Keep and erase candidates' data

Candidates trust you with their CV and contact details. Recruitment records their consent, keeps their data only for the months you set, and erases it by itself when that time is over. You can also erase a candidate at once, for example when they ask.

Before you start

• You need Recruitment settings, retention and erasure to change the months, the "keep me" choice or to erase.

Set how long data is kept

1. Open Recruitment → Recruitment settings.
2. Under Careers page, privacy and retention, set Keep a closed candidate's data (months): 12 by default.
3. Set the months for candidates who agreed to be kept for future openings: 24 by default.
4. Select Save.

Steps to erase a candidate now

1. Open the candidate and go to Privacy.
2. Read the consent line, for example Agreed to the processing of their data for the application, with its date, and the line Their data will be erased on a date.
3. If they withdrew their wish to be kept, select They took back "keep me". If they asked to be kept, select They agreed to be kept.
4. To erase now, tick Erase this candidate and every application, file and note of theirs, for good.
5. Select Erase now. The message The candidate's data is erased. appears.

Good to know

• When the clock starts. A candidate whose applications are all closed without a hire is erased on the last closing day plus the months you set. Each move recomputes the date; while an application is open, nothing is erased.
• What erasure removes: the candidate, every application, the timeline, interviews (and their calendar blocks), scorecards, the offer and its link, the CVs and letters with their versions, and the applications' history. The activity log keeps only that an erasure happened.
• Erasure cannot be undone.
• Hired people cannot be erased here: their data belongs to HR and goes with HR's leaver data. See Export or remove a leaver's personal data.
• Consent is required. The careers page asks for it, and a candidate added by hand needs the box ticked. The consent text tells the candidate how many months you keep their details.
• The months can be set from 1 to 60.
• Erasing your whole organisation erases all recruitment data too.
• Related: Take applications on your careers page.