Applicant Data Privacy Notice
Before we begin
This notice (Privacy Notice) applies to personal information relating to your application for employment with HSBC Group held by members of the HSBC Group as data controllers, as described below. It explains what information we collect about you, how we’ll use that information, who we’ll share it with, the circumstances when we’ll share it and what steps we’ll take to make sure it stays private and secure. This Privacy Notice covers all aspects of your interaction with HSBC in your capacity as an applicant, including recruitment and pre-employment screening and we may update this notice at any time.
Some of the links on our websites lead to other HSBC or non-HSBC websites with their own privacy notices, which may be different to this notice. You’ll need to make sure you’re happy with their privacy notices when using those other sites.
Wherever we’ve said ‘you’ or ‘your’, this means you or any authorised person who engages with us on your behalf (e.g. recruitment agencies you have authorised to liaise with us on your behalf).
When we say ‘we’, we mean HSBC Group companies which act as a data controller in respect of your personal data in your applicant capacity. Unless otherwise stated below, the data controller is the entity that you have applied for employment with.
If you’d like to get in touch with us, you can also find contact details set out in the ‘More details about your information’ section below.
What information we collect
We’ll only collect relevant information about you in line with applicable regulations and law. We may collect it from a range of sources and it may relate to any of the roles you apply for, currently hold or have held in the past both within and outside of the HSBC Group. We may also collect information about you when you interact with us, e.g. call us, visit our websites or mobile channels, or use services we make available to you in your applicant capacity (e.g. online tests).
Some of it will come directly from you, e.g. when you provide ID to verify your identity or right to work. It can also come from your previous employers, other HSBC Group companies, or other sources you’ve asked us to obtain information from. We might also get some of it from publicly available sources. The information we collect may include:
How we’ll use your information
We’ll only use your information where we have your consent or we have another lawful reason for using it. These reasons include where we need to process your data:
- to enter into or perform a contract we have with you or in order to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract;
- to comply with a legal obligation;
- for the purposes of pursuing our legitimate interests or those of a third party with whom we may share your information (e.g. to assess your suitability for the role you are applying for) to the extent that such legitimate interests are not overridden by your interests or rights;
- for the purpose of carrying out our obligations in the context of your employment; and/or
- to protect your vital interests.
We will only use your personal information for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If we need to use your personal information for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.
Please note also that we may process your personal information without your knowledge, where this is required or permitted by law.
Enhanced Vetting
All new entrants to the HSBC will be vetted as part of their recruitment, and periodically throughout your employment. Certain posts within HSBC are Enhanced Vetting (EV) posts. EV posts are posts that provide particular opportunity to an employee to abuse their position in order to cause significant financial, reputational or physical damage to HSBC, its people, its clients, its data or its premises. Those who apply for such posts will be subject to Enhanced Vetting during recruitment and those who occupy such posts must be Enhanced Vetted every three years to confirm that their continued employment in such posts does not expose HSBC to unacceptable levels of risk. EV remains valid for three years and employees can move from EV role to EV role within this three years’ period without EV being repeated, unless local regulations dictate otherwise.
Criminal Convictions
We may request information about criminal convictions if it is appropriate (i.e. for regulated roles) and where we are legally able to do so. We may also collect information about criminal convictions to meet our legal obligations in connection with your employment. We may collect information about criminal convictions in any country where you have resided within the last five years.
Credit Reference Checks
As part of your application to us, we may perform credit and identity checks on you with one or more credit reference agencies (CRAs). We will conduct credit reference checks with CRAs in any country where you have resided within the last five years.
To do this, we’ll supply your personal information to CRAs and they’ll give us information about you. This will include information from your credit application and about your financial situation and financial history. CRAs will supply us with both public and shared credit information, financial situation, history and fraud prevention information.
You have a number of rights in relation to the information that we hold about you.
You can exercise your rights by contacting us using the details set out in the ‘More details about your information’ section below.
What we need from you
You’re responsible for making sure the information you give us is accurate and up to date, and you must tell us if anything changes as soon as possible.
If we ask you for any information and you do not provide it to us, the absence or inaccuracy of any records may affect the outcome of your application and/or we may be prevented from complying with our legal obligations.
How we keep your information secure
We use a range of measures to keep your information safe and secure which may include encryption, anonymization, and other forms of security. We require our staff and any third parties who carry out any work on our behalf to comply with appropriate compliance standards including obligations to protect any information and applying appropriate measures for the use and transfer of information.
More details about your information
If you’d like further information on anything we’ve said in this Privacy Notice, you can contact us via your recruitment contact or our HR Direct team via +974 44067510.
You can find out more information about your rights by contacting Qatar Compliance and Data Protection Department, or by visiting the website at https//:compliance.qcert.org.
Also, you can contact the Compliance and Data Protection Department at: cdpHelpdesk@motc.gov.qa
Appendix 1 – How we process your information
We’ll use your information for purposes including: