You’ll be hearing a lot about GDPR at the moment, and we want to let you know what it’s all about and how we’re doing our part to comply with the new regulations, as we respect and protect your privacy and information.

When we heard about GDPR we weren’t sure what it could mean…

Gorillas Don’t Produce Rockets
Grey Docile Pugs Reproduce
Great Doughnuts Provide Relaxation
Gremlins Don’t Practice Running

But we were wrong… It turns out that GDPR actually stands for General Data Protection Regulations which means that we’ve improved our processes to help you. GDPR is all about the information you provide us and how we process it. It can be pretty boring (although our CEO tells me it’s really interesting), but we still want you to get clued up, as you might actually want to know.

GDPR is your consent, in language you understand

You’re probably used to getting emails and calls from all sorts of people and GDPR is designed to help stop all those unwanted emails and messages. We think we’ve always been very clear about the way in which we use your information; we don’t tell you about phones, holidays or the latest energy drink. We work with our partners to share information about education and work opportunities and that’s it.

We’ve spent time rewriting our Privacy Policy to make it as clear as possible (although it still has to be a bit legal). We’ve even put together a handy infographic to help you understand how we use your data a little bit more which you can download at the end of this blog.

Data Security is even more important…

You’ve probably heard of companies losing data and not telling anyone about it. GDPR means that if someone gets hold of your data when they shouldn’t, it has to be reported to the Information Commissioner straight away. But don’t worry, you’ll be pleased to know that your data is stored very securely in a purpose built centre with lots of security checks.

You can know what we know about you

All you have to do is ask for the data we hold on you and we’ll give it to you. You just need to email data@getmyfirstjob.co.uk. This is completely free, and we’ll give you a fully detailed electronic copy of the data we hold on you. We’ll also let you know the ways that we’ve used your information too – you can know everything!

If you want to go, we won’t take it personally...

With GDPR, you have the right to ask for anyone who holds your data to remove anything that could be used to identify you. You have the right to be forgotten. So, if you want to be forgotten, you can simply access your account and choose this option. You’ll be untraceable, and we would never be able to find or talk to you again…

Your information stays where we have put it

Training Providers and Employers are only able to talent-spot you through our system. They are not allowed to pull your information and put it in a secret cupboard or a spreadsheet – they can only communicate with you through us or by phone. So, if you tell us that you don’t want to be contacted, they won’t be able to either. They can also share your information with employers but only when you say you’re interested in an opportunity.

Manage how we keep in touch

You are able to manage your preferences on your GetMyFirstJob profile to withdraw yourself from any emails or other direct communication that you don’t want to receive. This will change your settings and stop us and anybody else from contacting you on our system, easy-peasy!

But we’ll still contact you about specific opportunities unless you remove your account.

We know if you’re interested

You’ll only be contacted if you’ve signed in to your account recently, and if you haven’t engaged with us for two years, then we’ll remove your personal data anyway. We know that finding the right thing can take time, but after two years we’ll assume you’ve been successful and found the right thing for you.

If there’s anything else, just ask someone at GetMyFirstJob and we’ll be happy to help.

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