Anonymizing and Deleting Candidate Data

Personio enables you to protect the data of your candidates according to the EU GDPR. By activating the automatic candidate anonymization, you can remove all personal data when it's no longer needed.

Note that the anonymization of candidates is irreversible. The data cannot be recovered but will be retained for your reports in anonymized form.

Automatic Anonymization

To set up the automatic anonymization of applicant data, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to Settings > RECRUITING > Recruiting > General > Data privacy settings
2. Click Edit
3. Next to Anonymize data automatically? select Yes.
4. Under Anonymize after, select how many days after a candidate was rejected or withdrew from the process, the data should be anonymized.
   
   Note when this number is set up or changed, the system will not update instantly. An update will run every morning, calculating the days that have passed since the disqualification. Hence, this will apply also for your historic applicant data.
5. Next to Include candidate name in notification emails? select whether or not the name of the candidate should appear in notification emails that are sent to you. If you choose No, no personally identifiable candidate data will be included in notification emails.
6. Then Save.

Manual Anonymization of Candidate Data

(Bulk) Anonymization

Your candidates' personal data can also be  anonymized manually. You can do so either for a single candidate or for several candidates at the same time, following these steps:

1. Navigate to Recruiting > Applications.
2. Filter and select the candidates whose personal data you want to delete.
3. Click on Actions. 
4. Select Anonymize application from the drop-down-menu.
5. A modal will open to request confirmation of the action. Click Anonymize.
   
   

Anonymization in the Candidate Profile

You can also anonymize the data directly in a specific candidate profile. To do this, go to the three points and select Anonymize application.

Which data is anonymized?

The following information is anonymized:

• The candidate's name
• All application documents
• The message history including all attachments
• Email address, phone number and the candidate's birthday
• Offers
• Evaluations; all quantitative evaluations, however, will be retained

If the candidate has applied for several jobs, the data of the candidate will be kept for the time being.

Deletion of candidate data

If you are sure that you do not only want to anonymize data, but completely delete candidate profiles, you have two options.

Note that the deletion of candidates is irreversible: the data cannot be recovered and is no longer available in anonymized form for your reports.

(Bulk-)Deletion

To delete the application of one or more candidates, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to Recruiting > Applications.
2. Filter and select the candidates whose applications you want to delete.
3. Click on Actions. 
4. Select Delete application from the drop-down-menu.
5. A modal will open to request confirmation of the action. Click Confirm.

Deletion in the Candidate Profile

Alternatively, you can also delete the application in the Candidate profile by clicking on the three points and select Delete application.