictly in accordance with the terms of the UK GDPR. This means that confidentiality will be respected and that appropriate security measures will be taken to prevent unauthorised disclosure. The information in this section relates to how your personal information is processed as part of the recruitment process.  If you become a member of staff your data will be processed in accordance with the privacy notices relating to Staff.

Source of data

The personal data the University holds about you may be obtained from a number of sources including the following:

• Information you have provided during your application process including CVs and application forms
• Where applicable, information provided by a third party involved in your recruitment such as a recruitment agency
• Information provided by referees
• In the case of secondments, exchanges or transfers from another institution information may be provided by the other institutions involved to facilitate the move
• Information collected through interview or other forms of assessment
• Publicly accessible sources such as social media.

What personal data we process about you

The information we will hold as part of the application and recruitment process will largely consist of the information provided by you such as name, gender, date of birth, contact details, education and training, qualifications, employment history, salary information, pension information and criminal convictions.

Information held may also include special categories of personal information and information on protected characteristics required to fulfil the University’s equality duties such as ethnicity and religious beliefs, trade union membership and health information.

Purpose and legal basis for processing your personal data

The University requires to process the personal data to take steps prior to entering into a contract with you. 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. 

In some cases, we need to process data to ensure that we are complying with legal obligations for example, it is mandatory to check a successful applicant’s eligibility to work in the UK before employment starts and for some roles, it may be necessary to carry out a Disclosure Scotland PVG check.

We 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 the University’s obligations in relation to employment. 

Sharing your personal data

Your personal information will be shared internally for the purposes of the recruitment process. This includes members of the HR and OD team, interviewers and managers in the business area with the vacancy.

We will share your personal information in order to carry out the necessary employment checks and to seek references where appropriate. For example, the University uses a third-party provider, TrustID, to assist with carrying out digital Right to Work checks.

Retention of your personal data

If your application is unsuccessful the University will automatically retain your personal data for a period of six months.  When submitting your application you have the option of extending this retention period to a maximum of two years.  Following this period your personal data will be confidentially destroyed.  If your application is successful, the University will retain your personal data in accordance with the Privacy Notice for Staff.

Contact details relating to applicant data

If you want further information about how your personal information is used or would like to request to correct, restrict or erase personal details should be reported to: