Data Privacy Policy

Virdis Group refers to Virdis Group Limited, Virdis House, Bishops Mews, Transport Way, Oxford OX4 6HD United Kingdom +44 1865 770 033, a company registered in England & Wales No. 02970311; and to Virdis Group Sàrl, PB510, Place du Midi 36, CH-1950 Sion, Switzerland +44 1865 770 033, a company registered in Switzerland.

Contact info@virdisgroup.com

Virdis Group provides specialist executive search servicesto clients operating in the life-sciences sector – including pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical technology companies, institutions and other organisations.

We take seriously our responsibilities to you and your personal data.  This policy:

  1. sets out the types of personal data that we may collect about you;
  2. explains how and why we collect and use your personal data;
  3. explains for how long we keep your personal data;
  4. explains when, why and with whom we will share your personal data;
  5. sets out our legal basis for using your personal data;
  6. explains What happens if you do not provide us with the information;
  7. explains your rights and choices when it comes to your personal data; and
  8. explains how we may contact you and how you can contact us.
  1. Types of personal data we collect

As an executive search business, we collect the information necessary to identify and contact you; and to evaluate your eligibility for roles within our client companies.  This information may include your curriculum vitae (CV), identification documents, work permits, educational records, experience, skills and work history, and references.

We may also collect limited sensitive personal data about you in the form of passports and bank details but only when we need this information.  For example: to arrange your travel to interviews or to reimburse your expenses. This sensitive data will be collected only with your explicit consentand is retained only for the time needed to facilitate the travel and reimbursement.

The following are the different sources from where we may collect your personal data:

  • Directly from you. Most of the information will come from you in the form of your CV, conversations, notes, recordings and other records of interviews with members of the Virdis Group team, as well as feedback from clients.
  • From publicly available sources,including articles, websites and professional sites where you have posted your own information, such as Linked-In and Xing.
  • 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.
  • Occasionally, from an agent or third partyacting on your behalf, such as an Interim Management Company.
  1. How and why we use your personal data

Client companies assign the Virdis Group to search for and to select candidates who meet the requirements for a specific role within the company organisation.  We use your personal data to match your skills, experience and education with the requirements of those potential employers.

Initially, we collect basic information about you such ascontact details, current role and experience.  Where this information matches the requirements of our assignment, and you express an interest, we may interview you to confirm your eligibility and determine the level of your interest, as you understand more about the role.

If you are considered an appropriate candidate, and if you wish to be put forward to the client, further interviews and conversations may add more depth to the details we collect about you.

  1. How long we keep your data

We may retain your information for up to six years after our last contact with you. Your professional career is not a short-term matter and, should you contact us again within six years, you would expect us to have a record of that previous contact.  Recordings of interviews and meetings are generally only held for a few weeks before deletion.

If you were a successful candidate, we update your information with details of your new role.  We make contact with you at intervals to confirm that your placement has been successful and to provide advice as your career progresses, and to update your personal data.  In addition to our professional duty of care for people we have helped to place, we also have a commercial interest in maintaining contact with you.  Virdis Group specialises in senior executive and scientific roles and many of our placed candidates go on to become clients and employ us to search and select candidates for roles in their new organisation.

If you were one of the candidates not selected for a role, we may still make contact with you at intervals to provide advice as your career progresses; to update your personal data; and to inform you of any further suitable roles that match your profile.

  1. When, why and with whom we will share your personal data

Your personal data may be shared with the client who commissioned an assignment in order that they can confirm your eligibility and compare you with other candidates.

We may also conduct checks to verify the information you have provided.  Where we do this, we may share your information in confidence with contracted specialist verification agencies working on our behalf.

We may share your email address with a leading industry newsletter PharmaTimesso that they can send you their complimentary pharmaceutical/biotechnology newsletter.  We provide this service in conjunction with PharmaTimesso that our candidates and clients can be up to date with relevant news in preparation for interviews.  Of course, you may unsubscribe from this service at any time by clicking on ‘unsubscribe’ on the email you receive.

  1. Our legal basis for using your personal data

As an executive search business, we have a legitimate interest in processing the personal data of prospective candidates, referees and clients.  We need the information in order to locate, contact and assess the eligibility and suitability of candidates, and to contact clients and referees.

We may also collect limited sensitive personal data about you in the form of passports and bank details but, only when we need this information.  For example: to arrange your travel to interviews or to reimburse your expenses. This sensitive data will be collected only with your explicit consent and retained only for the time needed.

If you are shortlisted as a candidate, then this may require us to process more detailed personal data.  For example, if a client requests the Virdis Group to collect sensitive data such as your health information on their behalf, we will only do this with your explicit consent.

  1. What happens if you do not provide us with the information

If you do not provide the personal data necessary, or ask us not to process your personal data, we will be unable to match you with available career opportunities. 

  1. Your rights and choices

We do not make automated decisions about you

Our executive search business deals almost exclusively with senior positions within the life-sciences sector.   Each assignment is individual and we do not carry out automated profiling.  However, we may ask you to complete an on-line personality profiling process where we believe this would be helpful or where the client requests it.

We do not use cookies to collect your personal data when you browse.  We choose to contact individuals and they choose to contact us.

We may transfer your data outside the European Economic Area (EEA)

Most of our executive search assignments have an international aspect and involve clients or candidates from across the world.  For that reason, 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 client in a country that has not been deemed to provide adequate data protection standards we have security measures and approved model clauses within our agreements to protect your personal data.

Your rights in relation to the data we hold about you

By law, you have a number of rights when it comes to your personal data. Further information and advice about your rights may be obtained from the data protection regulator in your country.

Your rights in the EEA What this means

 

 

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 provide the information in this Policy.

 

The right of access You have the right to obtain access to your information if we are processing it, and certain other information similar to that provided in this Policy.  This is so that you are aware and can check that we are using your information in accordance with data protection law.

 

The right to rectification You are entitled to have your information corrected if it is inaccurate or incomplete.

 

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 is no compelling reason for us to keep using it. This is not a general right to erasure; there are exceptions.

 

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.

 

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 switch to a new provider, this enables you to move copy or transfer your information easily between our IT systems and theirs safely and securely, without affecting its usability.

 

The right to object to processing You have the right to object to certain types of processing, including processing for direct marketing if you no longer want to be contacted by us with potential opportunities.

 

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. 

 

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.  Please note that if you do this, 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 will usually act on requests and provide information free of charge.  We may charge a reasonable fee to cover our administrative costs of providing the information where the requests are baseless, excessive or repeated, or for 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 will 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 will come back to you and let you know.

  1. How we may contact you and how you can contact us

We would usually contact you by telephone, email or social media. If you prefer one particular method of contact, please just let us know.

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, or if you have further questions on the processing of your personal data, please contact us; either through our website virdisgroup.com/contact-us or telephone +44 1865 77 00 33 and ask to speak with the Business Director.

If you would like to discuss your situation, please get in touch