Privacy Policy

This data protection notice explains how we process personal data within our business units which offer global search, advice and assessment services, and how these processing activities affect our websites: www.odgersberndtson.com, www.odgersberndtson.de, karriereportal.odgersberndtson.de, www.2-steps-a-head.com, www.positionen.de, www.berndtsoninterim.de and https://www.berndtson-hrconsulting.de/.

About us

The terms "we" or "us” below refer to the respective undertaking which operates the website visited by you or oth-erwise in contact with you, and which therefore processes your personal data. All of these undertakings are subsidiaries of Poseidon Marktforschungs- und Servicegesellschaft mbH.

In detail, this includes the following undertakings:

 

Undertaking	Website	Contact details
Odgers Berndtson Unternehmensberatung GmbH	www.odgersberndtson.com (only for the sub-website for Germany) www.odgersberndtson.de karriereportal.odgersberndtson.de www.positionen.de	Odgers Berndtson Unternehmensberatung GmbHTaunustor 1 60310 Frankfurt Germany Phone: +49 69/95 777-0 E-Mail: info@odgersberndtson.de
2-Steps-A-Head Consulting GmbH	www.2-steps-a-head.com	2-Steps-A-Head Consulting GmbH Taunustor 1 60310 Frankfurt Germany Phone: +49 69/25 75 887-10 E-Mail: info@2sah.com
Experts for Transformation GmbH	www.berndtsoninterim.de	Experts for Transformation GmbH Taunustor 1 60310 Frankfurt Germany Phone: +49 89/87 00 870-0 E-Mail: info@berndtsoninterim.de
Consulting for Transformation GmbH	info@berndtson-hrconsulting.de	Consulting for Transformation GmbH Taunustor 1 D-60310 Frankfurt Telefon: 069 95777-417 E-Mail: info@berndtson-hrconsulting.de

 

Details on these undertakings and the global partner companies acting under the name of Odgers Berndtson can be found here.

We store your personal data safely and process them in line with our statutory obligations and the data protection laws, in particular the General Data Protection Regulation (regulation (EU) 2016/679 (“GDPR”) of the European Union.

Our standards surpass those of the Association of Executive Search and Leadership Consultants, of which we are a member.

We review this data protection notice at regular intervals and update them from time to time.

This data protection notice was last updated in September 2019. Please check regularly for changes.

Target group of this data protection notice

We offer our executive search, assessment and leadership services, as well as the deployment of interim managers (“Our Services”), to all Clients globally. Details regarding Our Services can be found elsewhere on this or the above-mentioned websites. This data protection notice applies to you independently of whether you are a Candidate for one of our Clients; a person whom we are evaluating as an employee of one of our Clients; a Client; or a Source or a reference person of a Candidate, or an employee of one of our Clients.

Furthermore, this data protection notice applies to you if you participate in one of our events or have subscribed to information on Our Services or our marketing materials, such as our regular newsletter.

The following definitions apply for the purpose of this data protection notice:

Candidate (m/f/d) means a person who is a candidate, applicant, potential candidate or employee of a Client;

Client (m/f/d) means any undertaking, organisation, public authority or individual which retains us to render Our Services;

Reference Provider (m/f/d) means a person who provides a personal or professional reference in relation to a Candidate;

Source (m/f/d) means a person who provides us with information or knowledge concerning a Candidate.

For reasons of increased readability, we do not use masculine and feminine pronouns. Wherever neutral or masculine terms are used, this does, of course, include masculine and feminine persons alike.

Quick access

Please click the following links to facilitate use of our data protection notice:

Section 1 - Compilation of information

Section 2 - How we use your personal data

Section 3 - Nature of personal data collected and processed by us

Section 4 - What we do

Section 5 - Sensitive data

Section 6 - Your rights

Section 7 - Newsletters and other communication

Section 8 - Satisfaction surveys

Section 9 - Disclosing information to third parties

Section 10 - Third parties

Section 11 - Safekeeping of information

Section 12 - Information on others

Section 13 - Storage of your documents

Section 14 - Access rights

Section 15 - About our websites

Section 16 - Updating your account and your settings

Section 17 - Analytics

Section 18 - Cookies

Section 19 - Third-party websites

Section 20 - Joint data controllers

Section 21 - Complaint procedures

Section 22 - Contacting us

 

Section 1 - Compilation of information

Our Clients expect us to find the best available employees for filling vacancies in their undertakings. To do so, we are required to search systems, online databases, and other information sources and to talk to a large number of people. These include not only our Clients, but also Reference Providers and Sources to support us in making a decision.

We compile information directly from Candidates if you upload your CV on our career portal or if you submit it to us by email, surface mail, or through a professional network (e.g. LinkedIn or Xing). We also collect information from you when you talk to an employee of Odgers Berndtson Partnergesellschaften in any office around the world.

 

Section 2 - How we use your personal data

Candidate

We process personal data for various purposes:

• To find relevant Candidates for confidential recruiting orders. In this case, our client is not named initially. This means that we may disclose your basic contact details to the respective Client in a pseudonymised form if we believe that you are suitable for a specific job. If this Client believes you to be a suitable Candidate, we will discuss this with you in detail. You may be interviewed for the job by one of our consultants. After this, you may be included in a short-list for an interview with our Client. At this point, we will, after we have discussed this with you, disclose further details to the Client, who may then contact you directly. Data processing activities for these purposes are carried out on the basis of point (b), sentence 1 of Article 6(1) GDPR.
• To process applications in cooperation with our Clients, in whose names we are mandated to help fill a vacancy. This means that if you apply for a specific job, we may, after we have discussed this with you, disclose your personal data to the respective Client for the application procedure. The personal data are disclosed on the basis of point (b), sentence 1 of Article 6(1) GDPR. As a consequence of this, you may receive further direct correspondence from that Client.
• To perform periodic mapping or research tasks on behalf of our Clients once the data have been rendered anonymous. This allows us to better understand a specific market. These activities are considered legitimate interests within the meaning of point (f), sentence 1 of Article 6(1) GDPR and permit data processing activities by us on this legal basis. If you have given us your consent to process your personal data for these purposes and to be contacted by us or by third parties, we will process the data on the basis of your consent in accordance with point (a), sentence 1 of Article 6(1) GDPR. You may withdraw your consent at any time (see section 6).
• To execute an order within the framework of which we have stipulated with you individually to a programme such as an assessment or a coaching programme. In such a case, your personal data will be processed as necessary for the provision of our services on the basis of point (b), sentence 1 of Article 6(1) GDPR.
• To monitor equal opportunities, in order to collect data on the diversity of our applicant pool, but only if legitimate under applicable law. This information is rendered anonymous and aggregated.
• To improve the services we offer. For instance, you may be asked to complete one of our online satisfaction surveys on a voluntary basis (see section 8). Improving our services to improve your satisfaction is a legitimate interest within the meaning of point (f), sentence 1 of Article 6(1) GDPR. The data processing activities are carried out on this legal basis.
• With your consent, for marketing purposes in order to send you information on Our Services, white papers, newsletters, events, etc. (see section 7). Data processing activities for such purposes are carried out on the basis of point (a), sentence 1 of Article 6(1) GDPR. You may withdraw your consent at any time (see section 6).

We will only use your personal data in line with this data protection notice or if we are obligated or authorised to disclose your data to third parties by law or with your consent. In the case of a statutory obligation, the data processing activities are carried out on the basis of point (c), sentence 1 of Article 6(1) GDPR.

Please note that we are not responsible for the data processing activities of others, such as our Clients.

Client

We use client data to carry out Our Services for you (legal basis: point (b), sentence 1 of Article 6(1) GDPR) and for other legitimate business purposes, such as marketing or contact (legal basis: point (f), sentence 1 of Article 6(1) GDPR).

Sources and Reference Providers

We use personal data of Sources and Reference Providers in order to provide Our Services, in particular in order to obtain your opinion regarding a Candidate on a voluntary basis. These data processing activities are carried out on the basis of point (f), sentence 1 of Article 6(1) GDPR. Provision of our services constitutes our legitimate interest.

We may also use this information to offer Our Services to you as a potential Client. Such marketing purposes are legitimate interests within the meaning of point (f), sentence 1 of Article 6(1) GDPR, on the basis of which these data processing activities are carried out.

 

Section 3 - Nature of personal data collected and processed by us

Candidate

You may be asked to provide additional personal data, such as your date of birth, training and professional career, as well as a curriculum vitae (CV) or a resume, if we actively contact you about a job or if you pursue your candidacy. Your curriculum vitae or resume is likely to contain the following information: Professional career, training, professional qualifications, memberships, written documents, certificates and references.

Additionally, only with your explicit consent will we process any relevant psychometric assessments, psychological tests or outcome of such assessments or tests (legal basis: point (a), sentence 1 of Article 6(1) GDPR. You may withdraw your consent at any time; see section 6).

We may ask you from time to time to provide protected information such as your ethnicity or marital status. We do this from time to time online and on equal opportunity grounds, but only if such is permitted under local law. This information is always anonymised and aggregated and shall not be disclosed to any third parties without your explicit consent.

We might also compile personal data from third-party databases and other public sources in order to collect additional job-related information about you (legal basis: point (b), sentence 1 of Article 6(1) GDPR if we are already in contact, and point (f), sentence 1 of Article 6(1) respectively if we have not yet been in contact).

Client

In addition to basic contact details, we also compile information concerning your current role and other information which your organisation provides to us in order to enable us to have an effective business relationship (legal basis: points (b) and (f), sentence 1 of Article 6(1) GDPR).

Sources and Reference Providers

In addition to the basic contact details, we also compile information using your references as information sources, as well as details concerning your connection to and your knowledge about a Candidate, and your opinion on that person. We may receive this information directly from you or from publicly accessible information sources. These data processing activities are carried out on the basis of point (f), sentence 1 of Article 6(1) GDPR. The provision of our services constitutes our legitimate interest.

 

Section 4 - What we do

One of our employees or consultants may call you about specific jobs to discuss details with you. For other jobs, we may place an advertisement that you can respond to by electronic means or by surface mail. We will then inform you about our data protection notice.

In addition to recruiting for certain management positions, we also process personal data, once they have been rendered anonymous, when we carry out market surveys in order to map certain business fields or profile requests and to help our Clients to determine the available talent pools.

 

Section 5 - Sensitive data

From time to time we will ask for your consent to process your personal data for certain specific and limited purposes. We will always do so even prior to processing sensitive or special categories of personal data: ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, data concerning health, relationships or sexual orientation, health and/or biometric data. We encourage you not to provide us with any sensitive personal data unless you are explicitly asked to do so and have given us your consent (legal basis: point (a), sentence 1 of Article 6(1) GDPR. You may withdraw your consent at any time; see section 7).

 

Section 6 - Your rights

You are not obligated to provide any personal data to us. However, please note we may be unable to consider you in relation to Our Services if you do not do so.

Remember that you may at any time withdraw any consent once given to us, with effect for the future. In addition to this, you have the right to ask us to cease processing of personal data and to have them erased. If the data processing activities are carried out on the basis of our legitimate interests, you have the right to object to the data processing activities.

In such cases, we reserve the right to store basic personal data such as your name and your address. By doing so, it is ensured that your personal data will no longer be processed by us. Please inform us explicitly if you do not desire this either. In that case, however, we cannot ensure that you will not be contacted again.

Please note that no automated decisions such as computer-supported creation of candidate profiles, are made on the basis of the information collected by us.

Finally, you have the right to lodge a complaint concerning our data processing activities with a supervisory authority.

 

Section 7 - Newsletters and other communication

If you wish to receive one of our newsletters, we ask you to communicate your name, your email address, your professional title, your company name and your country of residence.

If you consent to receiving newsletters from us, we will send you email notifications and bulletins concerning Our Services and all job profiles that may be of interest to you.

You may unsubscribe from our newsletters by following the “Unsubscribe” instructions in the newsletter. In addition to this, you may amend your preferences and change your email account settings to receive direct marketing from us.

We will contact you from time to time in order to inform you about updates to Our Services and our terms and conditions, or simply in order to ensure that the personal data we have stored concerning you are still up to date, relevant and up to date [sic].

 

Section 8 - Satisfaction surveys

If you participate in a survey on satisfaction, we may ask you to voluntarily provide us with personal data, including your name, your email address and your views and opinions.

 

Section 9 - Disclosing information to third parties

We cooperate closely with trustworthy partners with whom we must share personal data in order to provide this website and in order to offer executive search or assessment services in selected countries. These partners include:

• Other Odgers Berndtson partner companies around the world which have signed a data transfer contract. This allows us to transmit personal data to these partner companies. Within Germany, we share the Client and Candidate data with the companies of the group as specified in section 20, which are joint data controllers in this respect. Please contact us if you desire more detailed information on such data transmissions.
• Our Clients to whom we offer executive search services. We will coordinate with you about this before disclosing your personal data.
• Our Clients for whom we carry out employee assessments and coaching in certain countries.
• Potential Clients that may require us to demonstrate our understanding of a specific market and the persons who work in it. Your personal data will be rendered anonymous in such a case.

We will only disclose information as stipulated in this data protection notice and, where at all possible, restrict disclosure to information in an aggregated form in order to avoid or limit the possibility of identifying you in person to the greatest possible extent.

 

Section 10 - Third parties

We may also disclose information to third parties which process information on our behalf. This is to help us operate some of our corporate business processes, including email distribution, IT services and client services. Within the framework of our agreements with them, such third parties are obligated to process only such personal data securely and in compliance with our instructions.

Your personal data may also be shared with organisations in other parts of the world. The data protection laws of those countries may not correspond to the standards of your home country. Because of this, we will only transfer personal data if an adequate level of protection of personal data is ensured to protect the information stored in the respective country, and if the local service provider complies with the applicable data protection laws at all times.

As far as required by law, we will take measures in order to ensure that personal data that are processed in other countries are subject to at least the same level of protection as they are in your home country.

We may be obligated to disclose information concerning you to law-enforcement authorities, public authorities or third parties based on a statutory obligation or a court decision. We act responsibly and shall take your interests into account as far as possible in answering such requests.

If you are concerned about these agreements to disclose personal data to third parties, please contact us and ask us not to process your personal data.

 

Section 11 - Safekeeping of information

We invest considerable resources in protecting your personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, changes or disclosure.

 

Section 12 - Information on others

If you provide us with any information concerning other persons such as information about a Reference Provider or a personal contact, you must ensure that the respective person has consented to this. We advise you to record their consent and to provide them with a copy or a link to this data protection notice.

 

Section 13 - Storage of your documents

We will store your personal data for as long as is needed to render Our Services, and in compliance with the statutory, tax, and accounting requirements. If your personal data are no longer needed, we will ensure that they are disposed of securely. To the extent required by law, we will notify you once we have done so.

 

Section 14 - Access rights

You have the right to request copies of your personal data stored by us. You may also ask us to correct any personal data that you believe to be inaccurate. Under certain circumstances, you also have the right to demand that we cease processing of your personal data. In addition to this, you have the right to demand that we disclose your personal data to someone you designate for your own purposes (right to data portability).

Please send us an email or write to the address indicated below in order to contact us. Please note that we may demand proof of identity. We will answer your queries within the time limit applicable in the respective country.

We may refuse access to some of your personal data in countries where this is required or permitted by law. If at all possible, we will inform you about the grounds for this.

 

Section 15 - About our websites

This data protection notice also applies to our websites through which we process personal data. Both the websites and the responsibilities are listed at the beginning of this document.

Our websites serve mainly to inform you about Our Services. In certain countries, a website may be available to view vacancies and to submit applications. The global Odgers Berndtson partner companies provide various websites each of which may be subject to different data protection notices.

In some countries, you may be able to set up a user account. You will be asked to register a username and a password in order to receive secure access to your account.

We use the personal data concerning you which we compile on our website for additional purposes such as adaptation of the appearance of our website to your personal preferences based on your use of the website. (For more information concerning this, see our sections “Analytics” and “Cookies”.)

We may share personal data to third parties as described above, or share such data to operate the website and to offer our executive search services and assessment services in certain countries. If you are concerned about these provisions, you should cease using the website and contact us to ask us not to process your personal data.

Finally, we may also use your personal data once they have been rendered anonymous in order to help our Clients understand who uses our website and how their job offers are read.

 

Section 16 - Updating your account and your settings

If you open an account with us or with a local partner who provides an application or career portal on our behalf, please keep your personal data up to date and inform us about any changes to your personal data. You can do this by updating your user settings via your account login or by contacting us.

 

Section 17 - Analytics

We use analytical tools and cookies on this website in order to provide our online services, identify any service issues, improve our services, provide contents which are customised to the users’ personal preferences, and in order to monitor data traffic and use of the website.

These tools may be provided by third-party providers and may comprise the recording and tracking of certain data and information concerning the characteristics and activities of the visitors of our website. We may disclose data, including personal data, to certain third-party providers in order to obtain such services.

One of these providers is Google Analytics, a web analysis service of Google Inc. (“Google”). Google Analytics uses so-called “cookies”, i.e. text files that are stored on the users' computers and which make possible an analysis of how our website is being used.

The information generated by the cookie regarding the use of this website by the users is, as a rule, transferred to a Google server in the USA and stored there. While the USA is not subject to the same level of protection of personal data as the EU, Google has joined the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield (more information on this can be found here), in which Google commits itself to observe European data protection law.

IP anonymisation has been activated for this website, so that, within member states of the European Union or in other contracting states of the Agreement on the European Economic Area, the users' internet protocol addresses will be abbreviated beforehand by Google. Only in exceptional circumstances will your full internet protocol address be transmitted to a server of Google in the USA and abbreviated there. At our request, Google will use this information to evaluate the users' use of the website, in order to compile reports on the website activities, and to provide further services connected to website use and internet use for us. This way, we may obtain information about the user behaviour in order to optimise our website, our products, and Our Services to meet the demand.

The internet protocol address transmitted by your browser within the context of Google Analytics’ activities will not be combined with any other of Google’s data.

You can prevent the storing of cookies by setting your browser software accordingly. However, please note that you may be unable to fully use all functions of this website in such a case. Users may furthermore prevent the recording of the data generated by the cookie and referring to their use of the website (incl. their internet protocol address) by Google and processing of these personal data by Google by downloading and installing a browser plug-in (available here). You may deactivate Google Analytics here: tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

Further information about the manner in which they collect and process your personal data can be found here: www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners

We also use Hotjar in order to better understand our users’ needs and to optimize our service and experience. For further details, please see Hotjar’s privacy policy by clicking on this link. Please note that Hotjar does not store identifiable personal data but stores a pseudonymized user profile. Neither Hotjar nor us will ever use this information to identify individual users or to match it with further data on an individual user.

You can opt-out to the creation of a user profile, Hotjar’s storing of data about your usage of our site and Hotjar’s use of tracking cookies on other websites by following this opt-out link.

 

Section 18 - Cookies

Cookies are small computer files which are downloaded onto your device when you are surfing online. They compile information about the manner in which you use this website and the internet. This information may allow us to identify you or your approximate location. Cookies also help us to give you a more personalised experience, e.g. with a local version of the website in a local language. Information from cookies also allows us to improve Our Services.

We use technically necessary “session cookies” which are, as a rule, not stored after the end of your browser session. They serve to determine your approximate location and to allow you to operate the website in an appropriate language. Furthermore, analytical tools place cookies which remain stored for a longer period (see section 17).

You can delete and block all cookies or only specific types of cookies via your browser settings. You can set your browser to notify you whenever any cookies are stored. By doing so, you will gain a clear understanding of how cookies are being used. However, if you decide to block or delete cookies, this may affect the website's functionality.

 

 

Section 19 - Third-party websites

This data protection notice applies only to this website and the website which links to this data protection notice. If you are directed to our website from any other website, or if you switch from our website to any other website, you should read that website's separate data protection notice.

 

Section 20 - Joint data controllers

The undertakings of Odgers Berndtson Group (Poseidon Marktforschungs- und Servicegesellschaft mbH, Odgers Berndtson Unternehmensberatung GmbH, 2-Steps-A-Head Consulting GmbH, Experts for Transformation GmbH) are joint controllers for the processing of Candidate and Client data within Germany. The single point of contact is Poseidon Marktforschungs- und Servicegesellschaft mbH, whose contact details can be found at the beginning and end of this document.

 

Section 21 - Complaint procedures

If you have any complaint about how we have handled your personal data, please contact us using the following information so that we can examine your complaint. Please use the same contact details in order to instruct us to cease processing of your personal data.

 

Section 22 - Contacting us

If there are any issues regarding this data protection notice or if you wish to assert your rights in relation to your personal data, please contact us by using the contact details of the respective data controllers which are indicated at the beginning of this document.

Alternatively, you may also contact our group’s data protection officer:

Poseidon Marktforschungs- und Servicegesellschaft mbH
Data Protection Officer
Taunustor 1
60310 Frankfurt
Germany

Phone: +49 69/95 777-900
E-Mail: privacy@odgersberndtson.de