At Michael Page, your privacy matters

Who we are and how do we process your personal data

Michael Page International Recruitment Limited (company number 4130921) ("MPIRL" "we", “us”, or “our”) is part of PageGroup, and trades under the brands Michael Page, Page Personnel, Page Executive and Page Outsourcing.

We are committed to protecting the privacy of our candidates, clients and users of our website. MPIRL entity acting as Controller of your data will depend on the services we perform for you, as described below.

We want to provide a safe and secure user experience. We will ensure that the information you submit to us, or which we collect, via various channels (including our website, through written correspondence (including e-mail), conversations or meetings with our consultants, or through any of our offices or websites globally), is only used for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy.

Through this Privacy Policy we aim to inform you about the types of personal data we collect, the purposes for which we use the data and the ways in which the data is handled.  We also aim to satisfy the obligation of transparency under the UK GDPR and any other laws that may be applicable.

Scope

Protecting your personal data is our priority. This privacy policy explains how MPIRL processes and protects personal data about:

  • candidates who register with us for roles that we are managing for other employers and for roles at Michael Page, or through our website, job boards, social media sites or other sources;
  • prospective candidates,
  • business contacts at our clients and suppliers; and
  • users of our websites;

(collectively "you" or “your").

It also tells you about your privacy rights including your right to object to our processing. If you would like to contact us, please see the “How to contact us” section of this policy.

Personal data we collect

Candidates

When you register with us as a candidate to provide work finding services to you, you provide and we process your personal data, including but not limited to your name, contact details and information from your CV, current benefits and your expectations for future roles. Where permitted by law, we may also collect information relating to your health (for example, disability information for reasonable work adjustment purposes), diversity information, including race, ethnic origin, sexual orientation and religion (for equal opportunity monitoring purposes) as well as details of any unspent criminal convictions where required by a client or by us if you apply for a role with us.  

If you use our website, click on links in emails we send to you, open or forward them, or sign up to receive job alerts or other content from us, we also collect personal data from those interactions.  

We also obtain personal data about you from third parties, including:

  • referees - when you are offered a job;
  • former employers - to confirm dates of employment;
  • educational institutions - to check your academic qualifications;
  • the Disclosure and Barring Service or Disclosure Scotland - if we need to obtain details of unspent criminal convictions;  
  • credit reference agencies - if we need to check your financial standing;
  • publicly available sources such as LinkedIn and social media sites to enhance the information we hold about you, in order to help us find more suitable roles for you;  
  • clients to whom we have provided your CV and who have engaged with you as part of a job application or who have given feedback on your CV.  

Prospective Candidates

We collect personal data about you, including your name, contact details, and professional biographical information. This data may be obtained from:

Publicly available sources, such as LinkedIn or other social media and professional networking sites

Professional data providers, such as business intelligence or commercial contact databases

Referrals, where another candidate, client, or employer recommends you as a potential contact

We collect this information so that we can contact you if we believe you may be interested in our recruitment and work-finding services, either now or in the future.

Prospective Business Clients

We collect your contact details and data relating to your function or position to establish commercial relationships with your company.

Users of our website or apps

We collect personal data such as your IP address and other data about your device which we need to provide our online content to you. We also collect data about your engagement with our website or apps such as the pages you view. If you contact us, we will also collect information about your enquiry. We use cookies and similar technologies to collect a lot of this information and our cookie policy tells you more about this.

Clients

We collect personal data such as your name, job title and contact details. We also process personal data about what communications we have had with you, including whether you have opened or forwarded any emails, newsletters or other content we have sent to you. We also process feedback that you provide about our candidates.  

If you provide information to us about a candidate (for example, if you confirm a candidate has worked with you or if you provide a reference), then we will obtain your details from the candidate and we will keep a record of the personal data that you provide to us about that candidate.  

We process personal data about you from public domain sources such as LinkedIn and social networking sites or because you were a delegate at one of our events or at an event where the event organiser is permitted to share delegate details with us.

Suppliers

We typically collect your name and contact details as a business contact for your organisation.  

Providing your personal data

In some cases, it will be necessary for you to provide personal data to us for us to work together. If you don’t provide us with the personal data we ask for, we may not be able to provide you with our services.

How we use your personal data

Candidates

We use your personal data to:  

  • provide you with work finding services;
  • communicate with you;
  • enable you to upload your CV and apply for jobs;
  • personalise your experience by creating a candidate profile;  
  • enable us to monitor equality and diversity;
  • provide you with interviewing and salary advice and
  • send you direct marketing for the purposes of informing you about job opportunities, industry reports and insights, events, promotions and competitions, and other content in accordance with your marketing choices.

We also run targeted and relevant banner advertising on our website and within your social networks to present you and people like you with jobs and content that we believe will be of interest. We target these ads based on your previous interactions with our website, emails and through your engagements with our consultants. Your interaction with our ads may be used to measure the effectiveness of our ad campaigns and to improve our marketing strategy. This processing is carried out via Cookies and only if you have previously provided consent.

Prospective Candidates and Business Clients

We use your personal data to:

  • determine if you may be interested in our services and how we can assist you;
  • to contact you and find out if you are interested in our services.

Users of our website or apps

We use your personal data to:

  • improve and personalise your experience when you use our website or apps; and
  • personalise advertising you receive from us.

Clients

We use your personal data:

  • to provide recruitment services to you;  
  • to communicate with you;
  • to get feedback from you on our services through client satisfaction surveys, in order to improve our services and to develop new services;
  • to maintain our business relationship with you;
  • to answer your enquiries when you contact us;
  • to fulfil contractual obligations to you;
  • to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; and
  • for direct marketing purposes.

Suppliers

We use your personal data:

  • to communicate with you;
  • to maintain our business relationship with you;
  • to answer your enquiries when you contact us;
  • to fulfil contractual obligations to you;
  • to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; and  
  • for direct marketing purposes.

You can unsubscribe from receiving marketing communications from us, using the unsubscribe methods contained in communications we send to you or by contacting us. We have also established a marketing preference centre where you can view and make decisions about your marketing preferences and opt out of receiving marketing from us at any time.

Legal Grounds for processing your Personal Data

Under the UK GDPR, we rely on the following legal grounds to process your personal data:

(a)  Performing a contract - where, in order to perform our obligations under a contract with you or to take steps at your request to enter into a contract with us, it is necessary for us to process your personal data;  

(b)  Compliance with a legal obligation - where we need to process your personal data to comply with legal or regulatory obligations.

(c)  Our legitimate interests or those of a third party - including:

  • providing our services to you;
  • responding to your requests and enquiries (this serves both your legitimate interests and ours, as it helps maintain constant and up-to-date communication with clients and candidates, which is essential to our commercial relationship);
  • optimising the performance of our website and enhancing user experience;
  • informing you about our services including job opportunities, industry reports and insights, events, promotions, and competitions (our legitimate interest is to keep clients and candidates informed about relevant services and products);
  • ensuring our operations are conducted efficiently;
  • providing satisfaction surveys to improve our services; and
  • contacting prospective business clients to establish commercial relationships (our legitimate interest is to maintain and develop business relations with the company where the contact person works).

We have performed a legitimate interest assessment in order to confirm that our interests are not overridden by your interests or fundamental rights and freedoms, you can ask for this assessment using the contact details below.

(d) Consent. In certain situations, we will ask for your consent to process your personal data in specific ways, especially to manage your marketing preferences or when conducting talent trends surveys. For example, if you register for a job, we may offer you the option to sign up for similar job alerts.

If we process your personal data based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw it at any time. Simply contact us if you wish to withdraw your consent.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Automated decisions and profiling

We use Artificial Intelligence (AI) in specific, limited ways to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of our recruitment services. However, we do not make decisions based solely on automated processing. There is always human oversight, and all decisions regarding candidate selection are reviewed and confirmed by a qualified recruiter.

How We Use AI

We apply AI or AI-powered tools in the following areas:

  • JobMatch Tool (Website Feature): When you upload your CV through our JobMatch tool, we use a matching algorithm to compare your skills, experience, and aspirations with available roles. This helps recommend suitable job opportunities. Importantly, this profiling does not restrict or exclude access to other positions, it’s simply a support tool to help guide job recommendations.
  • Semantic Search Technology (CV Matching): We use an AI-powered tool that analyses the CVs in our database using semantic search (a form of intelligent keyword recognition). Recruiters can input criteria such as skills, experience level, or field of expertise, and the tool helps identify relevant candidates by ranking CVs based on suitability. This makes the process more efficient but does not replace human judgment, all shortlists are reviewed by a recruiter before any decisions are made.
  • Content Generation and Transcription: AI is used to assist in writing job advertisements, pseudonymising CVs via a third-party vendor using OpenAI technology, and transcribing internal meetings through Microsoft Teams.
  • Content Moderation in Our CRM (Salesforce): Our CRM uses AI to scan for inappropriate or unprofessional content in communications. This is a compliance safeguard and does not impact candidate evaluation.

Some tools are provided by trusted partners like Microsoft or OpenAI. These providers are contractually prohibited from using your data for AI training or unrelated purposes. In rare technical support cases, limited access may be granted under strict controls and confidentiality agreements. If you would like to know more, please contact us.

Who we share your personal data with

In certain circumstances we will share your personal data with:

Other companies within our Group

MPIRL is part of the PageGroup of companies, which operates globally. Our recruitment consultants, as well as key team members in functions like payroll and IT support, are located in various parts of the world. As such, we may share your personal data with, or provide access to it by, other companies within PageGroup where necessary to support our services. Find a list of PageGroup entities and the countries where they are located.

For example, if it is relevant to your job search or if you're seeking qualified professionals or a recruitment partner, we may share your personal data with our recruitment specialists in Technology and Outsourcing for the UK market, who are based in Turkey or the Philippines (see entity list above). These teams process your data on behalf of our UK entities, where applicable.

To ensure your data remains protected, these transfers are governed by our intra-group data transfer agreement, which includes the UK-approved Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) and the UK’s international data transfer addendum. These safeguards ensure that your personal data continues to benefit from a high standard of protection, even when transferred outside of the UK or EEA.

The UK also recognises that countries within the EEA continue to offer adequate protection for personal data following Brexit.

If you would like a copy of our SCCs or further details about how we protect your data during international transfers, please contact us.

Purposes of Sharing Your Personal Data Within PageGroup

We may share your personal data with other companies within PageGroup for the following purposes:

  • Providing essential services that are centralised within a single entity, such as IT, commercial, and sales support services. In these cases, the relevant group entities will act as data processors, processing your personal data under the instructions of your data controller.
  • Managing global, regional, or senior executive roles, or supporting the development of key accounts, which may require collaboration across different PageGroup companies.
  • Filling remote roles, where the position is not limited to a single geographical location.

The lawful basis for these processing activities is either the performance of a contract with clients or candidates, steps necessary to enter into such a contract, or PageGroup’s legitimate interests in delivering services effectively using internal resources.

Please also note that if you register as a candidate in a country different from where you initially engaged with PageGroup, a single, consolidated record will be created for you. This approach prevents duplication and improves the accuracy of your personal data. For this purpose, the involved PageGroup companies will share your personal data as independent data controllers.

Third Parties

If you are a candidate, we share your personal data with clients who have vacancies for jobs which you are interested in.

We also share your personal data and, where necessary, special category data with third party service providers who perform services and functions on our behalf, such as:

  • conducting employment reference checks;
  • conducting qualification checks;
  • carrying out criminal convictions checks (as required);
  • verifying details you have provided from third party sources;  
  • conducting psychometric evaluations or skills tests;
  • hosting personal data for us;
  • providing professional advice to us;
  • providing data analytics to us;
  • carrying out testing and development work on our business technology systems;
  • administering surveys or competitions on our behalf;  
  • assisting us to communicate with you; and
  • providing research and mailing house or other direct marketing services.

We contractually require minimum standards of confidentiality and data protection from our third party service providers. If we need to send personal data outside the EEA, we will ensure that adequate safeguards are in place, such as the Model Clauses.

Other Disclosures

In addition, we may disclose your personal data:

  • if we are legally required to do so;
  • to law enforcement agencies, regulators or other government officials; and
  • to the new business owners and their advisers in the event of a re-organisation, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, or other transfer or disposition of all or any part of our business.

Keeping your personal data secure

We have implemented and maintain appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data from accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure or access. Only authorised personnel and third-party service providers are provided with access to personal data on a need-to-know basis, and these employees and service providers are contractually obliged to treat this information as confidential.

How long we hold your personal data for

We will keep your personal data for as long as we need to in order to fulfil the purpose we collected it for, which may be an ongoing purpose. For example, if you’re a candidate, we will retain your personal data for the duration of our business relationship with you and beyond, as we often support candidates with job placements over many years and potentially throughout their careers.

We keep some personal data for longer than others. To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider factors such as the purposes for which we process your personal data, including any legal, regulatory, accounting and reporting obligations, the nature and amount of personal data that we hold about you, and the potential risk of harm to you from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data.

Where we process your personal data for direct marketing purposes, we will do so until you ask us to stop, and for a short period after this (to allow us to implement your request). We also keep a record of the fact that you have asked us not to send you direct marketing or to process your data indefinitely, so that we can respect your request.

Your rights in relation to personal data we hold about you

You have several rights under UK and EU data protection laws. These rights include the right to ask us for a copy of your personal data, to correct, delete or restrict processing of your personal data; to obtain the personal data you provide to us for a contract or with your consent in a structured, machine readable format, and to ask us to share (port) this data to another controller.

In addition, you can object to the processing of your personal data in some circumstances (in particular, where we don’t have to process your personal data to meet a contractual or other legal requirement, or where we are using the data for direct marketing).

These rights may be limited, for example, if complying with your request would reveal personal data about another person, where they would infringe the rights of a third party (including our rights) or if you ask us to delete information which we are required by law to keep or have compelling legitimate interests for keeping. We will inform you of any relevant exemptions we are relying on when we respond to your request.

How to contact us

Exercising your rights

To exercise your rights, or to withdraw your consent to processing, or to unsubscribe from receiving marketing communications from us, you can:

Michael Page International Recruitment Limited 
UK GDPR Processing Team 
2nd Floor 
80 Strand 
London, WC2R 0DT

Questions and Complaints

If you have any questions about our privacy policy, or about our processing of your personal data, or to make a complaint, you can email us or our DPO at dpo@page.com or write to us at:

Michael Page International Recruitment Limited 
UK Data Protection Team 
2nd Floor 
80 Strand 
London, WC2R 0DT

If you have unresolved concerns, and you live or work in the UK or believe that a personal data breach happened in the UK, you have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office who can be contacted at:

Telephone: 0303 123 11113 
Website: https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ 
Post:

Information Commissioner's Office 
Wycliffe House 
Water Lane 
Wilmslow 
Cheshire 
SK9 5AF

If you live or work outside the UK, or you have a complaint concerning our activities outside the UK, you may prefer to lodge a complaint with a different supervisory authority. A list of relevant authorities in the EEA can be accessed here.

Changes to our Privacy Policy

We may change this privacy policy at any time. If we do so, we will post updates on this site.