Why Candidate Relationship Management is the key to GDPR compliance

Many recruiting organizations are still struggling to achieve full compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). It doesn’t come as a great surprise as their fragmented recruiting systems are preventing good governance, and dashing all hope of achieving full tracking.

Multiple recruiting systems, each storing different pieces of information, also mean that information about job seekers is scattered and siloed, so not all recruiters have access to all of it. Some organizations have over eight different recruitment tools—and that’s not counting the dozens of spreadsheets sitting on local computers or located in individual Google accounts.

Moreover, Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) and other transactional legacy systems have been challenged to fully adapt to the GDPR, and to a candidate experience that extends well beyond the application.

Finally, despite the emergence of innovative sourcing and recruiting solutions, they are often focused on non-GDPR areas and support the regulation inadequately, if at all…

 

Why it matters

GDPR compliance requires that personal data cannot be kept for any longer than is necessary for the purposes for which it’s being processed. In addition, it’s illegal to use a consent form obtained for one purpose—a specific job application via your ATS, say—in another context.

Given the proliferation of data repositories in your organization, it’s hard to see if you’re GDPR compliant, let alone prove it. And by the time you find the GDPR consent form that gives you permission to use a candidate’s confidential data it could be out of date. Typically, it’s expired after six months.

So, what do you do for the two or three candidates who were finalists, but not hired, for your latest position? They might be ideal for other positions in the future. But how can you maintain the contact with them that will keep your employer brand top of mind when they are ready to make a move again–-and remain GDPR-compliant?

 

What CRM delivers

Candidate Relationship Management (CRM) software is specifically designed to facilitate the proactive recruiting you need. By dramatically improving the quality of your HR data and centralizing its management, it helps you build and nurture the talent pools and pipelines that turn leads into candidates and candidates into hires. Crucially, it also gives you the opportunity to achieve transparency across silos and thus generates a single and complete view of the candidate.

 

CRM and GDPR

CRM not only helps you approach potential candidates more proactively and keep them connected to your employer brand—the goal of almost half (46%) the 120 German-speaking HR organizations recently surveyed by Talentry (CRM Study). It also makes it easier to update confidential information, including GDPR consent forms. The communication history of individual contacts can be swiftly called up, reviewed, and changed, recruiting teams can coordinate this information more easily, and the relationships you seek to reinforce can be strengthened and deepened.

It’s also interesting to note that such critical aspects of GDPR compliance as a high-quality central talent database have greatly improved among the CRM users we surveyed, 85% of whom view CRM as a competitive advantage in the intensifying global War for Talent. Companies surveyed confirm that CRM has helped them improve data quality, central data management, and compliance.

 

Choosing the right CRM: 6 key questions

Not all CRM systems are equally good—so how do you choose the one that will turn the GDPR compliance challenge into a recruitment opportunity?

Ask yourself:

  • Can the system consolidate candidate information currently stored in multiple tools?
  • Can you easily review the “consent” status of your database?
  • Does it give you a clear enough view of an individual candidate’s GDPR compliance status to stop recruiters from inadvertently contacting the wrong candidate?
  • Can the system easily request consent at both the individual level and in bulk?
  • Does the system automate the management of consent expiration?

CRM is the key to GDPR compliance because it delivers data quality and transparency. By helping you build sustainable relationships with promising leads, the right system can also position you for a significant competitive advantage in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Now is the time to make the right choice.

Is your recruiting GDPR compliant? Gain better insights and full GDPR compliance with Talentry CRM. 
Find out more about how Talentry can support you to automate processes around GDPR consent management and compliance.

More Stories we think you will like

Ready to learn more about Alumni Management with Talentry?

Get in touch!