Privacy Policy

Introduction

This is the privacy policy for applicants to roles with the Guardian News & Media Limited (collectively referred to as “Guardian”, “we”, “us” or “our” in this policy). This policy explains how we collect, use, share and transfer your personal data which you provide as part of your job application on the Guardian “Work for us” site at https://workforus.theguardian.com/ (“our site”) and interact with us.

This privacy policy is separate to how we use personal data collected via theguardian.com website. For information on how personal data is used on theguardian.com website, please read the privacy policy here and the cookie policy here.

Our values guide everything that we do – including our editorial approach and how we use personal data. We are strongly committed to keeping your personal data safe. This commitment exists throughout the lifecycle of your personal data, from the design of any Guardian service which uses personal data to the deletion of that data.

To complement our global approach to privacy protection, this policy also incorporates specific information privacy rights granted to individuals under Californian and Australian privacy law. This reflects our relationship with our employees and job candidates in these locations where we provide localised editions of our editorial content.

We think carefully about our use of personal data, and below you can find the details of what we do to protect your privacy. This policy covers, among other topics:

  • Information about your rights, the choices available to you, and our obligations in the UK, European Union, in California, in Australia, and elsewhere.
  • Transparency about how we collect and use your personal data, including when and how it is shared.
  • Information on how we protect your personal data.
  • Information on how we will facilitate your rights and respond to your questions.

Find out more about how we manage your personal data below.

1. About this privacy policy

This privacy policy explains how we collect, use, share, transfer and sell (for California residents only) your personal data when you use the services provided on our sites or interact with us. This privacy policy also explains your data privacy rights.

Personal data is any information about you by which you can be identified or be identifiable. This can include information such as:

  • Your name, date of birth, gender, email address, postal address, phone number, mobile number or financial details.
  • Information about your device (such as the IP address, which is a numerical code to identify your device that can provide information about the country, region or city where you are based).
  • Information relating to how you use and interact with our sites and services.

When we refer to “personal data” in this policy, we are also referencing “personal information,” as it is defined under California law, and as it is defined under Australian law.

2. Who we are

Guardian News & Media Limited, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU is the data controller in respect of your personal data that you share with us. This means that we are responsible for deciding how and why we hold and use your personal data. If you want to contact us directly, you can find our contact details in the “Contact us for information about how we use your personal data” section below.

3. The types of personal data we collect about you

We collect your personal data when you sign up for our services and when you browse our site. We will only collect your personal data in line with applicable laws. We collect your personal data in the following ways:

  • Directly from you, when you apply for a position, contact us, and when you browse our site.
  • Personal data we generate about you, e.g. personal data we use to authenticate you, or personal data we generate about you from your IP address or your preferences.
  • Personal data we collect from third parties, e.g. personal data that helps us to combat fraud or which we collect, with your permission, when you interact with us through your social media accounts.

More details about the types of personal data we collect are provided below.

The personal data we collect when you use our site’s basic functions or register for a candidate profile account on our site

When you register for a candidate profile account on our site, we may collect:

  • Identification data, such as name, title, citizenship, passport, drivers' licence information and tax reference.
  • Personal information, such as your date and place of birth, emergency contact details and gender.
  • Contact details, such as your home address, telephone number and email address.
  • Education and work experience, such as contact details for your current/former employer, information about your educational background, your work experience and other experience.
  • Other application data, such as information included in your application form/CV, such as personal interests or social media handles, information about the jobs that you had searched for or looked at on our pages and jobs for which you had submitted an application.
  • Information collected as part of the interview process, such as notes taken from your interview or information provided from recruitment agencies.
  • Background check information, such as information obtained through reference checks and confirmation about your work/educational background.

When you register on our site, you have access to a profile page where you have the option to change and update your personal data.

Personal data we generate about you

When you register for a Guardian account, we assign you a unique ID number. We use this to manage your preferences, for example, the newsletters you have subscribed to. When you register for an account we use your unique ID to recognise you when you are signed in to our services.

When you use our sites we may also use cookies or similar technologies to collect extra data, including:

  • Your IP address - a numerical code to identify your device, together with the country, region or city where you are based.
  • Your geolocation data - your IP address can be used to find information about the latitude, longitude, altitude of your device, its direction of travel, your GPS data and data about connection with local Wi-Fi equipment.
  • Information on how you interact with our services.
  • Identifiers derived from those cookies or similar technologies, your device, or generated based on the data described above.

We may also collect, store and use the following “special categories” of more sensitive personal data:

  • health and medical data, such as information on disability for purposes of accommodating your application and interview and compliance with legal obligations.
  • criminal records data, in the event we conduct or receive the results of criminal records background checks in relation to you in the process of your application, where relevant and appropriate to the role that you are applying for.
  • diversity monitoring data, such as information about your race or ethnicity and religious beliefs.

Any diversity monitoring data provided will only be used for statistical purposes and will not affect the success of your application.

4. How we collect personal data

We collect personal data when you:

  • Register as a user (name, email address and password).
  • Create a profile (country of residence, job sector and salary expectations) and upload documents (for example, your CV or cover letter).
  • Sign up for marketing communications.
  • Access and interact with our site.
  • Test our products, participate in focus groups or provide us with feedback.

We also collect personal data through cookies and other similar technologies. Please refer to our cookie section below for more details on how we use cookies.

5. How we use your personal data

We use personal data collected through our site only when we have a valid reason and the legal grounds to do so. We determine the legal grounds based on the purposes for which we have collected your personal data.

Legal grounds for using your personal data

The legal ground may be one of the following:

  • Consent: We will use your personal data where we have asked for your consent, which you can withdraw at any time. We will rely on consent to:
    • Place non-essential cookies and similar technologies on our sites.
  • Performance of a contract with you (or in order to take steps prior to entering into a contract with you): We will use your personal data if we need to in order to perform a contract with you. For example, to process your application where you have applied to a vacancy.
  • Compliance with law: In some cases, we may have a legal obligation to use or keep your personal data, for example to disclose salary details to HMRC.
  • Our legitimate interests: We may process your personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate interests in a way that might be expected as part of running the Guardian and in a way which does not materially impact your rights and freedoms. We rely on legitimate interests:
    • To send service and/ or marketing communications to you.
    • To test changes to our site we may vary the personal data that is collected and how it is used.
    • To backup our systems and databases.
    • For internal administrative purposes related to our services - such as our accounting and records.
    • When we respond to your queries and to resolve complaints.
    • To troubleshoot technical issues on our sites and their functionalities.
    • For security and fraud prevention, and to ensure that our sites are safe and secure and used in line with our terms of use.
    • To contact you directly via email if you contact us.

Where we rely on cookies to collect any personal data please see our cookie section below for more information.

Updating your personal data

Once an account has been created with the recruitment system you will be able to change certain data about yourself when you are logged in such as updating contact details and submitting additional documents or removing existing documents in your application.

6. Personal data that we receive about you from other organisations

Recruitment Agencies

For some positions in our organisation, we may require particular skills and engage executive search firms to manage part of the process on our behalf. We may receive your CV in relation to a position where we have invited our partner agencies to present candidates.

7. Children’s personal data

We do not aim any of our products or services directly at children under the age of 13 and we do not knowingly collect personal data about children under 13 in providing our services. Some of our services may have a higher age restriction and this will be shown at the point of registration.

We also note and comply with the California law which prohibits sale of personal data of consumers between 13-16 years of age unless their guardian has authorised the sale.

8. Security of your personal data

We have implemented appropriate technical and organisational controls to protect your personal data against unauthorised processing and against accidental loss, damage or destruction. You are responsible for choosing a secure password when we ask you to set up a password to access parts of our sites. You should keep this password confidential and you should choose a password that you do not use on any other site. You should not share your password with anyone else, including anyone who works for us. Sending any information, including personal data, via the internet is not completely secure. We cannot guarantee the security of any personal data sent to our site while still in transit and so you provide it at your own risk.

9. When we share your personal data

Within the Guardian group of companies

Depending on where you live, we may share your personal data within the Guardian group of companies in the UK, US, or Australia. We may share it in order to perform a contract with you, for administrative purposes, or when we have a legitimate interest in doing so. For example:

  • Sometimes we may receive a letter, email or another form of communication from you that we consider to be significant to the history of the Guardian. We may decide to share this with the Guardian Archive run by the Guardian Foundation for historic and archiving purposes.

With external organisations

We share your personal data with other organisations that are not directly linked to us under the following circumstances:

Service providers - We may share your data with other organisations that provide services on our behalf. We may do this to perform a contract we have entered into with you, where it is in our legitimate interests or with your consent. Examples of when we may share your data with service providers include sharing with:

  • Website hosting providers, such as ThirtyThree and Oracle.
  • Fraud management providers that help us to identify and prevent online fraud.
  • Service providers that help provide us with insights and analytics that help us improve our products and services. For example, we use Google Analytics to understand how visitors engage with our site. If you don’t want Google Analytics to be used in your browser, you can install the ‘Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-On’, provided by Google.
  • In the event a candidate is offered a role, our third party pre-screening companies, such as TrustID, HireRight and Health Partners.

Agencies and authorities if required by law - We may reveal your personal data to any law enforcement agency, court, regulator, government authority, or in connection with any legal action if we are required to do so to meet a legal or regulatory obligation, where the request is proportionate, or otherwise to protect our rights or the rights of anyone else (for example, in response to a valid and properly served legal process such as subpoena or warrant). If we have your contact details, we will take reasonable steps to attempt to notify you prior to disclosing your data unless (i) prohibited by applicable law from doing so, or (ii) there are clear indications of unlawful conduct in connection with your use of Guardian services.

Organisation/s that buy any of the Guardian group companies - We may share your personal data to any other organisation that buys, or to which we transfer all, or substantially all, of our assets and business. If this sale or transfer takes place, we will use reasonable efforts to try to make sure that the organisation we transfer your personal data to uses it in line with our privacy policy.

When we share your personal data, as specified above, with any organisation which accesses your data in the course of providing services on our behalf, they will be governed by strict contractual restrictions to make sure that they protect your data and comply with applicable law. We may also independently audit these service providers to make sure that they meet our standards.

California resident - Do not sell

These transfers to third parties may constitute “sale” of your personal information under California law. A California resident can halt these sales at any time by pressing the “California resident - Do not sell” link that is located in the footer of every page on our site. Third-parties do not sell personal information that has been sold to them by the Guardian unless you have first received explicit notice and are provided an opportunity to exercise the right to opt out.

10. International Data Transfers

Data we collect may be transferred to, stored and processed in any country or territory where one or more of our Guardian group companies or service providers are based or have facilities. While other countries or territories may not have the same standards of data protection as those in your home country, we will continue to protect personal data that we transfer in line with this privacy policy.

Whenever we transfer your personal data out of the UK or the European Economic Area (EEA), we ensure similar protection and put in place at least one of these safeguards:

  • We will only transfer your personal data to countries that have been found to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data.
  • We may also use specific approved contracts that use Standard Contractual Clauses for the protection of personal data where appropriate, with our service providers that are based in countries outside the UK or the EEA, including those based in the US and Australia. These contracts give your personal data the same protection it has in the UK or the EEA.

If you are located in the UK or the EEA, you may contact us for a copy of the safeguards which we have put in place for the transfer of your personal data outside the UK or the EEA.

11. How long we keep your personal data

We keep your personal data for only as long as we need to. How long we need your personal data depends on what we are using it for, as set out in this privacy policy. For example, we may need to use it to answer your queries about a product or service and as a result may keep your personal data while you are still using our product or service. To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means. We may also need to keep your personal data for accounting purposes, for example, where you have bought a subscription.

If we no longer need your data, we will delete it or make it anonymous by removing all details that identify you. If we have asked for your permission to process your personal data and we have no other lawful grounds to continue with that processing, and you withdraw your permission, we will delete your personal data. However, when you unsubscribe from marketing communications, we will keep your email address to ensure that we do not send you any marketing communications in the future.

12. How we may contact you

Service communications

From time to time we will send you service emails and in line with your communication preferences, T&C changes, or to inform you when we receive your application.

Responding to your queries or complaints

If you have raised a query or a complaint with us, we may contact you to answer your query or to resolve your complaint.

Special Note to California Users

If you elect to use the “California resident - Do not sell” button, we will not recontact you about that choice for at least 12 months.

13. Cookies and similar technologies

12.1 What is a cookie?

A cookie is a small file that can be placed on your device. It is sent to your browser and stored on your computer’s hard drive, tablet or mobile device. When you visit our site, it can allow us to recognize and remember you.

12.2 How do we use cookies?

We use cookies in a range of ways to improve your experience on our site, including:

  • Understanding how you use our site, for instance how long you stay on a page or which report you read next.
  • Delivering content to you.
  • Monitoring how users interact with pages on our site to identify and remedy interface issues.

We use the following types of cookies on our sites:

  • Strictly Necessary – These cookies are essential for the operation of our site. If you set your browser to block these cookies, some parts of our site will not work. In particular, we won’t be able to save your preferences about cookies.
  • Performance – These cookies are used to measure how often you visit our site and how you use our site. We use this information to get a better sense of how our users engage with our site and projects and to improve our site so that you have a better experience. For example, we collect information about which of our pages are most frequently visited, and by which types of users.
  • Functionality – These cookies are used to recognize you and remember your preferences or settings when you return to our site so that we can provide a more personalized experience for you.

It is possible to stop your browser from accepting cookies altogether by changing your browser’s cookie settings. You can usually find these settings in the “options” or “preferences” menu of your browser. Please note that searching in incognito mode or regularly clearing your cookies may impact your choice cookie settings.

14. Your privacy and data protection rights

You have a number of rights with regard to the personal data that we hold about you and you can contact us with regard to the following rights in relation to your personal data:

  • You have the right to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
  • You have the right to correct the personal data we hold about you.
  • Where applicable, you may also have a right to receive a machine-readable copy of your personal data.
  • You also have the right to ask us to delete your personal data or restrict how it is used. There may be exceptions to the right to erasure for specific legal reasons which, if applicable, we will set out for you in response to your request.
  • Where applicable, you have the right to object to processing of your personal data for certain purposes.
  • Where you have provided us with consent to use your personal data, you can withdraw this consent at any time.
  • If you do not want us to use your personal data for marketing analysis, you can change your settings in the “Data privacy” tab of your Guardian account.

If you would like to exercise any of your rights specified above, please email dataprotection@theguardian.com or write to the Data Protection Officer at Guardian News & Media Limited, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. We will respond to all standard legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a large number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.

We may need verification of your identity to proceed with a request. If you provide us with proof of identity containing information that does not match our records, we may request further proof of identity from you. This is a security measure to ensure that your personal data is not disclosed to any person who does not have a right to receive it.

You will not have to pay a fee to obtain a copy of your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, for any further copies requested by you, we may charge a reasonable fee based on administrative costs.

15. Your California privacy rights

The California Consumer Privacy Act 2018 (“CCPA”) and California Privacy Rights Act 2020 (“CPRA”) provide certain rights to residents of California. The CCPA and CPRA are collectively referred to as “CCPA” below.

If you are a resident of California you may contact us with regard to the following rights in relation to your personal data:

  • Right to Know: At or before the time of collection, you have a right to receive notice of our practices, including the categories of personal data and sensitive personal data to be collected, the purposes for which it is collected and used, whether such personal data is “sold or shared” and for how long personal data is retained. These details are set out in this Privacy Policy.
  • Right to Access: You have the right to request access to the personal data we may hold on you for the past twelve (12) months. You may submit up to two (2) requests per year of access to your personal data.
  • Right to Correct: You have the right to correct inaccurate personal data we hold about you.
  • Right to Opt-Out of Sale of Personal Data: For individuals sixteen (16) years or older, you have the right to opt-out of sale of personal data we may hold on you. You can exercise this right at any time by pressing the “California resident - Do not sell” link in the footer of every page on our site. For individuals between thirteen (13) to sixteen (16) years old, you have the right to opt-in to the sale of personal data we may hold on you.
  • Right to Deletion: You also have the right to ask us to delete personal data we may hold on you or restrict how it is used. There may be exceptions to the right to deletion which, if applicable, we will set out for you in response to your request.
  • Right to Limit Use and Disclosure of Sensitive Personal Data: Where applicable, you have the right to limit our use of sensitive personal data for any purposes other than to provide the services you request or as otherwise permitted by law.
  • Right to Non-Discrimination: We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your California Consumer Privacy Act rights.

If you want to make any of these requests, please contact dataprotection@theguardian.com. We will deal with requests for access to your personal data within forty-five (45) days for California-specific requests.

To help us respond as you expect, please specify that you are making a request under the CCPA. We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity. For example, we will verify your identity before complying. If you provide us with proof of identity containing information that does not match our records, we may request further proof of identity from you.

You can designate an “authorized agent” to make requests to exercise your rights on your behalf under the CCPA. We will clarify that any “authorized agent” has your written permission in making that request. We may also contact you directly to verify your identity.

California “Shine the Light” privacy rights

Residents of California can ask us to provide a list of the types of personal data we have disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes and the identity of those third parties. We do not generally disclose personal data as defined under the California “Shine the Light” law. To the extent that we share email addresses with third parties in connection with online marketing that could be covered, you may opt-out through your “Manage My Account” choices.

To make a “Shine the Light” request, please email dataprotection@theguardian.com with “Shine the Light” in the subject line.

16. Your Australian privacy rights

The Australian privacy Act has rules around how we handle your personal information that may be different to rules in other regions. These rules are set out in the Australian Privacy Principles in force under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the Australian Privacy Act). We are required to treat your personal information in line with those principles, including to disclose to you what personal information we collect and how we use it, to store your information securely and to support you in exercising your rights.

Personal information we collect and use

When we refer to “personal data” throughout this policy, we are also referencing “personal information,” as it is defined under Australian law.

Details about the personal information that we collect, use and disclose is set out throughout this privacy policy. You can navigate these relevant sections by going to the contents section at the top of the page.

Your rights

Your rights to privacy are also protected by the Australian Privacy Act, including your:

  • Right of access to the personal information held about you.
  • Right of correction to correct your information when it is incorrect.

These principles and rights are reflected throughout this privacy policy.

Opt out of personalised advertising

Under the Australian Privacy Act, you have the right to opt out of the use of your personal information for the purpose of direct marketing, including in relation to personalised advertising. You can opt out of personalised advertising across our website and apps at any time by going to the “Privacy Settings” link on our sites in the footer of every page. You will still see non-personalised advertising.

We and our partners use cookies and similar technologies to collect information about your use of our site to help create reports and statistics on the performance of our site. Analytics cookies such as Google Analytics collect information such as your IP address, device type and operating system, referring URLs, location and pages visited. If you don’t want Google Analytics to be used in your browser, you can install the ‘Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-On’, provided by Google.

For a complete description of our use of cookies and similar technologies globally, please see our cookie policy.

If you have contacted us at dataprotection@theguardian.com with a privacy related complaint and you are not satisfied with our handling of that complaint, you may refer that complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner:

GPO BOX 5218, Sydney NSW 2001

1300 363 992

https://www.oaic.gov.au/

17. Contact us for information about how we use your personal data

If you have any questions about how we use your personal data or if you have a concern about how your personal data is used, please contact the Data Protection Officer at Guardian News & Media Limited, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU or, email dataprotection@theguardian.com.

Complaints will be dealt with by the Data Protection Team, and will be responded to within 30 days.

If you are not satisfied with the way your concern has been handled, you can refer your complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

If you have a question about anything else, please see our Contact us page here.

For individuals based in the European Union:

Since we do not have an establishment in the European Union, we have appointed an EU based representative to serve as a direct contact for data protection authorities and individuals on our behalf, who can be contacted at theguardian@mcf.ie or MCF Legal Technology Solutions Limited, Riverside One, Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Dublin 2, Ireland.

18. Changes to this privacy policy

If we decide to change our privacy policy, the updated privacy policy will be posted on this page. If the changes are significant, we may also choose to email all our registered users with the new details. If required by law, we will get your permission or give you the opportunity to opt out of any new uses of your data.

Changes to this privacy policy to date

The most recent changes to this privacy policy were made on:

  • July 2024

A list of all previous changes are available upon request.