Privacy Policy
Who are we?
GRACE BLUE EUROPE (Registered office: Harben House, Harben Parade, Finchley Road London NW3 6LH) is a global executive search company providing executive leadership, future leadership and business search services to clients looking to recruit personnel for their businesses or make acquisitions of businesses.
Our Privacy Promise:
– To keep your data safe and private
– Not to use your data in ways you wouldn’t want
– To give you control over your personal information
What does this Policy cover?
Grace Blue wants to make sure we use and look after your personal information properly.
This policy:
– sets out the types of personal data that we collect about you
– explains how and why we collect and use your personal data
– explains how long we keep your personal data for
– explains when, why and with who we will share your personal data;
– sets out the legal basis we have for using your personal data;
– explains the effect of refusing to provide the personal data requested;
– tells you about your privacy rights, the choices you have and how the law protects you
– explains how we may contact you and how you can contact us.
What personal information do we collect about you?
We gather the information we need to find available opportunities and the best candidates to fill them. To be able to assess eligibility through the different stages of recruitment we will collect personal information about you such as name, job title, work history, email addresses and telephone numbers.
If we have considered you for an opportunity, we may record CV’s, skills, educational records, identification documents and employment references as well as information on your suitability as part of our assessments of your professional profile, and this would include information on your personal and professional life publicly available on social media services (LinkedIn, Facebook, Google, Twitter, etc.) or elsewhere on the internet where relevant to the position.
We may also collect sensitive personal data about you, in the form of remuneration, equal opportunities monitoring information and entitlement to work. We only collect sensitive personal data from you, and further process this data, where you have given your explicit consent.
If you are receiving coaching from us, we will also process any additional information that you choose to provide to us during the course of the coaching.
Where do we collect this personal information from?
– Through publicly available sources such as company websites, social media and networking sites, internet search engine results, press articles, awards granting bodies and also through subscription-based services which monitor agency-client relationships and advertising output.
– Directly from you. This is information you provide while searching for a new opportunity and/or during the different recruitment stages.
– By Reference or word of mouth. For example, you may be recommended by a friend, a former employer, a former colleague or even a present employer.
How do we use your personal data?
We use your personal data to match your skills, experience and education with a potential employer. We will initially collect basic information on you such as contact details, job role and experience and then pass this on to the client in search of personnel. If you are chosen by the client and go through to the next stage we will then be collecting more information from you at the interview (or equivalent) stage and onwards in that manner.
If you are receiving coaching from us, we use your personal data in order to understand more about you and to assist you with understanding your skills and areas for improvement or future opportunities and options
How long do we keep your personal data for?
If you are employed within our target industries we aim to keep your information for your working lifetime to ensure that we can consider you for all relevant opportunities. In other cases, we only keep your information while we use it.
However, we may keep some of your information for specific purposes, for instance to meet our legal obligations regarding tax and accounting records.
When deciding how long to keep your data, we will take into account:
(a) our contractual obligations and rights in relation to the information involved;
(b) legal obligation(s) under applicable law to retain data for a certain period of time;
(c) statute of limitations under applicable law(s);
(d) (potential) disputes;
(e) if you have made a request to have your information deleted; and
(f) guidelines issued by relevant data protection authorities.
Otherwise, we securely erase your information once this is no longer needed.
Who do we share your personal data with?
We share your personal data with the client who has a position to fill, in order to determine with the client whether you are a good fit for the available position.
We may also conduct checks on you to verify the information you have provided and where we do this we share your information with relevant providers.
Grace Blue Europe operates globally without borders, and consultants in all markets will have access to the data we hold in order to ensure global searches are truly global.
What legal basis do we have for using your information?
For prospective candidates, interim managers, referees and clients, our processing of your data is essential to enable us to assess suitability for potential roles, to find potential candidates and to contact clients and referees, and so we rely on the basis of this legitimate business interest.
If you are shortlisted as a candidate or if you are coached by us, then this may involve the processing of more detailed personal data including sensitive data such as health information that you or others provide about you. In that case, we always ask for your consent before undertaking such processing.
For clients, we may also rely on our processing being necessary to perform a contract for you, for example in contacting you.
What happens if you do not provide us with the information we request or ask that we stop processing your information?
If you do not provide the personal data necessary, or withdraw your consent for the processing of your personal data, we may not be able to match you with available job opportunities.
Do we use Cookies to collect personal data on you?
To provide better service to you on our websites, we use cookies to collect your personal data when you browse. See our cookie policy here for more details.
Do we transfer your data outside the EEA?
To better match your employee profile with current opportunities we may transfer your personal data to clients and partners in countries outside the EEA. These countries privacy laws may be different from those in your home country. Where we transfer data to a country which has not been deemed to provide adequate data protection standards we always have security measures and approved model clauses in place to protect your personal data. To find out more about how we safeguard your information as related to transfers contact us on via the contact page on this website.
What rights do you have in relation to the data we hold on you?
By law, you have a number of rights when it comes to your personal data. Further information and advice about your rights can be obtained from the data protection regulator in your country.
Your Rights under the Data Protection Laws, and what they mean
1. The right to be informed
You have the right to be provided with clear, transparent and easily understandable information about how we use your information and your rights. This is why we’re providing you with the information in this Policy.
2. The right of access
You have the right to obtain access to your information (if we’re processing it), and certain other information (similar to that provided in this Privacy Policy).
This is so you’re aware and can check that we’re using your information in accordance with data protection law.
3. The right to rectification
You are entitled to have your information corrected if it’s inaccurate or incomplete.
4. The right to erasure
This is also known as ‘the right to be forgotten’ and, in simple terms, enables you to request the deletion or removal of your information where there’s no compelling reason for us to keep using it. This is not a general right to erasure; there are exceptions.
5. The right to restrict processing
You have rights to ‘block’ or suppress further use of your information. When processing is restricted, we can still store your information, but may not use it further. We keep lists of people who have asked for further use of their information to be ‘blocked’ to make sure the restriction is respected in future.
6. The right to data portability
You have rights to obtain and reuse your personal data for your own purposes across different services. For example, if you decide to use another provider of recruitment and search services, this enables you to move, copy or transfer your information easily between our IT systems and theirs safely and securely, without affecting its usability.
7. The right to object to processing
You have the right to object to certain types of processing, including processing for direct marketing (i.e. if you no longer want to be contacted with potential opportunities).
8. The right to lodge a complaint
You have the right to lodge a complaint about the way we handle or process your personal data with your national data protection regulator.
9. The right to withdraw consent
If you have given your consent to anything we do with your personal data, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time (although if you do so, it does not mean that anything we have done with your personal data with your consent up to that point is unlawful). This includes your right to withdraw consent to us using your personal data for marketing purposes.
We usually act on requests and provide information free of charge, but may charge a reasonable fee to cover our administrative costs of providing the information for:
• baseless or excessive/repeated requests, or
• further copies of the same information.
Alternatively, we may be entitled to refuse to act on the request.
Please consider your request responsibly before submitting it. We’ll respond as soon as we can. Generally, this will be within one month from when we receive your request but, if the request is going to take longer to deal with, we’ll come back to you and let you know.
How will we contact you?
We may contact you by phone, email or social media. If you prefer a particular contact means over another please just let us know.
How can you contact us?
If you are unhappy with how we’ve handled your information, or have further questions on the processing of your personal data, contact us via this website’s contact page.
Data Protection Officer
We have a dedicated Data Protection Officer, Christopher Barends, who oversees our data protection and privacy compliance procedures.
AI POLICY
How we use artificial intelligence (AI)
We use AI tools to support our day-to-day work, including drafting documents, summarising notes, and routine administrative tasks. AI helps our team work efficiently. It does not replace our judgement.
We do not use AI to make decisions about candidates. All assessments, shortlisting, and any decision that affects an individual are made by our consultants. A member of our team reviews any material produced with the assistance of AI.
Where we process personal data using AI tools, we do so through business accounts that meet appropriate confidentiality and security standards, and [under terms that prevent your data being used to train the providers' AI models]. We retain any such data in line with the retention periods set out elsewhere in this policy.
We keep our use of AI under review as the technology and the law develop. If you have any questions about how we use AI, please contact us at HelloEurope@Graceblue.co.uk.
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