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Can you ask the recruiter to delete your CV from their database after being rejected without any feedback? This is under the GDPR, in EU.
The reason - not keeping your information. The rejection letter was stating "never hesitate to apply to any position again".
Edit: The rejection letter was from the company. Also that would make a fresh new start, although they have some notes on rejected applicants.
Yes, by the power of the GDPR you have a right to have your data deleted if it is no longer relevant to their operation.
Depending on actual EU country, that might vary. For example, where I live you have a right to be reimbursed for any travel expenses for the interview if nothing else was specified. I cannot guarantee that right to you, if I "forget" you. You also have a right to have me testify that you indeed did interview for a job with me (sometimes needed to prove you applied to jobs for the unemployment agency). If I did reimburse you, I might need that data for taxes.
So there might be legal and business reasons to keep your information on file for now. But not indefinitely. My recent update by our lawyers on the laws and regulations in my country said that 6 months should be enough to fulfil my country's legal requirements. After that it must be deleted upon request. Actually, we must delete it if there is no other reason to keep it, to comply with GDPR, whether it is explicitly requested or not.
Other countries may differ. Other industries may differ. But generally speaking, if it's only "for company internal use", yes, you have the right to have your information deleted. The information was (implicitly, assuming nothing else was mentioned and signed by both parties) meant and used for the act of applying for a job and if you did not get the job (matter of fact even if you did get the job) it no longer serves a purpose that would override your right to self-govern your information.
Speaking as someone who works on the Applicant Tracking System for a large European company, yes. We routinely handle and comply with such requests, and also have data retention policies in place for rejected candidates.
Yes.
Not only you can. You also should. And for a very ugly reasons.
Now, a disclaimer first - according to my own experience and unanimously everybody among my acquaintances, it's never'ish to your benefit and I'm in advance apologizing for the rant-like statement.
Your profile is a valuable resource to recruiters. The number of CVs then "own" is a markettable gold. Especially if they present the portfolio of available, skilled professionals they have personal contact with. Many recruiters get paid by the profiles presented and it's simply cheaper to shoot from a pre-set cannon of applicants than contacting them to ask if it's OK to present them.
What about FOMO? Won't we miss on great opportunities because we're not readily set to be presented? Well... If you're so average and not in demand that you'll be missing out, then it's very likely that the employer won't hire you anyway. If you've got some (even modest) skills, you will be in demand. They will look you up. They will get back to you. There's usually hefty bonus if a candidate presented, actually turns out any good (and available at a acceptable price).
Also, be sure that most of the recruiters are desperate to get clients (employers who will hire) and it's a very competitive world (too many people shoving CVs back and forth, which requires very little knowledge). It means that their key selling point is that they can get good candidates cheaply. Let me translate it to candidatish: they will pay you less.
And show me the recruiter who will work hard so that you can get a good offer. There's a risk of annoying the client who pays them. There's risk of getting undercut by a competitor. You and your CV is just a merchandise and the lower they sell you to a job you'll soon get fired or tired from, the better. Being stored as a reject tell the reader that at least once and for some reason you were not interesting. Bad start...
Recruiters are not agents. They are something else that can't be stated here due to policy of professional language.
Oh, and asking, urging or even angrily, repeatedly demanding to be removed doesn't ensure that it will happen. You can get into a DB without your consent (because how would you know about it, right? and they can simply "happen" to have IT issue and by mistake "forget" to remove your profile. They can't because that's illegal? Well... so is rape and murder. Are you familiar with the concept of courts and prisons? There's a reason they exist.
There are good recruiters. There are also winning lottery tickets...
I'm immensely sorry and apologize to anybody who may have taken offense, felt insulted or unfairly described. I promise it wasn't you I referred to and I'm utterly happy that you do exist.
Yes, you have the right and you should make such request, but don't trust too much that it will really be done. I asked recruiters to delete my data a lot of times and I know by experience that often they do not comply with such requests.
A lot of times at the moment of my request to delete the data I received a confirmation by the recruiter and after two, three years or more I received messages or phone calls asking if I was available for a new position referring to the CV that was supposed to be deleted. A lot of times I even received automated emails starting with "We have an old CV of yours in our database ..." and asking to keep it up to date with a link to the update page.
Once I applied for a job in a big company via their careers page, the job ad specified clearly that my CV would have been deleted after 6 months. After five years I was contacted by a recruiter I never sent my CV to, after some discussion he admitted that he was pre-screening the CVs on behalf of the big company and he took a copy of all the CVs for his agency.
Case 1: You take the job, you stay only for four months, then you leave. Your boss is unhappy.
Case 2: You don't take the job, and as a result you don't make any money for four months. You are unhappy.
It's better your boss is unhappy than you are unhappy.
