Careers Service

Privacy Statement for Students and Graduates

How the University of Edinburgh Careers Service handles student and graduate data

Student and Graduate Privacy Statement: general

Information about you: how we use it and with whom we share it

The information you provide will be used by the University to: 

  • Allow you access to our dedicated platforms, MyCareerHub and MyDevelopmentHub, so that you can book appointments with us, attend events, view vacancies, ask us questions and access resources

  • Keep you informed via regular newsletters, emails and announcements 

  • Process and respond to your enquiry on Live Chat 

  • Seek your feedback on services you have used 

  • Contact you about any changes to the terms and conditions relating to the services we offer 

  • Carry out reporting on usage (e.g. how many students attended events or appointments) 

  • Analyse special characteristics, anonymised, to produce statistics to inform service delivery and ensure accessibility and inclusion  

 

The University uses external companies as our data processors: 

  • Symplicity provides us with the MyCareerHub database to allow us, as data controllers, to contact you and administer our services on the University’s behalf

  • Springshare hosts our chat service on the University’s behalf

 

We are using information about you because we have a legitimate interest in delivering the Services we offer to you as effectively as possible and keeping you informed about how we can help you. The Careers Service receives student contact information, information about programme, mode and method of study, current student status and achieved awards. We will also access details provided by Student Systems so we can continue to offer all our Services to graduates up to two years after the end of your course.  

​Information about you such as updates to contact details, including email address and employment status, that graduates make on MyCareerHub will be shared with the University's main alumni database. Find out more about why we do this and how we use our graduates‘ data here:

Development and Alumni - privacy notice

Also see the Privacy Statement for the Employ.ed and Insights programmes, below.​ 

We will hold the personal data you provided us with for five years after graduation for reporting purposes. 

 

If you have any questions please contact: CS.Admin@ed.ac.uk 

This Privacy Statement is continued at: www.edin.ac/privacy

Student and Graduate Privacy Statement: Internships and work experience programmes

This privacy statement relates to the Internships and Work Experience Programmes run by the Careers Service.  

It explains how the University uses your personal information, how long we keep it for and if we share it with third parties.  

The Careers Service will use your application, expression of interest or sign up information, student record, Edinburgh Award form submissions, and feedback from submissions to report on the programme (application numbers, characteristics of applicants and interns etc.) to assess its success and make improvements in the future. This will be used anonymously, unless you have given us your consent to use your name in reporting and promotional materials.  

If you are taking part in the Edinburgh Award (Work Experience), or the internship or work experience programme you are applying to runs an Edinburgh Award and you are successful, you will be entered into the Award as part of your development during the Programme, unless you opt out. Your submissions will be reviewed by University staff and students relevant to the Programme. Full privacy policy here: 

Edinburgh Award - privacy notice

We do not use profiling or automated decision-making processes. This means that people are involved in every decision about you.  

We are processing information from your application for the purposes of recruitment and anonymised reporting unless you have given consent to use your name.  

We will contact you during your time at university after you have completed the Programme to ask for your feedback in order to report on the Programme, assess its impact, and market the Programme to future participants. Your information will either be used anonymously or we will ask for your consent to be named in reports and promotional materials. We will contact you through your University email address or an alternative email address provided if you have graduated. 

This privacy notice is continued at: edin.ac/privacy 

If you have any questions, please contact: Careers Service Internships Team: employ.ed@ed.ac.uk 

For the Insights Programme please contact: insights.programme@ed.ac.uk 

Please see further information for the programme that applies to you below:  

Insights Programme 

The information you provide will be used by the University to discuss and assess your sign up form with staff from the Careers Service, Edinburgh Global, Widening Participation, and Development & Alumni. These staff will decide if your application has been successful based on the information that you submit in your sign up form and your student record. We will hold the personal data you provided us in your application for 12 months after you have submitted it. Even if you are unsuccessful we will contact you about opportunities that will be particularly relevant to you.

If your application is successful, the information you submit, your student record and other necessary information requested as part of the Programme including photos will be passed to relevant University staff, students and individuals in the relevant University Alumni clubs/networks and host organisations, which may be out with the EEA. This is to customise your experience, so Alumni (former University of Edinburgh students) and University staff can familiarise themselves with you before you arrive, and potentially contact you before you arrive.  

Your information will also be shared with The University of Edinburgh Hospitality and Events Collection and the Finance department in order to administer the Programme. Full privacy notices here: 

If you take part in the Insights Online Week, your student record, sign up and other necessary information requested as part of the Programme will be passed to relevant University staff and students in order to deliver the Programme. We will not be sharing your personal data with the relevant University Alumni which may be out with the EEA, this will be at your discretion to share this during and after the Programme.

Employ.ed for PhD and On Campus 

Information you have given us in this application form will be shared with the University department or external employer you are applying to. The information you give us will not be shared with other organisations, except where they are party to the recruitment process (for example, the NHS). 

For roles at the University of Edinburgh we will keep your personal data for no longer than is necessary.  More detail on how long we keep different types of information can be found under the HR retention policy.  

HR retention policy 

For roles with external employers we will hold the personal data you provided us in your application for 6 months after you have submitted it. 

If you are applying to the Internship Programme and are successful for a role at the University of Edinburgh, the information you provide will form the basis of your employee record and you will then be provided with the University’s Staff Privacy Notice.  

If required by the University department or external employer you are applying to, staff in the Careers Service will assess your application against the person specification on the job advert. This is to assist the University department with shortlisting. All eligible applications will be sent to the University department or external employer as they will make the final recruitment decisions. 

During the recruitment process for roles at the University of Edinburgh,  the University may collect and share additional data to ensure we are complying with our legal obligations, for example, to check your right to work in the UK and for some roles, to carry out a criminal records check.  We may also request references from your referees, where you have given us permission to contact them. 

If your application is unsuccessful we will hold your application information for 6 months after the recruitment process is completed. 

Filming and recording privacy statement 

The personal information (this may include your name and identifying information, your photographic image or video) you provide as part of an event, video shoot or activity will be used by the University to provide information and updates to existing stakeholders, funders and partners. This will be used in our digital channels, including websites and social media.

We will use this on the basis of our legitimate business interest to record and promote our work. We will inform you that we will be capturing and using your image and make this privacy statement available to you.

The University uses external partners to communicate and promote our activities on the University’s behalf. Therefore, your personal information/image may be shared with partner agencies involved in the promotion of higher education and the University of Edinburgh in particular.

Where we use your image online this will inevitably be subject to international data transfer and we may also share your personal information to agencies which operate outside of the UK. Where you provide information that enables you to be identified we will seek your consent to publish this identifying personal data.

All personal information/images that we collect is held securely on the University’s servers and treated as confidential.

 

These privacy notices are continued here:

 edin.ac/privacy 

If you have any questions about this privacy statement please contact: CS.Admin@ed.ac.uk