Jobs

AO Jobs

Terms of use & Privacy Policy

Introduction

This page is designed to provide you with information about how we use the personal data and information that you provide to us during your use of the [www.ao-jobs.com] website and any communication (for example telephone) made between us relating to such use.

AO.com is the data controller of the information you provide. AO Retail Limited (t/a ao.com) is a company registered in England and Wales with registered number 03914998. We are part of the AO World PLC group of companies and our registered office address is 5A Parklands, Lostock, Bolton, BL6 4SD.

We may change our privacy policy from time to time. This policy was last updated on [21/09/2022] and is version 2.2.


Your information and why we process it

The information we collect when you visit our jobs website or apply for a job (by any means including via the web portal or sending us your CV) is name, address, phone number, email, any contents you choose to put on your CV (including but not limited to date of birth, gender, medical conditions, educational history and employment history).We will also ask you questions regarding your gender, ethnic background, sexual orientation, neurodiversity and whether you have any disabilities, these questions are voluntary and will in no way hinder your chances of success should you choose not to answer these questions.

From time to time we may also ask you to undertake a personality assessment to check your suitability for a role.

We only collect, keep, use or share your information for genuine business purposes, when you’ve approved us to do so, or when we’re obliged to legally. There are a few reasons why we use your personal details:

1.      To contact you by email, phone, post or social media and to keep a record of your responses;

2.      Sending you information about recruitment campaigns that we are running;

3.      Sending you information about AO that may be of interest, useful or helpful to your profession;

4.      To assess whether you are suitable for any roles available;

5.      To process any application that you have sent to us including contacting you to discuss your application;

6.      Arranging job interviews

7.      Retaining your details in relation to future roles

8.      To ensure we offer equal opportunities to all individuals who apply for roles regardless of their background.

 

Basis for processing

To be allowed to process your personal data, we must have a legal basis for the processing. The data protection legislation sets out what these bases are. We have described below the different bases that we rely on and provided examples of the processing.

Consent

As a general rule we will rely on consent to process your personal data. This means that you have decided to allow us to process your data.  By submitting your data to AO Jobs you are actively telling us that you are happy for us to process your personal data in accordance with this policy. You may withdraw it at any time by emailing [careers@ao.com]. You may withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us.

Legal

Sometimes we are required to process the personal data that we hold about you for legal reasons – for example, it is required to check a successful applicant’s eligibility to work in the UK before employment starts. AO may process information about whether or not applicants are disabled to make reasonable adjustments for candidates who have a disability. This is to carry out its obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment.

Where AO processes other special categories of data, such as information about ethnic origin, sexual orientation, health or religion or belief, this is for equal opportunities monitoring purposes.

For some roles, AO is obliged to seek information about criminal convictions and offences. Where the organisation seeks this information, it does so because it is necessary for it to carry out its obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment.

What types of checks do we do?
We do a credit history check and a DBS check (criminal record check) for any successful candidates who will:
• have access to customer data in their role and/or;
• have contact with customers who have taken a financial services product.

Why do we do them?
We need to carry out these pre-employment checks to:
• Protect our customers;
• Confirm that you have the right qualifications, training, and experience to undertake the role;
• and to verify that you have a suitable background.

The most important part of these ‘fit and proper checks’ is the ‘honesty and integrity’ element which, in line with our values, is the fundamental basis of AO’s relationship with all AOers.

What is a credit check?
Also known as a credit search, a credit check lets a company gain insight into someone’s financial behaviour in an easy-to-understand report. At AO, this means we get to see publicly available information about your existing and past credit including bankruptcy, IVAs, and CCJs.
The results of the credit check, together with information received during our recruitment process, enables AO to assess your suitability including any element of potential risk we feel may impact your ability to perform your role.

What is a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check?
A DBS check is a background check used to ensure that you are suitable to work for AO in the role which you have applied for. It is also known as ‘a CRB check’ or ‘basic disclosure’ and it shows details of unspent criminal convictions.
Just like with a credit check, the results of the DBS check can give clues as to someone’s suitability to perform their role.
A completed DBS check will result in a certificate. You may need to see this if there are any police records of convictions, cautions, reprimands, or warnings recorded. The certificate will usually arrive within three working days, but can take up to two weeks in some circumstances.

How do we do the checks?
First, you’ll need to provide some identification and proof of your address – we can’t process your checks without these. Next, we will send you a link to complete a consent form. For the last step, you’ll receive an email from Experian inviting you to log in and complete their online form too.
What info do I need to fill out the Experian form?
You’ll need your National Insurance number, as well as any details and dates of where you’ve lived in the past five years. If you’ve been known by a different name, you’ll also need to provide details and dates of this too.

What happens next?
We’ll get in touch if we need more info from you when the results of the checks are back. If everything is satisfactory, we can then confirm your start date and you can hand in your notice.

What if my checks are not satisfactory?
Our offer of employment is subject to satisfactory credit and DBS checks. So we advise that you hold off handing in your notice until we confirm everything is okay – if your checks are not satisfactory, you will not be able to join us.
Will these checks affect my credit score?
This is an employment check only. It will leave a footprint on your credit file, however it will not impact your credit score.

 

Legitimate Interests

We also rely on being able to process your personal data on the basis that it is in our legitimate interests. When we do this we will always consider your interests and balance any positive or negative impact relating to such processing and your legal rights relating to data protection. The legitimate interests of AO jobs do not automatically override your interests.

If you do not want us to process any of the personal data we have listed as being processed for legitimate purposes, you have the right to object. For more information see the section below relating to your rights included below. Please note that if you object we may still continue to process your personal data in certain circumstances. Please also remember that if we can’ process your personal data for these purposes your customer experience may not be as enjoyable.

Our legitimate interests include:

  1. To contact you by email, phone, post or social media and to keep a record of your responses;
  2. Sending you information about recruitment campaigns that we are running;
  3. Sending you information about AO that may be of interest, useful or helpful to your profession;

 

Information we’ll share

We share your information in very limited circumstances set out below:

  • Where we’re obliged to do so (for example a legal request),
  • When we need to work with a third party or core service provider, for example a customer relationship management tool to send you emails or our employment checks providers. Each provider is carefully selected, and we’d only pass on the information required for them to perform that service on our behalf; they cannot use your data for any other purpose e.g. their own marketing purposes;
  • With Traitify in relation to the provision of personality assessment services. Traitify receive data that you directly input into the Traitify tool and also we may provide additional information about your performance.  This data is transferred to the USA.
  • With our group companies who may provide us with internal administration services;
  • Social media platforms or internet platforms (this is based on cookies – for more information see our cookies policy below)

 

We’ll never sell your information. We’ll always comply with all relevant data protection legislation (including the General Data Protection Regulation).

We sometimes share anonymised information and analytics with third parties but not in a way that they could identify you as an individual.

Personality Assessments

The personality assessments collect personality data using human interaction with images. It is an algorithm that validates against the Big Five and Holland Interest models which determine employee interests and personality in the workplace.

The Big Five personality traits are extraversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism.  Whilst the Holland codes are are a way of classifying people according to their interests so that they can be matched with appropriate careers. Holland interests map interests to career choice based on Realistic (Doers), Investigative (Thinkers), Artistic (Creators), Social (Helpers), Enterprising (Persuaders), and Conventional (Organizers).

The assessment is based on visual images that will prompt a response that determines whether the image is representative of your work preferences.

The assessment will ask you to complete a section that asks for data about you.  This includes your email and full name.  This information will only be used to by AO to identify your application.

Your report will be stored confidentially by the people team in line with our retention periods policy, after which time it will be destroyed.  It will not be part of your personnel file if you commence employment at AO.

Transfers to third countries

AO Jobs may transfer your personal data outside of the European Economic Area. This will only be as a result of our service providers being based outside of this area e.g. cloud hosting service providers such as Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure. We will always ensure that such providers are in a country that has been assessed to provide adequate protection to personal data by the European Commission, or if the service provider signs a contract with us which contains the relevant protections for you.

 

How long do we keep your information?

We will only keep your personal data for as long as it remains necessary in line with the reason that we collected it from you and to meet any legal requirements (such as resolving a dispute). The time that the personal data is kept for is called the retention period. We retain your personal data relating to any unsuccessful application for a period of 12 months.  If you are successful, your personal data will become part of your personnel file and will be retained for the length of your service and then a further six years.

If you receive emails from us about new roles that become available, you have the right to ask us not to continue to send you these emails at any time. You may withdraw it at any time by emailing [careers@ao.com].

 

Your rights

You have a set of legal rights in relation to your personal data. These rights are to ensure that you are in control of how your personal data is used by organisations. We have provided a summary of your rights below:

  • You have the right to know what personal data we store that relates to you (also known as a subject access request);
  • If any personal data is not correct (for example it is old information), you have the right for it to be corrected;
  • You have the right to tell us to stop using your personal data for the purpose of sending you direct marketing;
  • You have the right to tell us you no longer consent to any processing, which was based on you giving consent;
  • You have the right to ask us to no longer process your information on the basis of our legitimate interests. We will stop processing your personal data unless there is a legitimate reason that does not prejudice you.
  • You have the right to ask us to erase your personal data where the personal data is no longer necessary for the purpose for which it is collected. The right to erasure is not an absolute right.
  • You have the right to ask for an individual to review any decision made using an automated process.
  • If you would like to exercise any of your rights, please contact us at dataprotection@ao.com. If you ask us to no longer send you any emails or SMS please allow 48 hours for your request to be processed in our system.

 

Contacting the Information Commissioner’s Office

If you are not happy with the way in which we have dealt with your personal data or your enquiries relating to that personal data, it is your right to make a complaint to the data protection regulator. The regulator is the Information Commissioner’s Office. You can find more detail at www.ico.org.uk.

Contacting Us

We’re always looking for new ways to improve your experience with us, that’s why we love hearing from you. If you have any questions about how we use your personal data or if you’d like to amend or stop us from processing your data (for marketing purposes), please contact us. You can get in touch by emailing our friendly recruitment team at careers@ao.com or you can write to us at our registered office address – 5A Parklands, Lostock, Bolton, BL6 4SD.

We have appointed a Data Protection Officer (DPO). You may contact the DPO by writing to us at the registered office address set out above or by emailing dataprotection@ao.com.

Cookies

Cookies are small text files used to transfer information. Site functionality cookies allow you to navigate the site and use our features. When you return to the site we’ll be able to remember the jobs you’ve looked at or applied for. Cookies also enable us to show jobs relevant to you when you’re browsing online and improve the overall experience you receive using our site. Analytics cookies help us to learn where we’re going wrong, and which elements of the site you find easier to use. We’ll track the volume of people on our site, where they were referred from, where they click, and where they exit the site. Our Analytics cookies have a retention period of 26 months and cannot be deleted by the user, however the data we receive in Analytics cookies is none personally identifiable information. You can manage how we use cookies through the cookie pop up which appears when you first visit the AO Jobs site.