Privacy notice (job applicants)
Purpose of this Policy
At Travel Counsellors your privacy is important to us. This Privacy Notice explains how we collect, use, store, and protect personal data you provide when you apply for a role with us. As part of our recruitment and selection process, we will collect and process certain personal data to assess your suitability for employment, manage the recruitment process, and comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.
We are committed to handling your personal data responsibly and in compliance with applicable data protection laws, including (UK) GDPR and other applicable legislation.
Our role
We are Travel Counsellors Limited based at Venus No1 Old Park Lane, Trafford City, Manchester, England, M41 7HA (registered company number: 02133414) (“Travel Counsellors”, “we”, “us”, “our”).
We are the “controller” under data protection legislation of any personal data that we process about you, including where we receive it from a recruitment agency. This means that we are responsible for deciding how we hold and process your personal data.
Collection of your personal data
Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include any data where the person’s identity has been removed (anonymous data). Some types of more sensitive personal data require a higher level of protection such as information about an individual’s health or criminal convictions.
You are not under any statutory or contractual obligation to provide personal data to us. However, it is necessary for us to collect personal data about you if you wish to apply for a job with us, so that we can progress your application.
- Where you express an interest in applying for a role with Travel Counsellors, the personal data that we may collect from you, or about you, includes the following:
- Your identity and contact details (e.g., full name and title, email, phone numbers and postal address).
- Your CV and information about your skills, qualifications, experience and employment history (including information about your current remuneration and employee benefits, if you choose to provide this information to us).
- Records of our interviews with you and your progression through our recruitment process.
- Results of your AVA personality evaluation and other recruitment exercises.
- Copies of any correspondence with you during the application and recruitment process.
- Whether or not you have a disability for which we may need to make reasonable adjustments during our recruitment process.
- Information about criminal convictions and offences.
If your application is successful and we offer you a role with us, we will also collect the following information:
- Information about your right to work in the UK (e.g. a copy of your passport).
- References from your previous employers (we will not contact your current employer unless you give us permission to do so).
- Qualification certificates (if relevant).
Information for equal opportunities monitoring, including your age, disabilities, marriage/civil partnership status, sex, gender, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, health and religion or belief. - Other information we may require from you depending on the role you apply for, such as details of any DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) checks or other background checks.
- CCTV footage where you attend at our premises for an interview.
We collect personal data from you (for example, through your CV and supporting documents) and, where applicable, from third parties such as recruitment agencies or assessment providers. We do not accept unsolicited candidate information from recruitment agencies without prior written agreement. Where personal data is provided by a recruitment agency, we expect the agency to have obtained the necessary consent and to comply with applicable data protection laws.
If we need to conduct DBS or other background checks, we may collect this data from third parties. If we do, we will inform you and explain how we intend to use it.
How we will use your personal data
We use the personal data we collect to assess your suitability for a role with Travel Counsellors. Processing this data is necessary to take steps at your request towards entering into a potential employment contract with you.
Purpose/Activity: Assessing your suitability for the role
What we do / why we process your data: We process your personal data to assess your skills, qualifications, experience, and information obtained during interviews. We may also carry out DBS or other background checks depending on the role.
Lawful basis for processing: Necessary to take steps at your request prior to entering a contract (Article 6(1)(b)) and our legitimate interests in recruiting and selecting suitable candidates (Article 6(1)(f)).
Purpose/Activity: Complying with legal obligations
What we do / why we process your data: We process personal data to comply with legal requirements, such as right-to-work checks and processing health or disability information to make reasonable adjustments.
Lawful basis for processing: Legal obligation (Article 6(1)(c)).
Purpose/Activity: Security and protection of our business
What we do / why we process your data: We process data to protect our premises, assets, and personnel (including CCTV), and to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.
Lawful basis for processing: Legitimate interests in business security and managing legal risks (Article 6(1)(f)) and legal obligations where applicable.
Purpose/Activity: Equal Opportunities Monitoring
What we do / why we process your data: We may collect information about age, disability, sex, gender, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, health, religion or beliefs for monitoring purposes. This is voluntary and anonymised and cannot be linked back to you. We use it to monitor applicant diversity and prevent discrimination.
Lawful basis for processing: Legitimate interests in promoting equality and diversity (Article 6(1)(f)) and, where applicable, explicit consent for special category data (Article 9(2)(a)).
Use of AI and automated processing
We use AI within our Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to support the recruitment process. This includes:
- Parsing CVs to generate summaries for quicker review.
- Comparing applicants’ skills and experience against role requirements to assist in assessing suitability.
- Supporting interview processes by transcribing responses to facilitate note-taking and summarising candidate answers.
These tools are used to support our decision-making, but we will never rely solely on automated processing to make significant decisions about you. All decisions are reviewed by our recruitment team to ensure fairness and accuracy.
Data Sharing
We may share your personal data in the following circumstances:
- We will share your personal data internally with our staff involved in the recruitment process. Access is limited to those who need it to carry out their roles, such as our People team, interviewers, hiring managers, and IT or other support teams.
- We share your personal data with Teamtailor, our recruitment management system provider, to support and manage our recruitment process. Teamtailor acts as a data processor on our behalf and processes personal data only in accordance with our instructions and applicable data protection laws.
- With third parties where required by law, for example regulators such as the Information Commissioner’s Office (“the ICO”).
Sharing your data if you are offered a role
If your application is successful and you accept an offer of employment, we may share your personal data with relevant third parties, including:
- Previous employers to obtain references (we will not contact your current employer without your permission).
- Our health and safety team or occupational health providers to make reasonable adjustments or manage health-related risks.
- HR software providers and other IT or communication service providers to set you up on our systems.
Data Security and International Transfers
Data Security
We take the confidentiality of your personal data seriously. Access to your information is strictly limited to individuals within the organisation who are directly involved in the recruitment process, such as our People team, interviewers, hiring managers, and IT or other support teams. This ensures that your data is only used for the purpose of assessing your application and managing the recruitment process.
We have implemented appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against loss, unauthorised access, use, disclosure, or alteration.
International Transfers
We may transfer your personal data outside the UK to fulfil the purposes described in this notice. Where we do, we will ensure it is protected in accordance with the applicable data protection law and that appropriate safeguards are in place.
How long do we keep your personal data for?
We will retain the personal data collected during the recruitment process for 6 months. You may choose to allow us to keep your data for up to 12 months to consider you for similar roles if your application is unsuccessful. After this period, your data will be securely deleted.
If you are offered and accept a role, your data will be transferred to your personnel file and retained for the duration of your employment. You will receive a separate Colleague Privacy Notice explaining how we process employee data.
Your rights
You have a number of rights in respect of your personal data, which are summarised below. You have the right to be informed about our use of your personal data.
- You have the right to access information about, and copies of, the personal data that we hold about you.
- You have the right to ask us to rectify any incorrect or incomplete data we hold about you.
- In certain circumstances, you may have the right to ask us to erase data we hold about you.
- You may have the right to ask us to transfer your data to you or a third party in a common electronic format.
- You have the right to object to our use of your data for direct marketing purposes, or in reliance on our legitimate interests. Our legitimate interests are explained in this notice.
- In certain circumstances, you may have the right to ask us to restrict how we use your data.
- You have the right not to be subject to significant decisions made based purely on automated decision making (note, we do not use automated decision-making in our recruitment procedure).
If you would like to exercise any of your rights, please contact the Data Protection team at: DPO@travelcounsellors.com.
Contact Us
If you do wish to raise a complaint, or speak with us regarding your privacy or our use of your personal data, you can contact us at DPO@travelcounsellors.com or write to us at: DPO, Travel Counsellors Limited, Venus No1 Old Park Lane, Trafford City, Manchester, England, M41 7HA.
You also have a right to make a complaint to the supervisory authority, the Information Commissioner’s Office (the “ICO”). The link to the ICO’s website can be found here: https://ico.org.uk/
However, we would appreciate hearing from you directly in the first instance so that we may seek to resolve your issue.
(Last updated: 18/02/2026)
