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Easy employment checks

Stay on top of your Pre-Employment Checks with some fabulous new CVMinder ATS features. HR Heads with safeguarding concerns know that employment checks are critical. How do you ensure that employment checks are thorough and completed successfully before new employees start work?

CVMinder ATS now allow you to:

  • Create your own employment checklists
  • Monitor overall check completion by starter
  • Monitor critical checks for those required ahead of start date
  • Identify check completion by category of checks, like disclosures or referencing
  • Quickly spot non-compliance when checks fail
  • Log start and end dates of checks to measure how long they take
  • Audit who completed each check and when
  • Upload any check evidence

Multiple employment checklists

Some employers apply the same checks to every starter. Others use a different checklist for different types of role. In a school, a parent Governor might be required to undergo checks that are lighter than a teacher. That depends upon the setting of course. A Care Provider office worker may never come into contact with vulnerable service users, so safeguarding checks may be considered unnecessary.

Using more than one checklist is therefore important for some employers whilst others may require the same checklist for every starter.

Sharing checks and evidence

Key to successful check management is to enable easy sharing. Easily access and navigate the employment check status for each new starter. HR Administrators and compliance officers need a list of outstanding checks and a quick audit of who completed each check so far. With a distributed workforce or remote working, secure online sharing of evidence for each check is also valuable. That evidence could be passport image or proof of residency for example.

Critical checks

Some checks must be completed before start date and others can, on occasion, be left until after an employee’s start date. Checks to complete before start date are considered to be critical checks and understanding whether they are completed in time is a must.

Pre-employment check categories

Individual checks relate to referencing, others to personal details, others to disclosures / barring and so on. Understanding how individual checks relate to each category helps HR Heads and Officers answer questions like:

  • Which checks categories are incomplete for each starter?
  • Which categories are taking the longest?
  • What does my workload look like today?

Verification and audit

Only double checking confirms the successful completion of employment checks. HR Heads require a checklist to support senior oversight and verification of all completed checks. They may want verification of each individual check, just a few checks or none at all, depending on each type of starter. There is a balance to strike with safety versus workload, but the option to verify checks by approved verifiers is mandatory.

Identifying outstanding verification is also important. A verifier probably wants to avoid hunting for things to verify. Instead they most likely prefer rapid identification of all outstanding points of verification across all checks for all starters.

Check compliance

Completing a set of employment checks is one thing. Understanding whether they were completed to the employer’s satisfaction is another. What do we mean by that? Take a simple example; checking whether somebody successfully passed a risk assessment. If the prospective employee failed a risk assessment, the check response would be “No”. Expressing “No” completes the check, but it is not what is required and not compliant. Identifying non-compliant checks is essential to avoid on-boarding mistakes.

Checks as part of an ATS

Integrating employment checks into your Applicant Tracing System (ATS) is almost mandatory these days. Most of the information required to support each check can be supplied during the job application process. If it is already available in an ATS, it’s time to make use of it.

CVMinder ATS is one Applicant Tracking System that has a flexible employment check option. Employers can create one or more checklists with many options to support critical checks, categories and so on. It also helps HR Heads set appropriate permissions for check completion and verification.

In some circumstances employment checks may start prior to interview. In others they only commence only after an offer of employment. Embedding employment check management in your ATS should offer the flexibility to track and complete checks as the requirement dictates.

CVMinder ATS updates its Pre Employment Checks (PEC) module

On 1st August 2022 we released the new CVMinder ATS PEC module. To prepare for this development we discussed requirements with a number of our Ambassador customers. They are the key HR representatives of Care and Education providers. Each customer has different work styles and requirements when it comes to employment checking. By taking the best of all of the ideas we hope to satisfy everyone. So, what does our PEC module allow you to do?

  • Create different employment checklists for different types of employee.
  • Specify whether checks are critical.
  • Track overall checklist completion and critical check completion.
  • Attach checks to pre-defined categories or add your own.
  • Track checks completed by category.
  • Identify which checklists have outstanding verification in a new PEC page.
  • Specify compliant responses and indicate non-compliant checklists.
  • Alter permissions for staff so that they can access, edit or verify checks.
  • Upload and share evidence related to checks.
  • Automatically delete evidence after nominated period in line with data protection policies.
  • New reports

We hope that our customers enjoy the changes.

Want to know more about CVMinder? Just select the best ATS for Care or the best ATS for education. For any other industry please give us a call on 01634 202 101 as we would love to hear more about the way you recruit and what you would like to improve. You can ask for a free demonstration as new industries to us benefit from great incentives.

National Minimum Salary 2020

National Minimum Wage 2020

It is important for all employers to implement changes to the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage from April 2020. Easily forgotten though, there is something else to do. It’s time to check the salaries on your advertised vacancies and make any necessary changes.

Among other job boards, our customers post adverts to GOV Find a Job via CVMinder ATS. It is very important to update these adverts in line with changes to the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage. Some job boards may exclude your adverts from their search results if you don’t. Thankfully, CVMinder ATS customers can update their adverts in just one system. CVMinder ATS will update each external advert for you with its one-click MultiPost feature.

When checking and changing salaries try to review 3 areas of your CVMinder ATS advert:

  1. Salary range, expressed as the ‘from’ and ‘to’ fields
  2. Salary description field
  3. Advert body (all 3 sections)

Some employers like to state the salary and benefits within the main body of their adverts. We mention it because it’s easy to overlook this area when making changes.

Rates

The rates for the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage are as follows:



Year25 +21 to 2418 to 20< 18Apprentice
Apr 2019£8.21£7.70£6.15£4.35£3.90
Apr 2020£8.72£8.20£6.45£4.55£4.15


National Minimum Wage & National Living Wage Eligibility

Across the UK, workers must be at least 16  to qualify for the National Minimum Wage. Actually, 16 is a simplification of the school leaving age. This changes by UK region and month of birth. Check out more details on the GOV website; school leaving age.

A worker must be 25 or over to qualify for the National Living Wage.

‘Worker’ is a broad term and doesn’t cover areas like volunteering or the armed services. You should be aware that workers are entitled to the correct minimum wage, even if they are:

  • workers or homeworkers paid by the number of items they make
  • trainees or workers on probation
  • foreign workers
More about the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage

Find out more about the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage at the GOV website.

Want to know about us?

CVMinder ATS makes recruiting easy for employers. Shed up to 90% of your recruitment administration and share everything securely in one system. CVMinder ATS takes you from vacancy advertising through candidate shortlisting and all the way through to on-boarding. It’s perfect for Care Providers and Education customers with great features to support compliant, fair recruiting practices.

Safeguarding and Safer Recruitment

What is safeguarding and safer recruitment?

Welcome to Recruiting Made Easy. In this series, we answer the questions that HR and internal recruiters ask most often. The series covers recruiting processes, tech and regulation. Up next: What is Safeguarding and Safer Recruitment?

In this article we start with an overview of safeguarding. We learn that safeguarding affects employers that look after children or vulnerable adults. Because hiring trustworthy staff is fundamental to safeguarding success, we we pay particular attention to the subject of safer recruitment. These are processes to make safe all future hiring decisions. Requirements are quite strict, so we include a handy ‘safer recruitment’ checklist for HR Officers and internal recruiters.

What is Safeguarding?

Many organisations offer services for the education, support or welfare of children and / or vulnerable adults. For convenience, we’ll call children and vulnerable adults “service users”.

Organisations with a safeguarding responsibility are commonly regulated. Ofsted and the CQC are examples. But what is safeguarding?

Safeguarding overview

In basic terms, organisations are accountable for the safety and well-being of service users. That means an organisation must be a safe space, free of the threat of physical, sexual and emotional harm for children and vulnerable adults. It should also be free of discrimination and other harmful influences.

Safeguarding also considers the safety of service users in the outside world. That means that employers must remain diligent to any signs of abuse in a family setting, for instance.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) publishes a statement on its responsibilities for safeguarding children and adults. This highlights some other areas of safeguarding concern:

  • Unnecessary or disproportionate acts for the control or restraint of an adult or child.
  • Acts that may be degrading to the adult or child.
  • Significant disregard for the needs of the adult or child for care or treatment.
Safeguarding Policies

Organisations with a safeguarding responsibility must have a clear and robust set of policies and procedures. Any staff member with unsupervised access to service users should be fully trained on these.

Inductions should include safeguarding training and it’s common practice to log completion for all new employees. Some employers also re-train staff members after any change to procedures which is excellent practice.

Safeguarding breaches

Safeguarding breaches are a big concern, so whistle blowing procedures should be clear and mandatory. In safeguarding courses, one quickly learns that whistle blowing is the potential Achilles heel of a safeguarding policy. Personal relationships between colleagues can, at worst, betray the service user in favour of the colleague. All safeguarding concerns must be reported so it is vital that people feel compelled and able to do so without fear of consequence.

Employers should maintain procedures for the investigation of all safeguarding issues. Concerns could be raised by staff members, the service users or an external party. Your procedures should also include action(s) to be taken in the event that an allegation proves true. Conclusions should be drawn by a panel and not by an individual so that personal relationships don’t interfere with outcomes.

Your remedial actions might include:

  • In the case of a child, contacting the children’s social care department of the local authority where the child lives.
  • In the case of a vulnerable adult, contacting the local authority adult services department.

So, what is Safeguarding? It is a serious set of obligations for organisations, so that children and vulnerable adults remain safe in their care. Whistle blowing is key to its success. One of the best defences is to hire trustworthy people into all positions with unsupervised access to service users. That takes us neatly onto Safer Recruitment.

What is Safer Recruitment

The purpose of safer recruitment is to identify, deter and reject people who are at risk of abusing children or vulnerable adults; your service users. Safer recruitment forms part of your safeguarding policy.

In short, safer recruitment requires you to:

  • Highlight your safeguarding obligations.
  • Make clear the level of scrutiny you apply to job applicants.
  • Ensure that your selection and on-boarding process is rigorous.

Safer Recruitment Checklist

Our safer recruitment checklist is for any role involving unsupervised access to children or vulnerable adults. It covers:

  • advertising
  • selection & interviewing
  • offers
  • on-boarding
Safer Advertising Checklist
  • Use plain English to describe your role and your commitment to safeguarding so that you deter less appropriate jobseekers. If possible, attach your safeguarding policy document to adverts.
  • Include details of your organisation’s values and expected behaviours.
  • State that applying for your job is unlawful should someone be barred from working in regulated activity.
  • Make clear the level of criminal record check required and when a disclosure will be requested.

For roles that bring workers into unsupervised contact with children or vulnerable adults, applicants should:

  • Declare all spent and unspent offences. This should include cautions, convictions and reprimands in line with the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA) 1974 and ROA Exceptions Order.
  • Explain any gaps in employment. Typically this would be for any period exceeding 28 days, so that you test any prior employment issues.
Safer Selection and Interview Checklist
  • Have at least two people shortlist each applicant using agreed criteria.
  • Develop a consistent interview structure so that you improve the discovery process.
  • Combine values with your competency-based recruiting methods. Review the attitudes of any applicant towards people requiring care and support.
Safer Offer Checklist
  • Make a conditional job offer. It should be subject to passing all employment checks and receiving adequate references.
  • Include your company handbook in your offer as it should include your safeguarding procedures.
  • Include a probationary period in your offer of employment.
Safer On-Boarding Checklist
  • Apply for the correct level of criminal record check so that you can be certain of someone’s history.
  • Use only original documents to check proof of ID, right to work and qualifications.
  • Request and review references for the applicants you shortlist. These should be professional references when possible and should include the most recent employer. Take a look an example reference request template for more details.
  • Check for gaps and inconsistencies by comparing the application with information provided by referees.
  • Telephone each referee on a landline number so you can check the provenance of their reference.
  • Should concerns arise from a criminal record check or an allegation, carry out a risk assessment. This should include any recommended safeguards to minimise risk.
  • Keep a risk assessment with a copy of the self-declaration and certificate, all subject to your data protection policies.
For employers with an Applicant Tracking System

Your Applicant Tracking System (ATS) may be able to assist you with safer recruitment, so that you can recruit to a process and reduce admin. Here are a few questions that should help to set things up:

  • Can you attach your safer recruitment policy to job adverts so that applicants can see your level of commitment?
  • Are appropriate prompts on your criminal conviction request so that you receive spent convictions too?
  • Does your ATS protect the distribution of criminal convictions so that you can remain compliant?
  • Are declarations highlighted to the right people in HR so that your organisation doesn’t miss them?
  • Will your ATS ask applicants for an explanation of any gaps in work history so that you can comply with safer recruitment more easily?
  • Can your ATS allow two or more people to shortlist each applicant so that you develop greater scrutiny and eliminate bias?
  • Does your ATS allow the addition of shortlisting criteria so that you can audit of who checked each applicant?
  • Are you able to upload applicant proofs into your ATS? Can you restrict access and manage the term of their availability so that you comply with your Data Protection policy?
  • Will your ATS help HR to request and receive references so that can monitor which are outstanding more easily?
  • Is your ATS able to record the observations you make during competency and values based interviews?
  • Can you send employment offers from your ATS so that you can standardise them?
  • Are employment checks and on-boarding checklists set up in your ATS so they reflect your data checking needs.

Safeguarding Resources

Summary

Safeguarding and safer recruitment are serious obligations for schools, colleges, care providers and other employers. We hope you can draw on this article so that we can all assure young people and vulnerable adults genuine safety in the spaces we provide for them.

Please contact us if you spot errors or omissions in our article ‘What is Safeguarding and Safer Recruitment?’

Are you new to the subject of recruitment systems and applicant tracking? Try what is an Applicant Tracking System?

If you are looking for an easier way to manage safer recruitment in a School or College, try Best ATS for Education.

Care Providers looking for easier recruitment with support for safer recruitment should try Best ATS for Care.

 

Please like and share.

Using the information in this article is at your own risk.

 

employment-reference-request-ats

Employment Reference Requests from your ATS

Managing employment reference requests is one of the most time-consuming jobs for any HR Department. For those with safeguarding obligations, new employees cannot start work until all checks are complete. So, delays in collecting employment reference requests can affect an employee start date.

Finding new staff members is hard enough, so getting them into work quickly is a priority. Your ATS should help you as much as possible.

In this blog, we’ll take a look at the key features an ATS should offer.

Creating Your Own Referee Record

It’s important for employers in Care, Education and some other sectors to keep an accurate record of each referee in addition to returned references. If there are future disciplinary issues, you may need to return to them.

Your ATS should help you copy a referee directly from a jobseeker’s application. You can complete any outstanding information, correct a typo in an email address and so on.

Applicants sometimes provide referee details later in the recruitment cycle. They can arrive by email, phone or post. Your ATS should allow you to create referee record from these sources.

Employment Reference Request Templates

Your ATS should send personalised reference requests quickly and conveniently. It should let you build reference request templates and include merge fields. Merge fields populate the applicant name, referee details, job details and other information automatically when sending the request. Here you can find an example employment reference request template with merge fields.

Reference Documents

When preparing your reference request, you may wish to attach some standard documents. These could include a confidentiality statement, your data protection policy, or safeguarding statement. If you do, your ATS should offer a secure place to store them for easy access. Click-attaching documents is more convenient and more accurate than searching for them in a local directory structure.

Send Your Employment Reference Request

Once sent, reviewing the ongoing status of your employment reference requests should be easy. Your ATS should help you track these. It should know when reference requests were sent, because most should be sent via your ATS. But, there will always be cases where reference requests were made outside of your ATS. It should help you track these too. As references are returned, you’ll want to uptick the status to show that they have been received and reviewed. Only once a reference has been reviewed should you close it for any further action.

Where is an Employment Reference Returned?

Most HR teams monitor a central email address such as hr@yourcompany.com. It shouldn’t matter who makes the request. Your ATS should make sure that replies go to that inbox.

Employment Checks

Employment reference requests may be just one of your jobs when completing employment checks. If you manage a number of checks, your ATS should bring everything together in one area of the system. Completing all checks and uploading supporting evidence should be convenient and audit ready. A good Applicant Tracking System should leave you feeling totally secure by highlighting any outstanding checks on approach to start date.

Want to know more?

CVMinder ATS helps employers recruit for themselves. It manages advertising, applications, selection, interviews, offers, employment checks and more.  It’s a low cost, award winning Applicant Tracking System and it’s developed in the UK. To recruit like the professionals and reduces your annual recruitment costs, contact us now to find out more.

Template for Employment Reference Request

Example Employment Reference Request Template

Congratulations! You may be reading this because you have selected your new employee.  Now it’s time to take up references and check the reliability of the information you received.

If you are looking for an example Employment Reference Request template, one is included in this post.

Firstly, let’s deal with some of the myths and issues when requesting references.

What can you ask when making an Employment Reference Request?

Getting an employment reference is important for all employers. Receiving amore detailed reference is of particular concern for regulated employers with safeguarding or security concerns. However, some HR teams believe that they are not entitled to ask for certain information in a reference request.

Be aware that an employer is entitled to ask for either a basic reference or a detailed reference. According to ACAS, the referee may provide the following details:

  • Answers to questions from the employer requesting the reference.
  • Details about skills, ability and experience.
  • Details about character, strengths and weaknesses re the applicant’s suitability for the new role.
  • How often the applicant was off work.
  • Disciplinary details.
  • The reason the applicant left the job.

The amount of detail included in the reference is actually up to the person who provides it, so long as there is no company policy to limit this.

What a referee cannot say

Information provided by the referee:

  • must not be misleading
  • cannot include irrelevant personal information

Additionally, details provided about your applicant, their role and their performance must be fair and accurate. If a reference includes opinions, the supporting evidence must be provided.

For example, if your applicant’s performance required improvement in some areas, the reference cannot state that the applicant excelled in their job.

Reference confidentiality

A reference is generally confidential between the prospective employer and the referee. Stating that the the reference is confidential between both parties is good practice.

The Data Protection Act 1998 provides an exception with respect to confidential references. This means that the referee is not obliged to give a copy of the reference to the person they referenced. However they may still choose to give a copy.

Once a worker starts with their new employer they may ask the employer to see a copy of a reference. This is where things get a little more complicated. If it was confidentially requested, the employer can say that the reference was acquired in confidence. However, if the reference was negative and influenced an employment outcome, the worker could make a stronger demand.

The employer should gain permission from the referee to disclose the reference either in full or in summary. If agreed and the referee’s name was not known to the worker, the employer could remove the referee name when giving a copy.

If the worker thinks the reference is unfair or misleading, they may be able to claim damages in a court. The previous employer must be able to back up their reference by supplying evidence such as examples of warning letters.

Employment Reference Request Template

We hope that our examples of suitable Employment Reference Request templates help you.

Each employment reference request template denotes name, telephone number or other information as a {{field}}. Just populate your real data in their place.

If you use CVMinder ATS you may recognise these fields. CVMinder ATS is a low cost Applicant Tracking System that sends Employment Reference Requests using templates created by the employer. CVMinder ATS users you can copy either Employment Reference Request template straight into your reference template section.

Example Employment Reference Request Template when considering Safeguarding

Subject: Confidential reference request for {{applicantfullname}}

Dear {{refereefirstname}}

I write to request an employment reference for {{applicantfullname}}, a person we believe to be a former employee of {{refereeorganisation}}.

Your reference is important in determining {{applicantfirstname}}’s suitability for employment with {{company}} and forms part of our commitment to safeguarding and safer recruitment. It should be treated as confidential between us as we do not share references with employees unless there is a legal requirement to do so. The Data Protection Act 1998 provides an exception with respect to confidential references, meaning that you are not obliged to share your reference directly with {{applicantfullname}}.

Should you require any guidance on providing a job reference then please refer to the ACAS guidance by visiting https://www.acas.org.uk/providing-a-job-reference/what-employers-can-say-in-a-reference

I would be grateful if you could answer the following questions at your earliest convenience and preferably within 3 days of receipt of this email. A later response may cause a delay to {{applicantfirstname}}’s employment with us. Your answers should be accurate and supportable by evidence.

Please reply by inserting your answers below each question and returning this reference to {{myemail}}

In relation to {{applicantfullname}} and employment with {{refereeorganisation}}:

  1. What was your name and position at the time of {{applicantfirstname}}’s employment with you.
  2. On what date did {{applicantfirstname}} commence employment?
  3. On what date did {{applicantfirstname}} finish employment?
  4. Was {{applicantfirstname}} in full time, part-time or other type of employment with {{refereeorganisation}}?
  5. What was {{applicantfirstname}}’s official job title?
  6. What was {{applicantfirstname}}’s working relationship with you, {{refereefullname}}
  7. Please comment upon {{applicantfirstname}}’s punctuality and attendance during this period of employment. Please refer to your official records when answering this question.
  8. Was {{applicantfirstname}} ever subject to disciplinary action? If so, please provide details from your official records.
  9. Are you completely satisfied that {{applicantfirstname}} is suitable for work in an organisation with safeguarding obligations?
  10. We would be grateful for any further comments.

We are obliged to contact referees upon receipt of an employment reference so that we can validate its provenance. To this end, we have your contact telephone number listed as:

Tel: {{refereephone}} (amend if incorrect)

Should you have any questions or concerns related to this reference request then please email me by return using {{myemail}} or contact me by telephone on {{myphone}}

Many thanks in advance and kind regards,

{{myfirstname}}

General Employment Reference Request Template

Subject: Confidential reference request for {{applicantfullname}}

Dear {{refereefirstname}}

I write to request an employment reference for {{applicantfullname}} who we believe to be a former employee of {{refereeorganisation}}.

Your reference is important in determining {{applicantfirstname}}’s suitability for employment with {{company}}. As a matter of course we do not share references with employees unless there is a legal requirement to do so. Under Data Protection law you are not obliged to share your reference directly with {{applicantfullname}}.

Should you require any guidance on providing a job reference then please refer to the ACAS guidance by visiting https://www.acas.org.uk/providing-a-job-reference/what-employers-can-say-in-a-reference

I would be grateful if you could answer the following questions at your earliest convenience and preferably within 3 days of receipt of this email. Your answers should be accurate and supportable by evidence.

Please reply by inserting your answers below each question and returning this reference to {{myemail}}

In relation to {{applicantfullname}} and employment with {{refereeorganisation}}:

  1. What was your name and position at the time of {{applicantfirstname}}’s employment with you.
  2. On what date did {{applicantfirstname}} commence employment?
  3. On what date did {{applicantfirstname}} finish employment?
  4. Was {{applicantfirstname}} in full time, part-time or other type of employment with {{refereeorganisation}}?
  5. What was {{applicantfirstname}}’s official job title?
  6. What was {{applicantfirstname}}’s working relationship with you, {{refereefullname}}
  7. Please comment upon {{applicantfirstname}}’s punctuality and attendance during this period of employment. Please refer to your official records when answering this question.
  8. Was {{applicantfirstname}} ever subject to disciplinary action? If so, please provide details from your official records.
  9. We would be grateful for any further comments.

Should you have any questions or concerns related to this reference request then please email me by return using {{myemail}} or contact me by telephone on {{myphone}}

Many thanks in advance and kind regards,

{{myfirstname}}

Other Employment Reference Request Templates

There are many employment reference request template options because there are many reasons why you might be asking for an employment reference. If you have comments or suggestions then don’t hesitate to contact us with your thoughts.

Want to know more?

If you would like to know more about requesting employment reference requests from your ATS, why not contact us now.

GDPR Checklist for internal recruiters

The new General Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force during May 2018. It’s time to make sure you’re compliant with this handy GDPR checklist for recruiters.

GDPR obliges organisations to manage personal information more securely and acquire individual consents to store and process that data. It covers electronic data and manual filing systems, so that’s pretty much any information that can be used to personally identify someone.

Internal recruiters handle a lot of personal data, from CVs and application forms to proof of address, conviction information and much more.  Our GDPR checklist for internal recruiters should help you to determine how ready you are.

After conducting research, organisations like Trustarc found that approximately 1 in 4 companies haven’t yet started their GDPR implementation.

GDPR applies to you if your organisation:

  • operates within the EU.
  • operates outside the EU offering goods or services to individuals in the EU.

The fines for GDPR breaches are staggeringly high so getting it wrong could be a very expensive mistake. The maximum fine for non-compliance could be €20 million or 4% of your global turnover!

There’s no exemption for small companies and Brexit won’t change a thing, so let’s get straight into GDPR checklist for internal recruiters. It’s not exhaustive nor is it a project plan, but you may find some points that you haven’t considered so far.

GDPR Checklist

We present the following GDPR Checklist for internal recruiters in easy sections. To gain more detailed information about your GDPR obligations, go to the Information Commissioner’s Office and check out the Guide to General Data Protection Regulation

GDPR Basics

DPO

Know who your Data Protection Officer (DPO) is. Your DPO will know how the procedures for data beaches and can be a great point of reference for GDPR. It is always advisable to have a DPO, but you must have one if your organisation:

  • is a public authority
  • performs large scale monitoring of individuals such as online behaviour tracking
  • carries out large scale processing of special data categories including criminal convictions.
Groups

If you share Personal Information with other organisations, seek written confirmation of GDPR compliance. For example, you may work within a franchise, an Academy Trust or other group of organisations using shared central services. Do not share personal information with another organisation unless you have written confirmation of their GDPR compliance and Consent from the individual concerned. See below for details regarding Consent.

Data Retention Periods

Set data retention limits for each type of information. As good way to start is by creating categories of information based upon sensitivity. For instance, criminal conviction information is very sensitive whilst some photographic evidence of a building project is less so. Retain increasingly sensitive information for decreasing periods.

DPP

Update your organisation’s Data Protection Procedures (DPP) to take account of GDPR.

GDPR Consent and data acquisition
  • Consent
    From now on, demand electronic or written consent before you accept personal information. This is a very specific point in the GDPR regulation. The terms of consent should be very clear, particularly if you hold data for children. Terms should state what information you will hold, for what purpose and shared with whom. The method of consent should be explicit and granular and should not default to consent without action. So, pre-ticked consent boxes are not allowed under GDPR.
  • Inform
    For those who haven’t provided you with consent, inform them that you hold their personal data. State the reason for keeping it and seek consent before 25th May 2018. You may not be able to confidently use personal information that has been collected without consent.
  • Withdrawal
    Create a process that allows people to withdraw their consent at any time. This prevents you from continuing to process their personal information against that point of consent. For example, candidates may withdraw their consent to receive job alerts. In that case you may not alert them to new vacancies.
  • Company Handbook
    Control the future acquisition of personal information by your organisation. For instance , you should update sections of your Company Handbook to deny all but HR and internal recruiters the authority to receive CVs from third parties.
Access and Rectification
  • Right to be informed
    Individuals have the right to know that you have their data. They also have the right to access it and to rectify their personal information. Complete a data audit so that you can determine where you are storing personal information and for whom.
  • Subject Access Request (SAR)
    A GDPR best practice recommendation is for organisations to provide secure, self-service access to one’s personal information (Recital 63). If you don’t support this, establish a procedure so that you can validate an individual’s identity and respond to their request. Processing should be free of charge in most cases.
  • Corrections
    Create a procedure to respond to correction requests. Responding to such requests should be non chargeable in most cases. If you offer secure, self-service access to one’s personal information, self-correction should also be supported.
Deletion
  • Right to be forgotten
    Create a process to manage individual deletion requests because the right to be forgotten is a mandatory GDPR requirement. It is particularly important when the lawful basis for processing personal information is based solely upon consent. Refer to your data audit to check whether you hold personal information on spreadsheets, paper, email, a CRM system etc. If you offer secure, self-service access to one’s personal information, you should consider offering an option to delete one’s personal information.
GDPR Security
  • Security
    Data security is fundamental to GDPR, so being able to evidence secure systems and processes is critical. Email is insecure and you can read Geoff Duncan’s blog to find out why https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/can-email-ever-be-secure/. If you can’t easily secure, control and manage email in line with a GDPR policy, avoid using it to store personal information. If in doubt, our advice is to delete every email containing personal information such as a CV. That in itself could be difficult to manage across any number of employees.
GDPR Terms
  • Terms
    Make available the terms agreed with any individual under which you are storing and using their personal information. You can make those terms available in a secure, self-service system.

What now?

Our GDPR Checklist for Internal Recruiters suggests that you start with a data audit then work through the other points. Once you know where personal data is, bring your employees up to speed with their obligations. You may have a lot to teach people if you find evidence of any of the following:

  • Distributing personal details on paper.
  • Emailing personal information between staff.
  • Sharing personal information with friends in other companies or with friendly recruiters.
  • Allowing paper copies of personal information to travel home with employees.

Also, control your offline or paper copies of personal information. You should work to avoid situations such as employees leaving branded application forms on public transport, or disposing of CVs in household waste.

Get a GDPR compliant Applicant Tracking System

Ensure your future GDPR compliance by implementing an Applicant Tracking System that acquires candidate consent for you. CVMinder ATS has been acquiring candidate consent since it first launched. It also offers secure, self-service to personal information, supporting review and modification.

Among others, Schools and Care companies use CVMinder ATS because it helps them to manage employment checks and other points of recruitment compliance.

CVMinder ATS is the easiest Applicant Tracking System available. It’s simple to use, quick to deliver and easy to learn. Capterra, part of the Gartner Group, has awarded CVMinder ATS best value Applicant Tracking System 2017 and best support 2017.

Don’t delay. If you want to ensure that your recruitment in your organisation is GDPR compliant, please contact us now for more information or to set up a personal demonstration.

GDPR Checklist footnote

GDPR represents a significant change to the way in which organisations manage and process personal information. It’s great news for individuals and will help to tackle poor practice in the recruitment industry.

This GDPR Checklist for internal recruiters is to help you to think about the tasks ahead and structure your approach. GDPR is a live concern and some of the detail is subject to alteration. However, the main GDPR requirements are clear, so don’t wait for future amendments before getting started.

GDPR and 1-Click Apply

GDPR. Is this the end of 1-click apply?

Let’s discuss 1-click apply. We’ll check out the benefits, some disadvantages and why General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) gets in the way.

What is “1-click apply”?

“1-click apply” has been offered by job boards such as The Caterer,  Indeed and TotalJobs. It allows jobseekers to submit job applications with a single click. Personal information, a  CV, covering letter and other documents are all packaged and delivered with ease.  It’s so easy that some jobseekers apply for too many jobs too quickly and without thought.

The perceived benefit of “1-click apply”

“1-click apply” promises frictionless job applications that are quick and convenient. That results in more job applications for employers and the evidence is certainly there to support it. The job boards and employers should be happy because everyone wants more job applications. But wait, is there a downside?

The downside of “1-click apply”

HR managers and internal recruiters suggest that “1-click apply” is responsible for a number of unforeseen issues:

  1. There are more irrelevant job applications. There’s no buffer to stop jobseekers looking before they leap. Those applications soak up valuable time.
  2. The best candidates can be hidden in a bigger pile of less useful applications. That’s not great when the market is so competitive.
  3. The proportion of interview no-shows seems to increase. Weaker up-front qualification by the jobseeker can result in poorer interest overall.
  4. What about compliance and GDPR?

1-click applications could be unintentionally reducing the average quality of job applications. They also shoot personal details across to other systems without consent!

GDPR, a “1-click apply” killer?

GDPR is here and it’s a game changer for the recruitment industry. Under GDPR rules, personal information must be secure and less easily distributed. Organisations receiving personal information will be subject to obligations such as:

  1. Supporting individual consent for holding and processing personal information for a specific purpose. Consent must be via a positive opt-in, not to be inferred from silence, pre-ticked boxes or inactivity.
  2. Informing applicants that personal data has been received.
  3. Offering access to personal information to validate lawfulness of any data processing.
  4. Supporting the right to be forgotten.

1-click apply passes personal data from a job board to the receiver’s ATS or email system. Up until GDPR came along, the applicant had no knowledge of the target system and no consents were captured in advance. Receiving systems could be home-grown, supplied by a vendor, living on an office server or hosted in the cloud. Receivers could be in any country and demonstrate varying levels of data security. Whoops!

1-click must change if it is to be GDPR compliant. Thankfully it has for some job boards. For example, Indeed released Indeed Apply. With it, your ATS can instruct Indeed to request necessary consent(s) from the applicant. Critically, applicants give consent before Indeed sends personal information to the ATS.

Indeed Apply is much more than that. It allows an ATS to give it questions that it should ask any applicant. Everything is completed on Indeed before being packaged for delivery to the ATS.

Conclusion

“1-click apply” seems like a good idea.  It decreases friction in the process and encourages more people to complete their applications. However, when made too easy, employers receive thoughtless applications and that spoils the potential gains.

We must also conclude that 1-click it isn’t GDPR compliant. However, adding one or two more clicks to gain the required ATS consent(s) and this does satisfy GDPR. 1-click must therefore morph into quick-click for most jobs boards. Perhaps they should take a lead from Indeed.

So how can we implement 1-click apply ?

You can’t. Potential fines for any GDPR breach are eye watering, so a “safety first” approach is the right approach:

  1. When receiving personal information, ensure that you’re receiving it in an ATS rather than an email system. Have your ATS gain consent(s) in advance of receiving personal information by any quick-click methods.
  2. Ensure each applicant can access and edit personal information in your ATS. Even if a job application came via quick-click methods, the applicant should have a way of accessing it.
  3. Your ATS should prevent the speculative distribution of personal information without the prior consent of the candidate. This point is directed at recruitment companies.
Conclusion

Raw “1-click apply” cannot survive GDPR. But, requesting additional consent(s) for pre-packaged applications is hardly inconvenient. Consider adding some application questions. Questions make applicants pause for a moment and that can reduce the number of irrelevant job applications. The more you ask, the fewer irrelevant applications you’ll receive.

Indeed resolved the GDPR / 1-click issue with the introduction of Indeed Apply. You can get low friction recruitment and full compliance so long as you have an ATS that works with it.

Want to know more?

If you’re looking for an ATS that works with Indeed Apply, check out the article ‘Get more applicants with Indeed Apply‘. CVMinder ATS can build complete application forms on Indeed Apply automatically.

If you you would like to review your recruitment approach and check it for GDPR compliance, then please contact us now. We’re here to help.