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Privacy Policy & Collection Notice

Background and Scope

Whizdom Pty Ltd (“Whizdom", "we," "our," or "us") is committed to protecting the privacy of individuals and ensuring compliance with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) outlined in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). This Privacy Policy outlines how we collect, use, disclose, and handle personal information in the course of our recruitment activities.

This policy may change over time in light of changes to privacy laws, technology and business practice. If you use our website regularly or conduct transactions with us that involve us to collect your personal information, it is important that you check this policy regularly to ensure that you are aware of the extent of any consent, authorisation or permission you might give.

By engaging with us or using our services, individuals consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of their personal information as outlined in this Privacy Policy.

Collection of Personal Information:

We collect personal information for the primary purpose of facilitating the recruitment process. This may include, but is not limited to:

Job Seekers:

  • Contact details (name, address, phone number, email address)

  • Resume including: employment history, educational background and qualifications.

  • Information required to run background checks, right to work in Australia, or to undertake Australian Government Security Clearance checks and vetting.

  • References

Clients:

  • Information about position (including team structures and roles) and hiring authority.

  • Client facility addresses, ABN, key personnel and contact details.

  • Credit check and financial information.

Referees

  • Information about work position, authority to give a reference and preferred contact details.

  • Opinions of the Referee regarding the Candidates character and work performance or work environment

  • Facts or evidence in support of those opinions, sometimes involving the Referee’s own knowledge and experience of having worked with the Candidate.

 

Sensitive Information: Sensitive information is only collected with consent and where it is necessary for the performance of our functions and activities as a recruitment agency. Sensitive information, under Australian Privacy Principles (APPs), includes private details like race, political beliefs, health, etc. In recruitment, collecting sensitive information is done for various reasons:

  • Job Requirements: Some roles may require disclosing health or criminal information.

  • Equal Employment Opportunity: Demographic data may be collected to monitor and ensure equal opportunities, adhering to anti-discrimination laws.

  • Accommodations: Health or disability information may be gathered for necessary accommodations during recruitment.

  • Background Checks: Employers may conduct checks, including criminal records, to verify a candidate's suitability, especially for roles involving sensitive information or working with vulnerable populations.

Using a Pseudonym: You may choose not to provide us your personal information or to act under a pseudonym. However, to do so will render us unable to provide you our services in seeking and being placed into work.

Use of Personal Information:

We will only collect information that is necessary for the proper performance of our tasks or functions. We use personal information for the following purposes:

  • Job Seekers- personal information is used for recruitment and work placement operations, pre-employment screening, staff management, training, remuneration, workplace health and safety, statistical purposes and statutory compliance requirements.

  • Clients - personal information is typically used for client and business relationship management, review of workplace operations and health and safety management, credit checking, statistical purposes and statutory compliance requirements.

  • Referees - personal information is typically used to confirm identity and authority to provide references and for candidate suitability assessment.

Disclosure of Personal Information:

We may disclose your personal information for any of the purposes for which it is primarily held or for a related purpose where lawfully permitted. Disclosure will usually be internally and to our related entities, to our clients, and to Referees for suitability and screening purposes.

We may disclose personal information to:

  • Potential employers

  • Clients seeking recruitment services.

  • Referees provided by candidates.

  • Our service providers (e.g., background check providers)

Cross-Border Disclosures: Whizdom does not share any personal information with overseas recipients.

How your information will be collected

Generally, information will be collected directly from you.

  • Job Seekers – information is collected through your application, from referees, results of any competency test or similar, and other sources such as registrations or any professional disciplinary matter. We may also collect personal information about you from publicly available sources including social media sites

  • Client - information is collected when you provide it to us for business purposes.

  • Referee - information is collected from the Candidate in the course of their application for work, and from you when providing the reference.

The above-mentioned information will be included in our records only if reasonably necessary for the performance of our activities or functions as a recruitment agency.

Direct Marketing: Personal information will not be used for marketing purposes directly or by a third party. We do not supply or use customer lists for marketing purposes. We will give you the option to opt in or out of any marketing type communications. Whizdom is compliant with anti-spam regulations.

Personal information is also indirectly collected when:

  • We receive or give any reference about you;

  • Electronically through our telecommunications and technology systems, for example when you:

  • Request to be included on email lists such as job notifications.

  • Send general applications via our website or other job boards

  • Through social media or “opt in” email correspondence

  • Through referrals

Electronic Transactions: Sometimes, we collect personal information that individuals choose to give us via online forms or by email. It is important that you are aware of the risks associated with use of the Internet, and you should ensure that you are undertaking appropriate measures to protect your personal information.

Cookies: When you visit our website, you may notice a pop-up warning that the site uses Cookies. Cookies are a series of digits which creates a record of your activity on a website and enables you to browse more easily when i.e. completing online registration or log-in details. You can set your browser not to accept Cookies, or you can delete Cookies from your browser at the end of the session.

Third Party and CPS’s: We use a variety of services hosted by third parties or contracted service suppliers (CSP’s). Our CSPs may see some of your personal information. Typically, our CSPs would include Software solutions providers such as our CRM (Vincere), IT contractors and/or Background checking and screening agents.

We take reasonable steps to ensure that terms of service with our CSPs recognise that we are bound by obligations to protect the privacy of your personal information and that they will not do anything that would cause us to breach those obligations.

Unsolicited Information: Unsolicited personal information is personal information we receive that we have taken no active steps to collect. If the information we receive is not required for Whizdom to perform one or more of our services, Whizdom will destroy or de-identify the information as soon as possible.

Security of Personal Information:

Whizdom have implemented data security measures and will take all reasonable steps to ensure the information you provide us remains secure and confidential and is only used for the performance of our functions or activities as a recruitment agency.

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification, or disclosure. This includes physical, electronic, and managerial measures.

Managing Privacy Breaches: Whizdom will take reasonable steps to protect personal information we hold against unauthorised access, loss, use, modification or disclosure, or other misuse.

Data breaches are not limited to malicious actions, such as theft or 'hacking', but may arise from internal errors or failure to follow information handling policies that cause accidental loss or disclosure. Whizdom has procedures in place to ensure that internal information handling policies be adhered to.

If Data has been breached and if there is a real risk of serious harm as a result of a data breach, the affected individuals and the OAIC will be notified.

How your Personal Information is Held

When your personal information is collected it will be held in our Information Record Systems until it is no longer needed for any purpose for which it may be used or disclosed, at which time it will be de-identified or destroyed provided that it is lawful for us to do so. However, resumes and other personal candidate information will remain on our database as it is linked to our record keeping processes and the manner by which our recruitment software operates.

Our Information Record System: Information you provide to us is stored in our secure cloud-based recruitment database and document storage system, which are restricted and accessible by staff using individual log-in credentials.

Data Retention: We will retain personal information for as long as necessary for the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy, or as required by law. When no longer needed, we will take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify the information.

Access and Correction of Personal Information:

Access: Subject to some exceptions that are set out in privacy law, you can gain access to the personal information that we hold about you. If you wish to obtain access to your personal information you should contact our Privacy Officer, you will need to be in a position to verify your identity.

Important exceptions include evaluative opinion material obtained confidentially in the course of our performing reference checks and access that would impact on the privacy rights of other people. We do refuse access if it would breach any confidentiality that attaches to that information or if it would interfere with the privacy rights of other people.

Correction: If you find that personal information that we hold about you is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading, you can ask us to correct it. We will take such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to correct that information to ensure that, having regard to the purpose for which it is held, the information is accurate, up to date, complete, relevant and not misleading.

Please advise us if you wish to be removed from our recruitment software system. We will remove information that we have no present need for or obligation to retain. There is no charge to correct information.

Complaints

You have a right to complain about our handling of your personal information if you believe that we have interfered with your privacy.

All complaints must be made in writing, please use our online form to submit your complaint - Complaints or Issue form - Whizdom

We will require a reasonable time to deal with your complaint and will take any necessary steps to resolve the matter within 30 business days.

If your complaint is unable to be resolved within 30 business days, Whizdom will advise you in writing including letting you know when we expect to provide a response and or resolution.

If you are unhappy with our response, you can also make complaints to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner https://www.oaic.gov.au/individuals/what-can-i-complain-about

How to contact us:

If you wish to contact us about your personal information you should contact Whizdom’s nominated Privacy Officer.

Name: Natalie Angus

Title: Operations Manager

Phone: 1300 WHIZDOM (1300 944 936) during normal office hours which are 9am to 5pm.

Email: admin@whizdom.com.au

Address: PO Box 7112, Kaleen ACT 2617

This policy was reviewed February 2024