Privacy and Cookies

We are Worldwide Recruitment Solutions (WRS), a recruitment agency and recruitment business as defined in the Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003. Alongside recruitment, we provide training, outsourcing, consultancy, and global mobility services. In line with the UK GDPR, we collect and process personal data to carry out our services effectively and responsibly.

For more information about your rights or how we handle your data, you can contact our Data Protection Officer at data@worldwide-rs.com.

Who We Are and What We Do

Worldwide Recruitment Solutions Ltd (“WRS”, “we” or “us”) is committed to protecting the privacy of individuals’ personal data. We act as a data controller, which means we determine the purpose and method of processing the personal data you share with us. As such, we are fully responsible for ensuring your data is handled lawfully and securely.

This privacy notice outlines how we collect, use, store, and share your personal data, and explains your rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

When we refer to “our Group,” we mean our subsidiaries, our ultimate holding company and its subsidiaries, and any associated companies, as defined in Section 1159 of the UK Companies Act 2006.

The designated data controller is:
Mark Brown
Worldwide Recruitment Solutions Ltd
249 First Floor South, Hamilton House
Church Street, Altrincham, WA14 4DR

WRS operates as both a recruitment agency and a recruitment business, as defined under the Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003. In addition to recruitment services, we also provide training, outsourcing, consultancy, and global mobility solutions.

Types of Data We Collect and How We Use It

We collect personal data from candidates, clients, suppliers, employees, consultants and temporary workers to support and carry out our business activities. This data includes information you provide directly to us, whether through our website www.worldwide-rs.com, by phone, email or other communication channels, such as when you register, apply for roles, subscribe to services, attend events, or participate in surveys and promotions.

The information we collect may include your name, contact details (personal and business email addresses, phone numbers, and addresses), financial data, compliance documents, references verifying your qualifications, experience, and right to work in the UK, CVs, photographs, and links to publicly available professional profiles (e.g., LinkedIn, Twitter, business Facebook pages, or corporate websites).

We use this data to deliver our recruitment and related services effectively and to maintain our business operations.

Information We Collect About You When You Visit Our Website

Each time you visit our website, we automatically collect certain technical and usage-related information, including:

Technical details such as your Internet Protocol (IP) address, login information (if applicable), browser type and version, operating system, and device platform.
Usage data including full URLs of pages visited, your navigation path to, through, and from the site (with date and time stamps), searches conducted, products or content viewed, page response times, download errors, time spent on pages, and interactions such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse movements.
Exit data, such as how you leave our site, and any information submitted via contact forms or when uploading a CV.
Communication records, including information provided when corresponding with us by phone, email, or other means.

We may also collect information you voluntarily provide when you:

Register to use our website
Join our candidate database
Subscribe to our services
Attend our events
Participate in discussion boards or other social features
Enter competitions, promotions, or surveys
Report technical issues or problems with the site

Information We Obtain From Other Sources

In addition to the data you provide directly, we may collect personal information about you from third-party sources such as LinkedIn, corporate websites, job boards, online CV libraries, business cards, personal recommendations, and reference requests.

Where we obtain your personal data from these external sources, we will notify you by providing this privacy notice within 30 days of collection. This notification will include details confirming that we hold your data, the source it originated from (including whether it was publicly accessible), and the purposes for which we intend to retain and process your information.

We process this data lawfully, primarily relying on our legitimate interests in recruitment and related business activities, ensuring that your privacy rights are respected and protected.

We also collaborate with a range of third parties, including affiliated companies within our Group, business partners, subcontractors providing technical, professional, payment, advertising, analytics and search services, as well as credit reference agencies and professional advisors. We may receive personal data about you from these parties to support our recruitment activities and ancillary services, always in compliance with applicable data protection laws.

Your Rights and How to Use Them

Under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, you have several important rights when it comes to your personal data. We’re committed to making sure you understand and can exercise them easily:

Your Data Rights

You have the right to:

Access your data: You can request a copy of the personal information we hold about you, this is called a Subject Access Request. To make a Subject Access Request (SAR), please contact us at data@worldwide-rs.com.
Correct your data: If any information we have is inaccurate or incomplete, you can ask us to update it.
Delete your data: You can ask us to delete your personal data where there’s no legal reason for us to keep it.
Limit how we use your data: You can ask us to pause or restrict processing, for example if you’re questioning its accuracy.
Object to how we use your data: You can object to processing based on our legitimate interests, especially if it impacts you in a particular way. You can also object at any time to your data being used for direct marketing.
Move your data: You can ask for your data to be transferred to another provider in a usable format, where possible.
Complain to a regulator: If you’re unhappy with how we’re handling your data, you have the right to contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO): Make a Complaint

Marketing Preferences

If we ever want to use your personal data for marketing, we’ll let you know when we collect it and give you the chance to say no. We’ll also ask for your clear consent if legally required.

You can change your mind about marketing communications at any time by:

Ticking or unticking relevant boxes on our forms
Contacting us at data@worldwide-rs.com

Third-Party Websites

Sometimes our website may link to other websites (like partners or advertisers). If you follow these links, please check their privacy policies; we’re not responsible for how they handle your data.

To access, correct, delete, or make any changes to your personal data, please contact us at data@worldwide-rs.com

International Transfers

As a global organisation, Worldwide Recruitment Solutions Ltd (“WRS”) operates internationally and maintains partnerships with clients and service providers based outside the European Economic Area (EEA). In the course of delivering our services, we may be required to transfer or allow access to your personal data from jurisdictions that do not benefit from the same level of data protection as that required under the UK or EU data protection regimes.

These international data transfers may occur for regulatory, statutory, contractual, or operational purposes, such as:

Access by WRS personnel located outside the EEA;
Sharing data with overseas clients or hiring partners;
Engaging third-party service providers is essential to the recruitment process.

We recognise that data protection standards may vary between countries. To ensure your personal data remains secure, we apply a range of safeguards that are designed to maintain an appropriate level of protection. to uphold a high standard of privacy and security regardless of location.

These safeguards include:

Legally binding Data Processing Agreements (DPAs) with all relevant third parties;
Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) issued by the UK or EU, where required, to ensure lawful data transfers;
Contractual obligations that enforce strict data security and confidentiality standards;
Centralised management of IT infrastructure and applications to maintain consistent governance;
Due diligence procedures are applied to all international service providers;
Regular audits and internal reviews are conducted to ensure compliance with our data protection policies and adherence to applicable legal obligations. Where required, we rely on mechanisms such as the UK or EU Standard Contractual Clauses to lawfully facilitate these transfers.

By applying these controls, we ensure your personal data continues to be treated with care, integrity, and in compliance with applicable data protection regulations, regardless of where it is processed.

Purposes of Processing and Legal Basis

We process personal data to fulfil our obligations as a recruitment business and to deliver services to candidates and clients. The purposes for which we may process your data include:

To perform our contractual obligations, including providing you with information, products, or services that you have requested from us, or which we believe may be of interest to you based on your professional profile or organisational needs.
To facilitate the introduction of candidates to client organisations for the purpose of permanent, temporary or contract placements.
To support candidates’ ongoing career development and assist clients with their workforce and resourcing strategies.
To provide information about services similar to those you have previously used, enquired about, or shown an interest in.

We are required by data protection law to ensure we have a valid lawful basis to process personal data. Depending on the context, we may rely on one or more of the following legal bases:

Legitimate interests: As a recruitment business, it is in our legitimate interest to process personal data to match candidates with suitable roles, build professional relationships, and maintain a relevant database of clients and candidates. We ensure that any such processing is necessary and balanced against your individual rights and freedoms.
Contractual necessity: Where we are negotiating or have entered into a contract with you (or your organisation), we may need to process personal data to perform that contract or take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract.
Legal obligation: In some circumstances, we may be legally required to retain or disclose certain information, for example, to comply with employment law, tax regulations, or other applicable legislation.
Consent: Where we are required to obtain your consent, for example, to introduce your personal details to a client, we will seek your explicit, informed consent before doing so. You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.

Each processing activity is reviewed to ensure compliance with data minimisation, purpose limitation, and transparency principles under the UK GDPR.

Our Legitimate Business Interests

We rely on legitimate business interests as a lawful basis for collecting and retaining personal data. These interests are directly aligned with our core operations as a recruitment agency and recruitment business.

Our legitimate interests include:

Facilitating recruitment services: As part of our role in connecting candidates with clients for permanent roles, temporary assignments, or independent professional contracts, the exchange of personal data between candidates and clients is essential and forms the foundation of our services.
Supporting long-term career and hiring goals: To effectively assist candidates in achieving their career aspirations, and to meet our clients’ evolving workforce needs, we maintain a secure database containing both current and historical personal data. This enables us to match candidates with suitable opportunities efficiently and accurately.
Business development and relationship management: To grow and sustain our business, we collect and retain personal data from prospective candidates, clients, and other contacts. This allows us to manage relationships, respond to future hiring needs, and provide ongoing support across our recruitment, consultancy, and workforce solutions.

Our legitimate interests in collecting and retaining your personal data are described below:

As a recruitment business and recruitment agency we introduce candidates to clients for permanent employment, temporary worker placements or independent professional contracts. The exchange of personal data of our candidates and our client contacts is a fundamental, essential part of this process.
In order to support our candidates’ career aspirations and our clients’ resourcing needs we require a database of candidate and client personal data containing historical information as well as current resourcing requirements.
To maintain, expand and develop our business, we need to record the personal data of prospective candidates and client contacts.

Consent

Where we rely on consent as the lawful basis for processing your personal data, we will obtain this explicitly, whether verbally, by email, or through an online mechanism, for the specific activity concerned. Your consent will be recorded on our systems as required under data protection law. You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. Withdrawal will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.

Other Uses of Your Personal Data:

We may also process your personal data for the following purposes:

To manage and maintain our website and online platforms;
To notify you of updates or changes to our services;
To ensure website content is presented in the most effective manner for your device;
For internal business operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, statistical and survey purposes;
To allow you to engage with interactive features of our services when you choose to do so;
To protect the security and integrity of our systems and services;
To assess the effectiveness of advertising and deliver relevant promotional content;
To offer tailored suggestions and recommendations about services or content that may be of interest to you or other users.

We do not use your data for automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects. While we may use technology to search and filter personal data based on predefined criteria, all decisions involving personal data are reviewed and confirmed by a person.

Cookies

Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site. For detailed information on the cookies we use, and the purposes for which we use them see our Cookie notice below.

Cookie Notice

Our website uses cookies to improve the user’s experience while visiting the website. Where applicable, this website uses a cookie control system allowing the user on their first visit to the website to allow or disallow the use of cookies on their computer/device. This complies with recent legislation requirements for websites to obtain explicit consent from users before leaving behind or reading files such as cookies on a user’s computer/device.

The cookies used to deliver the Google Analytics service are described below.

Cookie Title Description

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Google Analytics

These cookies are used to store information, such as what time your current visit occurred, whether you have been to the site before, and what site referred you to the web page.

These cookies contain no personally identifiable information, but they will use your computer’s IP address to determine where in the world you are accessing the Internet.

Google stores the information collected by these cookies on servers in the United States. Google may transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf.

Opt-out

To provide website visitors with more choice on how data is collected by Google Analytics, Google has developed the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on. The add-on communicates with the Google Analytics JavaScript (ga.js) to stop data from being sent to Google Analytics. The Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on does not affect usage of the website in any other way. A link to further information on the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on is provided below for your convenience.

https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=None

For more information on the usage of cookies by Google Analytics please see the Google website. A link to the privacy advice for this product is provided below for your convenience.

https://marketingplatform.google.com/about/

Disabling Cookies

If you would like to restrict the use of cookies, you can control this in your Internet browser. Links to advice on how to do this for the most popular Internet browsers are provided below for convenience and will be available for the Internet browser of your choice, either online or via the software help (normally available via key F1).

Disclosure of Your Information Inside and Outside EEA

We may share your personal data with members of our corporate group located both within and outside the European Economic Area (EEA).

Selected third parties include:

Clients are to introduce candidates to them;
Candidates to arrange interviews and engagements;
Clients, business partners, suppliers and subcontractors for the performance and compliance obligations of any contract we enter into with them or you;
Subcontractors, including email marketing specialists, event organisers, payment and other financial service providers;
Advertisers and advertising networks require the data to select and serve relevant adverts to you and others. We do not disclose information about identifiable individuals to our advertisers, but we will provide them with aggregate information about our users (for example, we may inform them that 500 men aged under 30 have clicked on their advertisement on any given day). We may also use such aggregate information to help advertisers reach the kind of audience they want to target (for example, women in SW1). We may make use of the personal data we have collected from you to enable us to comply with our advertisers’ wishes by displaying their advertisement to that target audience;
Analytics and search engine providers that assist us in the improvement and optimisation of our site;
Credit reference agencies, our insurance broker, compliance partners, and other sub-contractors for the purpose of assessing your suitability for a role where this is a condition of us entering into a contract with you.

We will disclose your personal information to third parties:

If we sell or buy any business or assets, in which case we will disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets.
If Worldwide Recruitment Services Ltd or substantially all of its assets are acquired by a third party, in which case personal data held by it about its customers will be one of the transferred assets.
If we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply our terms under this policy and/or other agreements; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Worldwide Recruitment Services Ltd, our customers, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

The lawful basis for the third-party processing will include:

Their own legitimate business interests in processing your personal data, in most cases, to fulfil their internal resourcing needs
Satisfaction of their contractual obligations to us as our data processor;
For the purpose of a contract in place or in contemplation;
To fulfil their legal obligations.

Where We Store and Process Your Personal Data

The personal data you provide to us may be transferred to, stored, and processed in countries outside the European Economic Area (“EEA”). Such transfers may involve third parties located outside the EEA and our staff or suppliers operating internationally, who support the delivery of our recruitment and related services.

By submitting your personal data, you consent to this transfer, storage, and processing, subject to appropriate safeguards. We take all reasonable steps to ensure that your data is handled securely and in accordance with this privacy notice and applicable data protection laws.

All personal information you provide is stored on secure servers with robust technical and organisational measures in place. Payment transactions are protected using industry-standard encryption technology, such as SSL.

If you have been provided with, or have chosen, a password to access restricted areas of our website, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential and must not share it with others.

While we strive to protect your personal data during transmission over the internet, no method of transmission is completely secure. Therefore, any data you transmit to us is done so at your own risk. Once received, we implement strict procedures and security measures to safeguard your information against unauthorised access, disclosure, or loss.

Retention of Your Data

We only retain personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including for legitimate business interests, legal or regulatory requirements, and to maintain accurate records.

To help ensure data accuracy:

Our website allows you to review and update your details;
We verify key information before making introductions;
We maintain ongoing contact to capture changes in your data.

Retention periods vary based on:

The nature and accuracy of the data;
Our legal and contractual obligations;
Whether a placement or interview has occurred;
Our understanding of industry practices by country, sector, and role.

We may archive part or all of your personal data or retain it on our financial systems only, deleting all or part of it from our main Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) system.

Where appropriate, we may archive or pseudonymise data (e.g. after a deletion request) to prevent reprocessing without explicit permission. Pseudonymisation involves replacing identifiable information with artificial identifiers to minimise risk.

Our current retention notice is available upon request.

Your Rights

You have a number of rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) in relation to the personal data we hold about you.

Marketing Preferences

You have the right to object to your personal data being processed for marketing purposes.

We will usually inform you, at the point of data collection, if we intend to use your information for marketing, or if we plan to share it with any third party for such purposes.
Where legally required, we will obtain your explicit consent before using your data for marketing communications.
You can manage your preferences by selecting relevant options on the forms we use, or by contacting us at any time at data@worldwide-rs.com.

Your Data Protection Rights

Under the DPA 2018, you have the right to:

Access your data
Request access to the personal information we hold about you (commonly known as a “subject access request”).
Request correction
Ask us to correct any inaccurate or incomplete personal information.
Request erasure
Ask us to delete or remove your personal data where there is no valid reason for us to continue processing it. You also have the right to request erasure where you have successfully objected to processing.
Object to processing
Object to the processing of your data where we are relying on a legitimate interest, and there is something about your specific situation that justifies your objection. You also have an absolute right to object to the use of your data for direct marketing purposes.
Request restriction of processing
Ask us to suspend processing your personal data, for example, while we verify its accuracy or the reason for processing.
Request data portability
Request the transfer of your personal data to another organisation or directly to you, where it is technically feasible.
Lodge a complaint
You have the right to make a complaint to the UK’s data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO):
https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint

Access to Information

You have the right to access the personal data we hold about you. We encourage you to contact us to ensure your data remains accurate and up to date.
To submit a Subject Access Request, please email: data@worldwide-rs.com

External Links

Please note: Our website may contain links to partner, advertiser, or affiliate websites. These websites operate independently and have their own privacy policies. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those third-party sites, so we encourage you to review their policies before submitting any personal data.

U.S. SMS Compliance

We may use SMS messaging to communicate with you about your application, job openings, and other recruitment-related matters. We will only send SMS messages to you if you have provided us with your express consent to do so. By opting in via our website form, you agree to receive SMS notifications. You may unsubscribe at any time by replying STOP. Users may opt out of receiving SMS messages at any time by replying STOP. Once opted out, no further messages will be sent.

Please note that message and data rates may apply.

We do not sell or share SMS consumer mobile numbers collected via our website opt-in method at any time.

We will comply with all applicable laws and regulations regarding SMS messaging, including the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and the CAN-SPAM Act.

Changes to Our Privacy Notice

Any changes we make to our privacy notice in the future will be posted on this page and, where appropriate, notified to you by e-mail. Please check back frequently to see any updates or changes to our privacy notice.

Contact

Questions, comments and requests regarding this privacy notice are welcome and should be addressed to data@worldwide-rs.com.