Recruitment Agencies have been getting unjustly* ‘batted’ (as they say in Liverpool) or is it ‘battered’ recently, anyway: lets face it, Brexit, the out of the blue General Election, the inexorable march to SaaS and cloud data centres & of course tax changes for Ltd companies (bah humbug) these are tough times for those seeking work and those that haven’t taken steps to adapt to the recent market and technology shift.
*I’ve been getting work either through recruitment agencies or word of mouth since 1997: so I really like recruitment agencies but word of mouth is better.
However, a recent call from a well known agency suggested perhaps they need to reconsider their approach regarding data protection (ahem, the General Data Protection Regulation(GDPR)) and any unique selling points (USP) they employ.
The call went something like this, “I came across your CV”…followed by the pleasantries, the what are you up to’s, why are you looking for work, tell me about your last role, blah, blah…and the very blah: the usual. Then we got to references?
“I don’t give my well earned references to anyone, without the written ‘consent’ of the reference concerned”, I replied.
To which came the casual, well we can’t proceed quickly without them, you may miss an opportunity, your application will not stand out and providing references is our USP for our clients…
“Have you heard about GDPR”, I said; “Nope” was the reply.
“You know the regulation for data protection that’s about to become law in May 2018”.
“No”, again was the reply.
Hence, I gently proceeded to tell the chap all about data protection, personal identifiable information, the reasons why GDPR is considered a ‘toothful lion’, see https://ico.org.uk/.
I’m sure he was thinking, who the hell is this guy: but I thought he needed some help and besides, I wanted to practice my GDPR pitch: stealth fully.
“I’ve just downloaded a PDF on GDPR, I’ll read it later”, he said.
“You do that and come back to me if you need more help”; more closing conversing stuff ensued and then the final ‘byes’…bump, the line went dead.
So, ouch and very ouch; did I miss an opportunity…probably; do I think the agency will change its USP any time soon…nope; are they taking a risk…Tsunami size in my opinion.
If you’re good at maths, Google ‘2% and GDPR’, then Google ‘4% and GDPR’, then check the https://ico.org.uk/ for fines, its scary and applicable to just about everyone who uses EU personal identifiable information: enough said.
SecureDigitali.com has been practically involved with providing data protection consultancy services since 2001; more recently we’re doing our level best, to be the best in GDPR for our clients: and that includes recruitment agencies.
PS Feel free to share this information with whomever you want; and why not check out our website www.securedigitali.com, we’re always happy to hear from any clients.
