By Partner Mindaugas Civilka
- Can I use social media to find out about a candidate and store information I find there?
- What every employer needs to know when conducting a job interview
- When publishing a job offer, we have to follow two rules
Collecting information about a potential employee from public sources
The Law on the Protection of Personal Data states that 1/ a candidate must be informed before their current employer can be asked for a recommendation, 2/ a former employer can only be asked for a recommendation when the candidate has been informed about that, and 3/ information can only be gathered from public sources if it relates to the candidate’s professional or work activity and if it has been placed there for that purpose; thus, LinkedIn is a suitable place for such searches, for example, while FB, IG and Tiktok are not. Equally important is what happens afterwards to information collected in this way: even information gathered from public sources may not be stored, organised or analysed unless the person has given specific consent to that, otherwise there could be serious unpleasant consequences, for instance if the information or database is leaked or the like.
What personal information is undiscussably private during a job interview?
Every employer needs to know three basic rules: a/ during a job interview, you can only ask for information related to professional qualifications, experience, skills and the position being applied for; this usually includes name and surname, contact details, and education; b/ we cannot ask about a candidate’s health, criminal record (except for certain jobs), marital status, plans to marry or have children, finances, or hobbies (when it is necessary for certain positions, such information may be sought at a later stage of the hiring process); and c/ candidates may voluntarily share any type of additional information about themselves during an interview. Information gathered during an interview must be handled with discretion, recorded only to the minimum extent necessary for the selection process, and then destroyed after the selection. Importantly, the very fact of a candidate’s job interview is private and confidential information.
Can I ask a candidate why they left a former employer or about their relationship with their manager or co-workers?
No, not unless the candidate themself wants to share such information. But it is not relevant to the position they are applying for. If you want to get to know a candidate better, you can, with their prior consent, ask them to take a general aptitude test.
What should a job posting look like to avoid violating personal data rights?
- An announcement can stress the job’s various benefits and working conditions, for example, indicating that there is a flexible schedule and a focus on performance –results– rather than on being at work;
- Announcements should be as neutral as possible with regard to age, gender, family plans, social status, marital status, beliefs, etc. (thus you cannot require a person to disclose such information in their CV; for example, that they include a photo of themselves or the like).
TGS Baltic Partner Mindaugas Civilka speaks in depth about candidates’ privacy on the LRT Radio programme “Radio Case”: Radio Case. Employee selection: what can an employer ask a potential employee? (Mindaugas’s commentary from 20:30, in Lithuanian)
