Privacy Policy

PeopleScout | HRX Privacy Policy – Introduction

PeopleScout | HRX is in the business of offering recruitment services and solutions, and helping organisations to improve their direct hiring capability. As an organisation that is focussed on people, PeopleScout | HRX understands how important privacy is to candidates, our corporate clients and our service providers. In Australia, there are different privacy laws that apply to private sector organisations (such as PeopleScout | HRX), and public sector (ie government) agencies. This is complicated further by the fact that different privacy laws apply to Commonwealth government agencies and State Government agencies. As PeopleScout | HRX handles personal information on its own behalf, as well as on behalf of its clients, this means that PeopleScout | HRX needs to comply with each of these different privacy laws. In practice, PeopleScout | HRX's approach is to comply with the highest standard that is required under each of:

the Information Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), which apply to Commonwealth government agencies and Commonwealth government contractors;
the National Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), which apply to private sector organisations such as PeopleScout | HRX; and
the relevant information privacy act in the respective state and territory in the which the client is based.
What this means is that when you deal with PeopleScout | HRX, your privacy will be respected. This Privacy Policy explains how PeopleScout | HRX strives to comply with its privacy obligations. It describes the type of personal information we collect, why we collect it, and how we use, disclose and store personal information. It also explains your rights of access and how we can be contacted.

Why does PeopleScout | HRX need to collect personal information?

As an organisation that provides recruitment services and solutions, PeopleScout | HRX collects personal information on its own behalf, and on behalf of its corporate clients (ie organisations that need to recruit staff). When PeopleScout | HRX collects personal information on behalf of corporate clients, the extent of personal information it needs to collect will depend on the specific service it is providing to the client. By way of explanation:

some PeopleScout | HRX clients choose PeopleScout | HRX's "co-sourcing" model, whereby the client performs some recruitment functions itself, and engages PeopleScout | HRX to perform other recruitment and recruitment-related functions;
some clients outsource their recruitment process to PeopleScout | HRX entirely; and
other clients prefer to conduct all their recruitment processes themselves, but using PeopleScout | HRX's online recruitment tools. The categories of personal information that PeopleScout | HRX collects on behalf of clients includes:
Candidate information. This is provided to PeopleScout | HRX by an individual who has applied for a position (candidate) and by other sources in connection with a candidate's application. For example, if you are a candidate, in addition to the personal information you provide us, we may collect personal information about you from your referees or from other individuals who have recommended you as a candidate. Candidate information will include a candidate's resume and information about a candidate's work history. This includes a candidate's name, contact details, age, date of birth, education and work experience information, information about particular skills, as well as any other personal information that candidates provide to us and which we need to provide our services; and
Information about clients' employees. PeopleScout | HRX's co-sourcing services involve PeopleScout | HRX staff working alongside a client's human resources staff (both in-house, and from PeopleScout | HRX's offices). In these situations, PeopleScout | HRX staff may handle some parts of the employment records held by the corporate client (for recruitment purposes). For instance, this may occur if a current staff member of a corporate client has applied for a promotion. Employee records include information about an employee's work history and work performance, and PeopleScout | HRX may access those parts of an employee record that are needed for a recruitment process.
PeopleScout | HRX also collects the following types of personal information on its own behalf:

Business contact information. This category of personal information includes contact details about PeopleScout | HRX's suppliers and contact people within its clients. This information is needed so that PeopleScout | HRX can manage its business; and Potential candidate information. Sometimes, PeopleScout | HRX collects personal information from individuals who are expected to be suitable for upcoming positions (eg so that it can invite them to apply when positions are formally advertised). It may also collect personal information about potential candidates from others (eg when someone they know recommends them to PeopleScout | HRX). PeopleScout | HRX's policy is to tell potential candidates that personal information has been collected about them when PeopleScout | HRX (ie when PeopleScout | HRX uses that personal information for the purpose it was collected).
For clarification, PeopleScout | HRX also collects personal information about its own employees, but its handling of employee information is not within the scope of this privacy policy.

Does PeopleScout | HRX collect sensitive information?

Special rules apply to the handling of "sensitive" information – this is a type of sensitive information that includes information about a person's race, sexual preference, trade union membership or health.

Sometimes, sensitive information may need to be collected by PeopleScout | HRX in the course of a recruitment process in order to comply with immigration laws or laws applying to employment agents. If PeopleScout | HRX needs to collect sensitive information from you, we will seek your consent.

How is personal information used by PeopleScout | HRX?

If you are a candidate, PeopleScout | HRX will use personal information about you for the purposes of the recruitment process it is conducting on behalf of an PeopleScout | HRX client or for itself. If you are a potential candidate, PeopleScout | HRX will use personal information about you when it compiles candidate information for an actual or possible work placement. For example, if you are a candidate or a potential candidate, PeopleScout | HRX may use personal information about you in order to contact you to tell you about a job opportunity. If you are a candidate whose job application is unsuccessful, we ask you to let us know if you don't wish to be contacted about similar opportunities in the future.

PeopleScout | HRX does not use personal information about candidates or potential candidates for any other purpose that is not related to this purpose and which you wouldn't reasonably expect. For example, PeopleScout | HRX does not disclose personal information about candidates or potential candidates to third parties so that they can send you direct marketing material. If you are a PeopleScout | HRX business contact (eg a corporate client of PeopleScout | HRX), personal information about you will be used for usual business purposes. This may include sending you material about the services that PeopleScout | HRX offers to its corporate clients. However, you can opt out from receiving such material if you wish.

Will personal information be given to anyone else?

As explained above, PeopleScout | HRX often collects personal information on behalf of its clients (ie companies and organisations who are recruiting new staff). If we collect personal information about you on behalf of a client, we will disclose it to that client. Once an PeopleScout | HRX client collects personal information from PeopleScout | HRX, its handling of that personal information will be governed by its own privacy policy and procedures.

If PeopleScout | HRX collects personal information on our own behalf (eg for the purposes of a potential placement), we will obtain your consent before disclosing it to a potential employer. Otherwise, we only disclose personal information in the circumstances described below.

PeopleScout | HRX may outsource or “contract out” specific support services from time to time, and this may mean that our contractors see your personal information. For instance, sometimes we may engage IT contractors to maintain our databases, or reference checking services to investigate whether claims made in references are correct. All our contractors are subject to strict confidentiality obligations, which means that they are authorised only to use personal information in order to provide the services or to perform the functions required by PeopleScout | HRX.

PeopleScout | HRX will disclose personal information if it is under a legal requirement to do so (eg under a court order, or if required under legislation), or if an authorised request is made from a law enforcement agency.

Access and Correction

Under privacy laws, you may seek access to personal information which PeopleScout | HRX holds about you (although there are some exceptions to this). You can also seek access to personal information held by PeopleScout | HRX's clients (by making an access request directly to those organisations).

You also have the right to ask us (or our clients) to correct information about you which is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date.

If you wish to seek access to or correction of personal information that PeopleScout | HRX holds about you, please use the contact details at section 9 below. Our Privacy Officer will explain to you how PeopleScout | HRX will handle your access request. Please note that if PeopleScout | HRX holds your personal information on behalf of one of its corporate clients, its practice is to notify the corporate client that the access request has been made. PeopleScout | HRX's policy is to consider any requests for access or correction in a timely way.

Is personal information stored securely?

PeopleScout | HRX takes steps to ensure the security of personal information held by it from such risks as loss or unauthorised access, destruction, use, modification or disclosure. Storage of personal information at PeopleScout | HRX premises is password protected and access is on a "need to know" basis only. Storage of personal information at client premises (ie when PeopleScout | HRX is handling personal information on site at client premises) will be subject to security measures required by the client. PeopleScout | HRX's policy is to notify its clients if it believes their security systems are inadequate (eg if access to databases are not password protected, and if databases do not contain “audit trails” that make it clear who has viewed personal information).

Online Privacy

If you use our website at http://www.PeopleScout | HRX.com.au (“our website”), this privacy policy is to be read as forming part of the terms of use for our website.

When you visit our website, we will not collect any personal information unless you chose to provide it to us (eg by sending us emails through our website). However, we may collect certain data that does not identify you (sometimes called "web log information") when you visit certain pages, such as the type of browser and operating system you have. We may also use “cookies” which are small files that are stored on your computer and that manage the security and navigation process of the site. You can choose to block these cookies but some portions of the site may not function correctly if you do. This type of data is collected for statistical purposes only, and while cookies will identify your computer, they are unlikely to identify you personally.

Sometimes we include links to other sites from the PeopleScout | HRX website. These sites have their own policies and practices regarding privacy. It is a good idea to check the individual policies because we have no control over what information the site owners choose to collect and how they use it.

Contacting PeopleScout | HRX

If you have any questions or comments about this privacy policy, or if you wish to complain about how we have handled personal information about you, please contact PeopleScout | HRX's Privacy Officer as follows:

by letter to Privacy Officer, PeopleScout | HRX, GPO Box 4273, Sydney, NSW, 2001); or
by e-mail (privacy@PeopleScout | HRX.com.au), telephone (02) 9561 9000, or facsimile (02) 9561 9001.