Privacy Notice for Job Applicants

April 2024

1) What is the purpose of this Privacy Notice?

Suominen is committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal data. This Privacy Notice explains how we process personal data about you in our online recruitment system, as well as what rights you have under the applicable laws, particularly under the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The term "personal data" means any data that directly identifies or can be used indirectly (e.g. in combination with other information) to identify an individual. Possible identifiers include name, address, date of birth, photo, personal identification number, work history, online identifiers (e.g. IP address), etc.

We encourage you to read this Notice carefully so that you are aware of why and how we process personal data about you. The term "processing" is used in this Notice to cover all activities involving personal data, including collecting, handling, updating, storing, deleting, sharing, accessing, using, transferring, and disposing of the data.

By submitting your personal data into our online recruitment system, you consent to our processing of your information in accordance with this Privacy Notice. Without your consent, we will be unable to process your data and your online application.

2) What is the scope of this Privacy Notice?

This Privacy Notice applies to the personal data we process about you in our online recruitment system.

3) Who is responsible for the processing of your personal data?

Decisions on why and how personal data is processed are made by the data controller, who is also responsible for the lawfulness of the processing and the accuracy and integrity of the data.

The data controller for our online recruitment system is Suominen Corporation, the parent company of the Suominen Group. Our registered address is Keilaranta 13 A, FI-02150 Espoo, Finland.

4) Why do we process your personal data?

We collect your data to identify, evaluate and select candidates for current or future positions at Suominen, and may use your data for purposes relating to recruitment and organizational planning, including for example to set up and conduct interviews and tests, evaluate and assess the results thereof and as is otherwise reasonably necessary in the recruitment processes.

5) What is the legal basis for processing your data?

The processing of personal data is based on your consent. You may at any time revoke your consent. As processing of your personal data is necessary part of our recruitment process, revoking your consent may lead to a situation where we cannot proceed the recruitment process with you.

6) What kind of personal data do we process about you?

We may process the following information about you: 

  • Name
  • Contact details (such as address, phone number and email address)
  • CV, résumé, cover letter and any information contained therein, such as previous work experience, education, competences and skills

If you intend to provide us with details of a reference or any other third party as part of your CV, résumé or cover letter, it is your responsibility to obtain consent from such third party for providing such data.

Suominen selects the best applicants, irrespective of ethnic origin, gender, religion or belief, political affiliation, disability, age, marital status, or sexual identity. We do not require any unnecessary information from you that has nothing to do with the job or your professional profile.

The laws of certain countries require us to collect some sensitive personal data, for example, for equal opportunities purposes. If you provide us with any information of this nature you explicitly consent to it being processed in the manner described in this Notice.

7) What are cookies?

Cookies are small files that may be stored on your device when you visit Suominen website. We use cookies to obtain information on how and when you have used the online recruitment system and our website and to improve the system for a better service. Most of the currently available browsers give you the option of managing cookies by, for example, disabling them entirely, accepting them individually, and deleting saved cookies from your hard drive. We would like to remind you that if you completely disable cookies on your browser, you might not be able to use some features of the website.

8) What are the sources of your personal data?

We collect personal data directly from you as well as information sources that you provide to us. Subject to applicable national legislation, we may also collect personal data from public sources, and conduct background checks and assessments and store information from those during the recruitment process.

9) Who has access to your personal data?

We may disclose and transfer your personal data within the Suominen Group to recruiters and recruiting managers.

We also use third-party service providers (such as IT service providers and external recruiting partners) who may process your data on our behalf. Such service providers are only allowed to process your personal data to the extent necessary for them to provide the service.

In order to protect your privacy, we require that all our service providers keep the personal data we provide them confidential and adequately secure. They are also required to comply with the applicable data protection laws, our privacy and information security policies, and the relevant service and other agreements.

Suominen may also make your personal data available to other third parties, such as law enforcement agencies and other public bodies, when required to do so by mandatory legislation or in response to legitimate legal processes.

10) Where is your personal data processed?

As Suominen is a global group of companies with affiliates and service providers both within and outside the EU, your personal data may be processed, transferred, or made accessible across country borders. If your data is transferred outside of the EU, we rely on adequacy decisions, data transfer agreements, or other EU-approved mechanisms for such transfers.

We contractually require recipients to only use personal data for the intended purpose of the disclosure, and to destroy or return it when it is no longer needed.

Transfers of personal data from within the EU to Suominen affiliates outside of the EU are primarily done on the basis of intra-group agreements, which are based on the EU's standard contractual clauses for export of personal data to third countries.

11) How long do we keep your personal data for?

If your application is successful, we will retain your data throughout your employment at Suominen and may use such data for employment/work-related purposes subject to our employee privacy notice.

If your application does not lead to employment, we will keep your data for six months from when you submitted your application.

We may delete your personal information from our online recruitment system at any time (including your CV or résumé), without any reason. Therefore, you should retain your own copy of the data and files provided to us.

12) What are your rights, and how can you exercise your rights?

You have certain rights over your personal data. These rights are not absolute: they do not always apply, and there may be restrictions or exemptions. Your rights may include the following: 

  • Information and access: You may request to access your personal data, be provided with supplementary information, and be provided with a copy of your personal data.
  • Rectification: You may request that inaccurate or out-of-date personal data about you be rectified and/or updated.
  • Erasure: You may have the right to have your personal data erased.
  • Restriction: You may have the right to restrict the processing of your personal data.
  • Objecting to processing: You may have the right to object to specific types of processing.

If you want to review or verify personal data about you, or to have it corrected or request its erasure, or to restrict or object to the processing of your personal data, or to request a copy of such data, you may exercise your rights by contacting us (see section "Questions and complaints" below).

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data or to exercise any of your other rights. However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with the request in such circumstances.

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access the data or to exercise any of your other rights. This is another appropriate security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it.

13) Questions and complaints

If you have any questions or concerns over how Suominen processes your personal data, please contact Suominen's privacy team at data.protection(at)suominencorp.com.

If you are not satisfied with the response you have received or if you feel that we have not dealt correctly with your personal data, you also have the right to make a complaint at any time to the relevant data protection regulator, also known as a "supervisory authority." The relevant supervisory authority is likely to be the supervisory authority of the country where you are located or where the alleged infringement took place.

The local supervisory authority in Finland is the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman (for contact details please see www.tietosuoja.fi).

14) Changes to this Privacy Notice

We reserve the right to update this Privacy Notice at any time and encourage you to review this Notice from time to time for any amendments.