Personal Data and Agencies

[marcus2704]

I got an email from someone as Pathway entitled "Your Application - Extra information needed" with a job description and a request to forward me my CV, except I didnt apply for the role Ive never seen before and have never heard of the person who sent it. Its clearly scoping for CVs, isnt this sort of thing illegal?

It worries me that part of being a contractor (only on my 2nd contract) involves my sending dozens of CVs out detailing my confidential information to the sort of people who use such cheap methods as this, and who knows what else they do with my personal data once they have it.

My CV contains my name (obviously), full address, phone number, DOB and email address, do you guys put less specific information on your CVs - for example is a full address really required?

[pippo]

Privacy and protection of personal information is indeed an issue when it comes to contracting since we need to share our details with various agencies, some (if not most) of which are quite untrustworthy. So I share your worries marcus.

Personally i do not put my address in my CV, just the city/town i live in. Also i do not put my DOB and i strongly recommend you take it out too. The agency does not need to know these details in order to secure an interview for you. As far as phone number is concerned i would not put your home phone number, just put your mobile number.

[ratewhore]

You are within your rights to ask the agencies data controller to remove your information from their database in accordance wth the Data Protection Act 2000. They then have 28 days to remove said data and if you hear from them after that you can report them to the Information Commissioners Office. They can potentially receive a fine...

[boredsenseless]

Privacy and protection of personal information is indeed an issue when it comes to contracting since we need to share our details with various agencies, some (if not most) of which are quite untrustworthy. So I share your worries marcus.

Personally i do not put my address in my CV, just the city/town i live in. Also i do not put my DOB and i strongly recommend you take it out too. The agency does not need to know these details in order to secure an interview for you. As far as phone number is concerned i would not put your home phone number, just put your mobile number.

Never put a DOB on a CV, If you match the job spec you'll get an interview anyway, if they ask for your DOB for anything other than a Security Cleared Job (where it is actually relevant) then you can refuse under the Age Discrimination at Work act. If they then stop talking to you you can report them for discrimination. Most sensible agencies have stopped asking for DOB because of the increasingly simple ways to fall foul of the law.

Of course DOB shouldn't be an issue if you really are a business since they are actually hiring the services of a company (who theoretically canplace anyone of their consultants on site) and not an individual.