Privacy Notice

(Updated: September 1, 2023)

The protection of your personal data, which is collected and processed by Robert Half GmbH (we, us, our, or Robert Half), is of great importance to us. This privacy policy describes how and for what purposes we collect, process, and disclose your personal data, as well as the rights you have. This privacy policy is complemented by additional specific notices, such as the privacy information on our applicant registration form.

This website is not intended for children. We do not collect data from children, and if this happens, it is unintentional.

All references to Job titles in this privacy policy are for simplification and refer to assignments, projects, and placements, particularly for the provision of independent consultants.

Data Controller and Data Protection Contact

Robert Half GmbH,
Bahnhofplatz 9,
8001 Zurich and
Quai de I´lle 13,
1204 Geneva

If you have questions regarding the processing of your personal data or wish to exercise your rights, you may contact us at [email protected].

Table of Contents

Purposes of Data Processing and Categories of Personal Data

When visiting our website

When accessing our website, a limited amount of personal data is automatically collected and stored in log files. This includes, in particular, your IP address, date and time of access, and information about the web browser and operating system you are using, as well as your time zone setting. These data are technically necessary for the functioning and stability of the website. Additionally, further data about your interaction with the website is collected through the use of cookies. This is done for the continuous improvement of our services and website.

Job search feature

When using our job search feature, we collect the filters you have chosen, including your preference for remote work (home office), the city/region you are interested in, the employment sector you are looking for, and the type of employment. These details serve as filters to display job listings that match your preferences.

Candidate Registration
(Temporary Employment, Recruitment, and/or Provision of Independent Consultants)

We collect your personal data directly from you and from other sources, including when you apply for a position through a job portal, directly through our website, on social media websites such as XING, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, or when you provide us with your data during a job fair, promotional events, networking, or training sessions.

In order to provide you with our staffing services (temporary employment, recruitment, and/or the provision of independent consultants), we request that you register as a candidate. During our candidate registration process, we collect your personal data directly from you, from your resume, through employment and/or educational references, and online tests that you may undertake at our request.

We may transmit your personal data to our clients in the United Kingdom, Europe, and outside the European Economic Area (EEA) for suitable job opportunities. Our clients may request additional personal data about you regarding their job offers and requirements. Your personal data will be securely stored in our online candidate database.

The categories of personal data that we may collect include:

  • Your identity (full name, previous names, evidence of a name change); gender, date of birth, and marital status; 
  • When necessary, proof of your work permit, which may include a photo, as well as nationality, place of birth, driver's license, etc. (in accordance with legal requirements); 
  • Contact information, including your email address, home address, and telephone number so we can contact you via email or SMS; 
  • Bank account and social security data for making payments to you; 
  • Payroll information such as your national tax number, address, length of service, marital status, bank account number, family composition, birthdate, telephone number, and email address; 
  • Your criteria, preferences, and expectations for job searching; 
  • Your qualifications, skills, professional experience, and education: 
  • Current and desired salary and other benefits; 
  • Educational history; 
  • Career history; 
  • Employment and/or educational certificates; 
  • Name of an emergency contact person; 
  • Information about health limitations (if you have disclosed them and they are relevant); 
  • References; 
  • Other information contained in your resume or that you wish to provide us; 
  • Technical data such as IP address (Internet Protocol), login details, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, and other technologies on the devices you use to access this website. We may also receive technical data about you when you visit other websites that use our cookies. For more information, please refer to our Cookie Policy; 
  • Profile data, including your username and password, interests, preferences, feedback, and responses to clients surveys; 
  • Usage data, including information on how you use our website and services; 
  • Marketing and communication data, including your marketing and communication preferences. 

Our recruiters also use this information to send you emails with job notifications that match your criteria and preferences or that our recruiters deem interesting for you. You can unsubscribe from these job notifications at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link included in the job notification email or by informing your personal recruiter that you no longer wish to receive job notifications.

Applications for Internal Positions (Not Applicable to Temporary Employees)

When you apply for a position within our company, we collect your personal data from your resume, your references if applicable, professional and educational organizations, and through online tests that you voluntarily participate in at our request.

We process your personal data to handle your application, manage the internal hiring process, and assess your suitability. We securely store your personal data in our confidential online HR database. Access to your personal data is strictly limited to our HR and talent acquisition teams, as well as the manager responsible for recruiting a new employee. These individuals may be located in the United Kingdom, Europe, and the USA, provided they are involved in the hiring process, such as conducting interviews with you, assessing your suitability for the position you have applied for, or communicating with you.

We do not grant access to our HR database to other companies within our group (unless required for the hiring process as described above), and we take appropriate steps to ensure that your personal data is adequately protected, secured, and treated as confidential. When we engage third parties to conduct applicant screenings or tests, we ensure that they only have access to your personal data to the extent necessary to provide these services and that the service providers are contractually obligated to comply with applicable data protection laws, maintain the confidentiality of your personal data, and provide adequate safeguards for the protection of your personal data until its deletion or anonymization.

By applying with us, you consent to the processing of your personal data for these purposes. You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time for future processing. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to further process your application.

If your application is not successful, we will retain your personal data in our HR database for a period of 6 months. This is done in order to demonstrate that we have conducted the hiring process in a fair and transparent manner and have not discriminated against any applicant. Once this retention period expires, your personal data will be automatically deleted. If we believe that you may be suitable for future job openings, we may ask you whether you wish to keep the data from your resume on file. We will only do this with your consent.

Highly Sensitive Personal Data

Information about your health status and/or criminal record (including checks against terrorist watchlists) will only be processed if it is relevant to your application. For example, this information may be used to assess whether there are reasons for not further processing your registration as a candidate or your application, provided that all legally required regulations are met. These details will only be stored for as long as necessary and will be deleted thereafter.

Clients and suppliers

In case you are already a client or supplier/service provider, or a potential client or supplier/service provider, we collect and process data related to individuals within your organization. We may store the name and business email address, as well as other business contact information, of individuals in our database as the points of contact for your organization.

Typically, when processing personal data for points of contact within companies, we only handle the names and contact details of these individuals. This is done to maintain communication with the company in relation to our services or as recipients of the supplier's/service provider's deliveries/services and to approve time sheets.

If a point of contact within the company is also registered as a candidate with us, we may possibly process additional personal data for the purpose of providing recruitment services and other purposes as outlined in this privacy policy.

The source of the name and contact details of a point of contact within the company can be the individual themselves, or the information can be provided by a member of the company's HR or procurement department, another hiring manager, an existing business contact/point of contact, or a candidate we have placed within the organization.

We may also obtain this information from websites, social media, and other sources. A person who serves as a point of contact within a company for us can contact us at any time at [email protected] and request that we no longer send any further business correspondence to their business email address.

Marketing Communications

If you have provided us with your personal data and given your consent to receive marketing communications when participating in a competition, at a job fair, a promotional or networking event, signing up for our newsletters, or during training events, we will use your name and email address to send you marketing communications.

You have the right to withdraw your consent for marketing at any time for future communications by:

  • Clicking on the unsubscribe links in our marketing email messages.
  • Following the unsubscribe process described in our text marketing messages.
  • Sending an email with the subject line "UNSUBSCRIBE" to the following email address: [email protected]

Disabling the receipt of marketing communications does not apply to:

  • Personal data that you have provided to us in connection with your request for staffing services (temporary employment, recruitment, and/or the provision of independent consultants).
  • Personal data that you have provided to us in the context of fulfilling a contract between us.
  • Job notifications received through the website in response to your request for specific job details. You can select your preferences in the "Job Search" section and unsubscribe from these notifications at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the job notification email.
  • Job notification emails received from our recruiters that match your job search criteria confirmed during the candidate registration process. If you no longer wish to avail of our staffing services, please contact us at [email protected]

We will never sell your personal data to third parties or provide it to them for their own advertising purposes.

Cookies

A cookie is a text file that your browser stores on your device at the instruction of a visited website to "remember" information about you, such as your language preferences or login credentials. These cookies are set by us and are referred to as first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies, which originate from a different domain than the website you are visiting.

We use these cookies both to enable and simplify your use of our website and to analyze user behavior on our website for marketing purposes.

In order for our website to function and for you to make use of all its features, technically necessary cookies are required that cannot be blocked. If you block these cookies through your web browser or appropriate add-ons, our website may not be displayed in part or in full, or certain functions may become unusable.

The use of analytical and marketing cookies is to analyze the user behavior of our website visitors and, based on that, improving our offerings and marketing efforts. You can opt out of these cookies through your web browser settings, by using relevant add-ons, or through our Cookie Preference Center.

No Automated Decision-Making / Artificial Intelligence Support

RH utilizes artificial intelligence ("AI") for the purpose of searching and matching personal data with job positions within the context of personnel recruitment or the placement of independent consultants (non-employees of RH) and temporary employees (RH employees). To achieve this, RH employs a service provided by Textkernel BV, located at Nieuwendammerkade 26a5, NL-1022 AB Amsterdam, a company based in the Netherlands within the EU.

This AI technology assists our recruiters in conducting searches and matching suggested candidates with our clients' open job positions more efficiently. The advantage of the AI search function is that it helps our recruiters to search through more resumes and match personal data with job listings from clients at a faster rate, while filtering out irrelevant data. Our recruiters are presented with a list of suggested candidates who could be a good fit for a client's open position. However, this does not result in automated decision-making. Our recruiters make decisions based on their expertise, knowledge of the job market, understanding of the client's business, job requirements, discussions with candidates, and other relevant criteria, to determine which candidates make it to the shortlist for a specific client position.

If at all, the final selection of candidates for an interview is made by the clients (through their HR personnel). The HR personnel of our clients (and not our AI tool) make the ultimate decision on which candidate to choose for the position, provided a suitable candidate is available, and they subsequently manage the candidate's hiring process.

You can object to the processing by TK AI at any time by contacting [email protected] In this case, we will no longer use TK AI in relation to your resume. This has no consequences or impact, particularly on your application or the search for suitable positions for you, as we continuously rely on our personal knowledge of you, the client and their business, the job, and the role's requirements, as well as the market, and make decisions independently. If you object to the processing of your personal data by our AI tool, our recruiters will continue to offer job placement services but will use alternative methods to search for job opportunities for you. Personal data of candidates who are no longer available for employment, no longer actively seeking a job, have recently started permanent employment, or have objected to the processing of their personal data by AI will be deleted by our AI service provider. For more information about our AI tool are provided here.

Disclosure of Personal Data

To Members of the Robert Half Corporate Group

We share the Robert Half candidate database with companies within the Robert Half corporate group, including Protiviti Switzerland GmbH, a consulting company based in Switzerland that provides business solutions and consulting services to its clients. From time to time, we may have positions to fill through Protiviti, and if you apply for such positions, Protiviti will have direct access to your resume and personal data. Employees of Robert Half or Protiviti may contact you in connection with the position.

When you register as a candidate with Robert Half, you may also be contacted in relation to offerings such as project-related positions in the field of consultant placement and consulting, which Protiviti may consider of interest to you. If you are being considered for such a project-related position by Protiviti, the client of Protiviti may have access to your resume and other personal data. Protiviti adheres to the same high privacy standards as Robert Half, processes your personal data in accordance with legal requirements, and protects your legal rights as outlined in its privacy policy (Protiviti Privacy Policy). When Protiviti sends your data to its clients for the purpose described above, Protiviti contractually ensures that these clients comply with the requirements described in the Data Protection Act.

To other recipients

Aside from the recipients explicitly listed in this privacy policy at the relevant sections, Robert Half, where permissible, may disclose your personal data to the following categories of recipients:

  • To our clients as part of the staffing services (temporary employment, recruitment, and/or the provision of independent consultants). 
  • To companies and individuals we engage to perform business functions and services for us. Examples of service providers include payroll providers to pay our employees and temporary workers placed at clients, background checking and verification services, data storage facilities, both in the U.S. and in the cloud, hosting our web servers, advertising placement and application management through our third-party provider Broadbean, data analysis and statistics generation, as well as legal, accounting, auditing, and other professional services. 
  • To credit reference agencies and third parties conducting sanctions and terrorism checks. 
  • To government authorities, including law enforcement agencies, regulatory and supervisory authorities. 
  • To comply with applicable laws or legal proceedings, or if we reasonably believe such action is necessary to: (a) comply with the law requiring such disclosure; (b) protect the rights or property of Robert Half or its corporate affiliates; (c) prevent a crime, protect national security, or detect or prevent fraud; or (d) protect the personal safety of individuals using our website or to protect public safety. 
  • To third parties to whom we sell, transfer, or merge parts of our business or our assets, or with whom we may seek to do so. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire or merge with other companies. If our business changes, we will notify you. 
  • To IT consultants performing testing and development work on our IT systems, service providers engaged by us for data processing, and other service providers who may be located outside the EEA. 

If these recipients are data processors, we contractually obligate them to comply with data protection, implement an adequate level of data security, and allow processing only in accordance with our instructions. We do not permit them to use the data for their own purposes. Upon termination of our business relationship with these recipients, we require them to return or delete the transmitted personal data or request anonymization so that you can no longer be identified.

Some of these recipients are also independent controllers responsible for processing your personal data for their own purposes. For example, the local tax authority acts as a controller for tax purposes. We may not be able to impose obligations or restrictions on these controllers regarding how they process your personal data in connection with the way they handle it.

Transfer of Personal Data outside of Switzerland

In principle, the processing of your personal data takes place in Switzerland. However, due to our global operations, your personal data may also be transferred abroad. Our customers, service providers, and corporate affiliates are located in the EU Member States, EEA, the USA, APAC region, and India.

When transferring your personal data to a country without a comparable level of data protection, we contractually obligate these recipients to comply with an adequate level of protection using the so-called Standard Contractual Clauses with the appropriate adjustments provided for in Switzerland.

Duration of Personal Data Retention

Robert Half retains your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which we have collected it. This means that we will keep your personal data throughout the duration of your business relationship with us, including the time during which we provide you with job placement services, manage job applications, and stay in touch with clients and hiring companies, as well as after the termination of our business relationship.

If you no longer wish to use our staffing services, you can request us to delete your personal data from our candidate database. Subject to the services we provide, we may continue to retain some of your personal data for legal, compliance, accounting, and tax purposes, as well as for other legitimate business purposes.

Unless a legal retention period is specified, we establish an appropriate retention period for personal data, taking into account all relevant criteria. Under certain circumstances, we anonymize your personal data so that you can no longer be identified. We do this for research or statistical purposes. In this case, we may use these anonymized data without informing you.

Your Legal rights

Under the Swiss Data Protection Act (DSG), you have the following rights:

Right to Information, Disclosure, and Transfer: You have the right to request information at any time regarding whether personal data about you is being processed by us. Additionally, you can request the disclosure of your personal data in a standard electronic format if the data is processed automatically and is related to your consent or directly linked to the conclusion or execution of a contract with you. In such cases, you also have the option to request the transfer of your data to another responsible party, if this does not entail disproportionate effort. Those services are free of charge.

Right to Rectification: You have the right to have incorrect personal data corrected unless a legal provision prohibits us from making the change.

Right to Erasure/deletion/removal: You have the right to request the deletion of your personal data by us at any time. You are aware that, in certain situations, legal restrictions may prohibit the deletion of your personal data. If this applies, we will inform you of this in our response to your deletion request.

Right to Object to Data Processing: You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data by us at any time. Please be aware that in the event of an objection, we may no longer be able to offer certain services for which the processing of your personal data is necessary.

Right to Withdraw Your Consent: In cases where we process your personal data based on your provided consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time with future effect. The lawfulness of processing before your withdrawal will not be affected.

To exercise your rights, it is imperative that we can clearly identify you. Typically, we achieve this by using the email address you provided during data collection. However, in certain cases, we may require additional information or documents from you, such as a copy of your identity card.

Please also note that when you assert your rights, we may, if applicable, invoke legal restrictions, for example, if we have an overriding interest in retaining your personal data or if we need the data to assert and/or defend against legal claims.

Data security

We have implemented appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorized way, altered, or disclosed.

Furthermore, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, representatives, contractors, and other third parties who need it for business purposes. We have established procedures to handle suspected data breaches, and we will notify you and the Federal Data Protection Officer (FDPIC) of a breach when we are legally required to do so.

Our website may contain links to third-party websites, plugins, and applications. If you click on these links or enable these connections, third parties may collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy policies.

Changes to this privacy notice

If we make changes to this privacy policy, we will publish all updates here for your review. This privacy policy was last updated on: 01. September 2023.

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