V.O. Patents & Trademarks recognizes that your privacy is important, which is why it processes in the proper way the personal data that you provide us with. We also find it important to communicate clearly and transparently about this.
Who is responsible?
When you share information with us because you are interested in working for V.O. Patents & Trademarks it is Unipat B.V. - which is the office organization of V.O. Patents & Trademarks, Carnegieplein 5, 2517 KJ The Hague - that is responsible for processing your data.
Who does this statement apply to?
This privacy statement applies to the personal data of job applicants and potential candidates that is processed as part of the recruitment process of V.O. Patents & Trademarks. This includes the visitors to the website www.vo.eu. It does not apply to personal data of our employees, business partners or customers nor does it apply to personal data that V.O. Patents & Trademarks collects for other purposes.
What do we use your data for?
When one of our recruiters contacts you or you apply for one of our job vacancies via our website, we record the personal data provided by you in our records. We use your data during the recruitment process, based on a legitimate interest or consent, for the following purposes:
- The recruitment and selection of suitable candidates
We use this data to be able to stay in touch with you and to assess whether you are suitable for the vacant position or for outstanding assignments. When this is necessary for the employment position or assignment, an online or offline assessment or personality test will form part of the assessment process.
- To improve our recruitment process
During the recruitment process, your personal data is processed by us so that we can carry out the process efficiently and effectively. We process your personal data in order to improve our recruitment process.
- HR management
We also use your data for statistical research and to improve our services.
- To inform candidates about other employment opportunities at V.O. Patents & Trademarks
Only if you have given your consent for this will we record your data that you have shared with us in our system after the recruitment procedure has ended. The reason for so doing is to be able to inform you in the future about other suitable and available positions. You can withdraw your consent at any time. This will not affect the recruitment and selection procedure.
Who do we share your data with?
We only provide your personal data to those parties who are charged with carrying out the objectives described above, including prospective managers, employees of the HR department and/or contact persons if you are invited to attend a job interview. Your information will be treated as confidential. When this is required for the employment position, we will provide personal data to third parties, who help us to assess whether you are suitable for the position:
- assessment agencies, screening agencies and other agencies
- the employee or person charged with the assessment if the job applicant is given a personality test or assessment, and this only if this is necessary for the test or assessment in question
- other parties, if this is necessary as part of an examination of a person’s history and background; we will notify you about this beforehand
We handle your personal data with care and you can be sure that your data is safe with us and that it will be processed in compliance with the relevant legislation and regulations.
Which data do we process?
The personal data that we process includes your name, address, gender, contact details, curriculum vitae, education & training undertaken and any test results. In addition to the personal data that you provide, we can also process personal data that is provided by third parties, including by recruitment/assessment/screening agencies, along with references that you have given us and former employers. As part of the search for suitable candidates, we may consult public sources such as search engines and non-private areas of social media and use this data to approach suitable candidates. We do not process special personal data relating for instance to ethnic origin, health, trade union membership, political or religious beliefs or sexual orientation and also do not process other categories that are recognized in law. The various items of personal data that you provide us with will be processed in accordance with the AVG (Algemene Verordening Gegegensverwerking/the general data protection regulation) as it applies within the Netherlands.
Incomplete/incorrect information?
We draw your attention to the fact that you are not obliged to provide us with all the information we ask for but that your candidacy for a vacancy that you are applying for may be excluded from the recruitment procedure because we have not been provided with all the information that we asked for. We proceed on the basis that you provide us with correct and complete information in good faith and that you do not omit any relevant information. The provision of incorrect and/or incomplete information may mean that you are not considered for the position that you are applying for.
What do we do during a screening examination or pre-employment examination?
As soon as you accept the job offer from V.O. Patents & Trademarks, the data that you have shared with us is used to carry out a screening examination. We call this a ‘pre-employment examination’. A pre-employment examination is carried out by HR, external recruitment agencies or screening agencies and consists of:
- an identity check, performed by handing over a copy of the identity document
- checking the diploma(s), qualification(s) and certificate(s) obtained
- checking the employment history for the past five years, based on your CV
If you do not wish to cooperate with the pre-employment examination or if this examination results in the issuing of a negative opinion then you cannot be employed by us. The pre-employment examination then ends and your data is deleted.
How long do we retain your data for?
Your personal data will be retained in anonymous form for as long as is necessary to complete the recruitment process and to convert the data into statistical information so that we can analyze and improve our recruitment process. If Unipat B.V. - which is the office organization of V.O. Patents & Trademarks - decides to make you a job offer and you accept our offer then all relevant personal data that has been collected during the recruitment process will form part of your personnel file. This personal data will be retained in accordance with the specific requirements that apply to it. If we do not make you a job offer then we will delete your personal data no later than four weeks after the end of the recruitment process, although we may retain a set of your personal data in anonymous form in order to carry out analyses and to record your job application activity with us (for a maximum of 1 year).
Your rights
By virtue of the AVG, you have the right to ask V.O. Patents & Trademarks to:
- allow you to view your personal data
- have your personal data supplemented, corrected or deleted
- raise an objection to the processing of your personal data
- limit the processing of your personal data
- hand over your personal data to yourself or to a third party.
If you wish to exercise your rights then you can submit a request via recruitment@vo.eu. V.O. Patents & Trademarks will notify you within one month after V.O. Patent & Trademarks receives a request to exercise one of the aforementioned rights. When doing so, we will inform you if - and if so, how - the request is being complied with and if it isn’t, the reasons why it isn’t being complied with. If this is necessary in connection with the request then V.O. Patents & Trademarks can extend the one-month deadline for responding. V.O. Patents & Trademarks will inform you within one month as to when it will respond by. We do not use any automated decision-making processes for the recruitment or assessment of suitable candidates that are solely based on automated processing, these including profiling. If you have a complaint about the way in which V.O. Patents & Trademarks is using your personal data or is applying your rights then you have the right to submit a complaint to the AP (the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens, i.e. the Dutch Data Protection Authority). You can submit your complaint to the AP website [by filling in a complaints form there] at https://autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl/nl/klachtenformulier.
Contacting us
If you have any questions about this privacy statement or about the recruitment process at V.O. Patents & Trademarks then you can get in touch with your contact person at recruitment@vo.eu.