Recruitment Privacy Notice

Your privacy is very important to us. At AM Best we are committed to protecting and safeguarding your personal data and your privacy rights.

1. Introduction

This Recruitment Privacy Notice (“Notice”, “Privacy Notice”) explains how AM Best’s affiliates ex-Americas (“we”, “us”, “AM Best”) process your personal data during the selection and recruitment process.

The wording in this notice reflects the requirements of applicable data protection laws.

This Recruitment Privacy Notice does not form part of a contract of employment or other contract to provide services. When appropriate we will provide a “just-in-time” notice to cover additional processing activities related to an employee-employer relationship.

From time to time, we will change this Recruitment Privacy Notice and will aim to notify you of any changes. We recommend that you check the current version available. If we make changes to this statement, we will update the Effective Date at the bottom of the page.

2. Data Controller

AM Best is the data controller, meaning we are responsible for deciding how we hold your personal data. This includes determining the processing of your personal data for the purpose of recruiting, selecting, interviewing, and hiring. If your personal data was initially collected by a third-party recruitment agent/agency, they may also be a data controller for their use of your personal data, which would be handled separately from our use of your personal data.

As data controller, we will comply with relevant data protection laws and principles, which means that your data will be:

• Used lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way.
• Collected only for valid purposes that we have clearly explained to you and not used in any way that is incompatible with those purposes.
• Relevant to the purposes we have told you about and limited only to those purposes.
• Accurate and kept up to date.
• Kept only as long as necessary for the purposes we have told you about.
• Kept securely.

3. Personal Data Definition 

“Personal data” means any information – or set of information – relating to an identified or identifiable natural person. An “identifiable natural person” is a person who can be identified, directly or indirectly, by reference to an identifier such as:

• A name,
• An identification number,
• An email address,
• An online identifier, or
• By reference to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural, or social identity of that natural person.

References to “personal data” or “personal information” within this Privacy Notice shall be taken to have the same meaning given to “personal data” as described above or as otherwise interpreted by other privacy laws. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data). A data subject is the identified or identifiable natural living person to whom the personal data relates and, in relation to this Privacy Notice, refers to candidates and agency candidates.

4. What This Recruitment Privacy Notice Covers

This Notice describes how we collect, use, share and retain personal data as part of our recruiting, selecting, interviewing, and hiring of candidates for vacant job roles at AM Best. This may include if you:

• Visit, use or apply for a job role through our online recruitment portal or other platforms, such as social media platforms that link to the AM Best recruitment portal,
• Receive or reply to electronic communications from us, or
• Sign up for notifications for new job vacancies or agree to be considered for future vacancies.

Where your personal data was initially collected by a third-party recruitment agent/agency, their privacy notice may also apply to their collection and processing of your personal data.

We aim to conduct all our recruitment activities through our online recruitment portal. Where a candidate applies outside of the recruitment portal, this notice shall also apply. 

5. Personal Data Collection

What information do we collect and how do we collect it? 

How We Collect Your Personal Data 

In most circumstances, you provide your personal data directly to us as part of our services to you. As part of the recruitment process, we will collect the following types of personal information about you:

• The information you have provided to us in your CV/resume.
• The information you have provided on our application form or other application documents, including name, title, address, telephone number, personal email address, date of birth, gender, employment history, qualifications, skills, interests and similar when you apply for a job role.
• Any information you provide to us during an interview.
• Any information we receive about you as part of a reference.
• Where you have been in touch with an external recruitment agency, we may receive your personal data directly from them.

We may also collect, store, and use the following types of more sensitive personal information:

• Residency and visa status (right to work).
• Other information such as demographic details.
• Information about your health, including any medical conditions.
• Information about criminal convictions and offences.
• Any sensitive information we may receive as part of the referencing process.

Where we have collected more sensitive personal information from you, specifically, in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland (together “EEA”), AM Best will process this information only when we have a lawful basis to do so, to include:

• We have obtained your prior, express consent to process the sensitive data concerned.
• It is necessary in order for us to comply with a legal obligation and/or regulatory requirement.
• This information has been made public by you.
  

How is your personal data collected?

We collect personal information about candidates from the following sources:

How we use sensitive personal information 

We will use sensitive personal information in the following ways:

• We will use information about your disability status to consider whether we need to provide appropriate adjustments during the recruitment process; for example, whether adjustments need to be made during a test or interview.
• We will use sensitive personal information if we must comply with a legal or regulatory requirement; for example, fitness and propriety.

Information about criminal convictions

We envisage that we may process information about criminal convictions on some occasions.

We will collect information about your criminal convictions history if we would like to offer you the job role (conditional on checks and any other conditions, such as references, being satisfactory). We may be required to carry out a criminal record check to satisfy ourselves that there is nothing in your criminal convictions history which makes you unsuitable for the job role. In particular:

• We are legally required by various regulatory bodies to carry out criminal record checks for certain employees in our Rating Services operation.
• If you are applying for a job role that requires a high degree of trust and integrity, such as Director, we will seek a basic disclosure of your criminal records history.

Stringent safeguards also apply to the processing of personal data relating to criminal convictions and offenses. We will use this type of information only in exceptional circumstances (e.g., during your hiring process), and after respecting all appropriate safeguards and applicable legal requirements. In sum, this type of processing will take place only through our external processors, who will process this type of information for our legitimate interests and on our behalf. AM Best will be informed by our external processors only about the outcome of this assessment. If you have any further questions in this regard, please contact us by visiting the Contact Information section below.

6. How We Use Your Information

We use the information you provide to us to follow up on your request to create a profile by submitting your CV/resume or applying for a job role. More specifically, we use your information to do the following:

• If you apply for a job role, we will:
  • Assess your skills, qualifications, experience, and suitability for the job role.
  • Contact you to conduct interviews and assessments and generally keep you updated about the recruitment process.
  • Verify qualifications and employment history.
  • Make hiring decisions.
  • Conduct background and reference checks where relevant.
  • Keep records of our hiring processes.
  • Comply with our legal or regulatory requirements.
• If you register for job notifications, we may contact you with notifications and announcements about new vacancies at AM Best.
• If you submit your resume:
  • We may hold your resume and related personal data on file in accordance with our retention policy.
  • We may review your online candidate profile from time to time to consider you for relevant job opportunities.
• We may use your information to conduct research and analysis, including to better understand our job applicants and site visitors.
• We may use your information to support our background screening process if you apply for employment and are subsequently offered a job role, subject to applicable law and where appropriate.
• We may use your information in other ways as required by law such as to verify your employment eligibility.

It is in our legitimate interests to use your personal information to decide whether to appoint you to a job role, since it would be beneficial to our business to appoint a qualified candidate to that job role.

We also need to process your personal information to decide whether to enter into a contract of employment or engagement with you.

Having received your CV and cover letter or your application form and the results from the test which you may have taken as part of the interview stage, we will then process that information to decide whether you meet the basic requirements to be shortlisted for the job role. If you do, we will decide whether your application is strong enough to invite you for an interview. If we decide to call you for an interview, we will use the information you provide to us at the interview to decide whether to offer you the job role. If we decide to offer you the job role, we will then obtain references and carry out a criminal record and any other applicable background checks before confirming your appointment.

We do not use your personal data for any secondary incompatible purposes. Where any secondary use of your personal data applies, we will conduct a compatibility assessment to ensure the processing is objectively fair and compatible with the original purpose of processing. Where applicable, we may ask for your consent. 

If You Fail to Provide Personal Information

Please note: If you fail to provide information when requested, which is necessary for us to consider your application (such as evidence of qualifications or work history), we will not be able to process your application successfully. For example, if we require a credit check or references for the job role and you fail to provide us with relevant details, we will not be able to take your application further.

Automated Decision-Making

You will not be subject to decisions that will have a significant impact on you based solely on automated decision-making.

7. Our Legal Basis for Processing

The processing of your personal data is based on one or more of the following legal grounds:

• Processing is based on your consent.
  • Such as when you submit an application to a job role, or when you sign up to job notifications. 

• Processing is necessary for the performance of a contract or to take steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract.
  
  • For example, if you are successful during the application process and are offered a position to commence the job with AM Best. There are steps we may ask you to take before entering into the employment contract. 
    
    
• Processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject.
  • Such as to check your eligibility and right to work. 

• Processing is based on the legitimate interests pursued by the controller or a third party.
  • This may include processing of your data or aggregate data to better understand how applicants interact with our recruitment practices. This information is used to improve our practices to make the experience better for future applicants. 

8. Data Security

To ensure the confidentiality of your information, we use technical, organizational, and physical security measures to protect the information systems or physical premises where your information is kept. We also require our service providers to safeguard any personal data they have access to and restrict their use only to purposes we specify. They will only process your personal information on our instructions, and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected data security breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected breach where we are legally required to do so.

9. Data Retention

We will retain your personal data in accordance with the purposes stated in this Notice as we need to follow up on your request to apply for a job role, to process your application or where we are required by law or regulation or for litigation and regulatory investigations to keep your information.

If your application is unsuccessful, we may retain your data for an additional period where you have indicated that you wish to be considered for future job opportunities or receive notifications about new job roles. You can opt out of this at any time, including requesting that your personal data be removed.

When your personal data is no longer necessary to fulfil our business, legal or regulatory needs, we will take appropriate steps to securely destroy or permanently de-identify your personal data.

10. Data Sharing and International Transfer of Personal Data 

We do not share your personal data with anyone except as described below. We will only share your data within our group of affiliates and with our service providers when the law allows us to do so.  

Your personal data may be shared:

• Within AM Best and its affiliates, including internal employees involved in the recruitment process.
• With third-party service providers performing services for us and assisting with the recruitment process – this includes iCIMS, which delivers our application portal, as well as background check providers and recruitment agencies.
• With regulatory authorities, law enforcement and governmental agencies to detect and prevent fraud or criminal activity, and to protect the rights of AM Best or others.
• With regulatory authorities, courts and governmental agencies to comply with legal orders or government requests or to remain in line with regulatory requirements.

During the recruitment process, we may transfer your personal data to the United States and other countries that may not have the same data protection laws as the country in which you initially provided the information. Nonetheless, we will protect your personal data in accordance with this Notice, or as otherwise disclosed to you.

We comply with applicable legal requirements when transferring personal data to countries other than the country where you are located. If you are located in the EEA, we will transfer your personal data in accordance with adequacy decisions (see a list of countries for which the European Commission has issued an adequacy decision here), our intra-group data transfer agreement, standard contractual clauses (including the UK International Data Transfer Agreement and the Swiss Addendum to the EU SCCs where applicable) and other data transfer mechanisms.

Whenever we transfer your personal data out of the EEA to service providers, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring that one of the following safeguards is in place:

• We will transfer your personal data only to countries that have been deemed by the EEA to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data; or
• When we send data to any service providers in the US, the data bridge, an extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (DPF) adopted in July 2023, enables organisations in the UK to transfer personal data to organisations in the US that have certified to the DPF.

By applying for a job role with us, you will be deemed to have consented to our cross-border sharing of your personal data to recipients in countries or regions other than the country in which you are located, in accordance with this Notice. 

11. Your Rights

We honour the rights of individuals under the privacy and data protection laws to which their data is subject. Depending on the country in which you are located, you may have certain rights, including but not limited to the right to:

• Object to Processing: You may object to the processing of your personal data (under certain circumstances, e.g., opting out from receiving marketing communications by us at any time).
• Withdraw Your Consent: Withdraw your consent for our use of your personal data anytime where our processing is based on your consent, including withdrawing your request to be considered for job applications or job notifications.
• Request Correction: Ask us to rectify (correct) any inaccurate or incomplete information.
• Request Restricted Processing: Restrict or object to the use of your personal data.
• Request Access: Request a copy of the personal data that we hold about you. We will provide this information to you clearly.
• Request Transfer: You can ask us to send or transfer your data to another data controller.

Please note that if you instruct us to remove your data or if you object to or restrict the processing of your data for recruitment purposes or withdraw your job application, we will not be able to further process your application or consider you for further opportunities at AM Best until you apply again. 

If you would like to exercise any of your rights, click here.

Alternatively, you can reach out to us if you have any questions about how we process your personal data.

If you are based in the EEA, you have the right to make a complaint at any time to the relevant EEA regulator for data protection issues. We would, however, appreciate the opportunity to deal with your concerns before you approach the data protection authority, so please contact us in the first instance, using the contact details below.

12. Contact Information

If you have any questions and/or concerns about this Notice or the way AM Best is using your personal data, please contact our Privacy Office at privacy@ambest.com or write to us at the following address:

AM Best
Attn: Privacy Office
1 Ambest Road
Oldwick, NJ 08858
United States

For more information about the contact details of AM Best's affiliate companies, please visit the following link.

13. Changes to this Notice

We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time. Any significant changes will be communicated on our website or through other appropriate channels.

Effective Date: June 2024