Global candidate privacy notice

Writer’s Global Candidate Privacy Notice (“Notice”) describes how Writer and its affiliates collect, use, and process your personal data when you apply for an open position at Writer.

Please make sure to read this Notice carefully and note that this Notice does not guarantee that you will be hired. If you are hired, this Notice will not be part of your employment contract. 

We may update this Notice from time to time, for example if we implement new systems or processes that involve the use of personal data in a way not described in this Notice.

Finally, this Notice does not apply to our handling of any information gathered about you in your role as a user of our services. If you interact with us in that capacity, Writer’s Privacy Policy will apply.

1. Types of Personal Data We Handle

We collect, use, and store various types of information that identifies, relates to, or could reasonably be linked to you (“personal data”) in connection with your application. We collect this information either directly from you or (where applicable) from another person or entity, such as professional networking websites, job posting websites, employment agencies, recruitment companies, academic institutions, background check providers, or your professional references. We may collect additional personal data throughout the course of your application process.

The information we collect from and about you includes, where applicable:

• Identifiers such as first and last name, postal address, telephone number, and email address, and, if provided an offer, identifiers related to your citizenship documents, such as Social Security Number, national ID card, passport, and copies of work permits and birth certificates (which include date and place of birth).
• Professional or employment-related information, including:
  • Recruitment, employment, or engagement information such as application forms and information included in a resume, cover letter, or otherwise provided through the application and recruitment process; information about your eligibility to work in the country where you are applying for a job, such as information related to citizenship and/or immigration status; references; our evaluations of your performance during the interview process; and if provided an offer, background screening results (including any criminal convictions).
  • Career information such as past employers, titles, job history, work dates and work locations, salary expectations, notice period, and information about skills, qualifications, and experience.
• Education information such as institutions attended, degrees, academic record, certifications, licenses, transcript information, and professional memberships.
• Business travel and expense information such as travel itinerary information and expenses incurred for travel during the interview process.
• Audio or visual information such as CCTV footage, as well as other information relating to the security of our premises collected during in-person interviews or other parts of the recruitment process, and video or audio recordings of events and recruitment activities.
• Internet and electronic network, and device activity and device information and related identifiers, such as information about your use of our network while you are on our premises, including IP address and device identifiers and attributes.
• Potentially protected classification information to the extent required or as permitted by law and voluntarily provided such as race/ethnicity, nationality, sex/gender, gender identity, citizenship, religion, marital status, military service, disability, race, accommodation information, and other information to help us monitor compliance with equal opportunity legislation.
• Other information that you may voluntarily choose to include on your resume, in connection with your application, or otherwise.

2. How We Use Personal data

We may collect, use, disclose, and store personal data for our business purposes, which include, where applicable:

• Engaging in the recruitment process, including communicating with you, interviewing, and selecting and hiring new personnel. 
• People management and administration, including determining compensation, scheduling, IT and informational security purposes, fraud prevention, and conducting internal analyses and audits.
• Security operations, including detecting security incidents, debugging and repairing errors, and preventing unauthorized access to our computer and electronic communications systems and preventing malicious software distribution; monitoring and controlling access to our premises and locations (including through use of CCTV); and safeguarding Writer and its locations, services, and employees.
• Safeguarding Writer and our services, including the protection of Writer, our workforce, users, partners, and others.
• Legal compliance, such as complying with applicable laws, and responding to and cooperating with legal or regulatory requests and investigations.
• At your request in order to fulfil your instructions.
• Exercising our legal rights, including seeking legal advice from our external lawyers or in connection with litigation.

We may also use personal data for any other legally permitted purpose (subject to your consent, where legally required).

Some personal data we collect in the recruitment process, such as ethnicity and veteran status, may be considered “sensitive” under applicable law. We use such information only for equal employment opportunity purposes. Some “sensitive” information may be required for certain job applications.

Some jurisdictions require us to state our “legal bases” for processing your personal data as described in this Notice. These legal bases are:

• Contract: We may process your personal data as necessary to perform a contract with you.
• Legal obligation: We may process your personal data to comply with a legal obligation or request, such as to comply with employment and tax regulations.
• Legitimate interest: We may process your personal data for purposes of our or another party’s legitimate interests, such as to maintain the security of our premises, personnel, and property.
• Consent: We may process your personal data consistent with your consent to the extent permitted by applicable law.

3. How We Disclose Personal data

We may disclose certain personal data to the following types of entities or in the following circumstances, where applicable:

• Internally: To employees within Writer who participate in the recruitment process, such as People managers and employee interviewers, and among our corporate affiliates. 
• Vendors: Such as background check companies, security providers, information technology providers, travel management companies, and employment businesses (e.g., recruiting contractors or agency workers) that provide us with services relevant to recruiting and hiring.
• Recruiters: To the extent you are working with a recruiter in connection with your application for employment and your recruiter is authorized by you to obtain feedback from us regarding your application and interview process. 
• Legal compliance and exercising legal rights: (i) When required to do so by law, regulation, or court order, (ii) in response to a request for assistance by the police or other law enforcement agency; (iii) to seek legal advice from our external lawyers; or (iv) as otherwise necessary to exercising our legal rights or to protect Writer or its employees.
• Business transaction purposes: In connection with the sale, purchase, or merger of all or a portion of our company. 
• Consent: With your consent and as permitted by law, we may disclose personal data to any other parties in any other circumstances.

4. How We Protect Personal Data

We take technical and organizational measures to protect your personal data against accidental or unlawful destruction or accidental loss, alteration, unauthorized disclosure or access. However, no method of transmission over the Internet, and no means of electronic or physical storage, is absolutely secure, and thus we cannot ensure or warrant the security of that information.

5. Data Retention

The personal data we collect from you will be retained until we determine it is no longer necessary to satisfy the purposes for which it was collected and our legal obligations. As described above, these purposes include our business operations and complying with reporting, legal and accounting obligations. In determining how long to retain information, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of the personal data, the purposes for which we process the personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes in other ways, the applicable legal requirements, and our legitimate interests.

6. Personal Data Rights

Depending on your jurisdiction of residence, you may have certain rights regarding your personal data. As provided in applicable law, these rights may include:

• Request access certain of your personal data, including the right to obtain confirmation of whether we are processing your personal data, obtain a copy of that information, and know certain information about our processing of your personal data, such as our processing purposes; 
• Request correction of certain personal data that we have about you that is inaccurate;
• Request deletion or removal of your personal data;
• Object to or request restriction of certain processing activities; or
• In some circumstances and if technically feasible, request that your personal data be transferred to a third party or provided to you directly in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable form.

Where we process your personal data based on your consent and not another legal basis, you may withdraw consent to further processing. However, withdrawing your consent only affects our processing after the withdrawal.

In certain jurisdictions, you may also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority if you believe we have processed your personal data in violation of applicable data protection law. However, we encourage you to raise any complaints with us first so we can do our best to resolve it.  We will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights.

Exceptions: There are certain exceptions to the above rights. For instance, we may retain your personal data if it is reasonably necessary for us or our service providers to provide a service that you have requested, to comply with law, or to detect security incidents, protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity or prosecute those responsible for that activity. In addition, we reserve the right not to process requests that are manifestly unfounded or excessive, as provided in applicable law, or that we are not legally obligated to process.

Exercising your rights: To exercise your rights, please contact us and specify the right(s) you want to exercise and the personal data with respect to which you want to exercise such right(s). You can submit your request by emailing us at privacy@writer.com. We may take reasonable steps to verify your identity before responding to a request, and to do so, we may ask you for additional information to verify your identity.

California disclosure: California law places certain obligations on businesses that “sell” personal data to third parties or “share” personal data with third parties for “cross-context behavioral advertising” as those terms are defined under the California Consumer Privacy Act. We do not “sell” or “share” the personal data covered by this Notice and have not done so in the twelve months prior to the effective date of this Notice.

7. Cross-Border Personal data Transfers

We are headquartered in the United States, and we and our vendors may process and store your personal data in the United States and other locations where we and our vendors are located. The data protection laws of these locations may not provide the same protections as the data protection laws in the jurisdiction where you reside. By applying for a job with us, you consent to us transferring and otherwise processing your information in the United States and other locations where we and our vendors are located. If we engage in cross-border transfers of your personal data or allow our vendors to do so, to the extent required by applicable law, such transfers will be subject to a legally recognized transfer mechanism, such as, to the extent applicable, the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses and equivalent transfer mechanisms in the United Kingdom and Switzerland.

8. Contact Information

Please contact us at privacy@writer.com if you have any questions about this Notice or if you are seeking to exercise any of your statutory rights.