Applicant Tracking Systems For Recruiters

Applicant tracking systems for recruiters accumulate personal information faster than any other system in an organisation, and most of it belongs to people who were never hired.

Resumes, contact details, interview notes, assessment results, reference conversations and sometimes health or background check information. It sits there indefinitely because nobody set a rule.

Under Australian privacy law, personal information should generally only be kept while it is needed for the purpose it was collected for, and should be destroyed or de-identified when it is not. A talent pool is a legitimate purpose, and it is not an indefinite one.

Practically, set a retention period, tell candidates what it is at the point of application, and make sure the system can actually delete rather than merely archive.

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner publishes the retention principle. This is general information rather than legal advice, and obligations vary by state and territory.

See Sentrient’s candidate management and privacy training course.