Candidate Privacy Notice

1. Who is responsible for processing your personal data?

This Candidate Privacy Notice ("Notice") applies to the ABB Group of companies, which means ABB Ltd and each entity in which ABB Ltd, directly or indirectly, has a majority holding or owns or controls the majority of voting rights. The ABB company where you are applying for a position (referred to as "ABB" or "we") is responsible for the processing of your personal data and controls how it is used, in accordance with this Notice.

Other subsidiary companies of ABB may also receive and process your personal data, either in the capacity of controller or processor, and this Notice applies equally to them.

We have obtained your personal data via ABB’s career portal.

In some cases, we will also obtain your personal data indirectly from third parties, such as background check providers, recruitment agencies through which you have applied for a job and other administration services providers.

In some cases, we will also obtain personal data from publicly available sources such as employment- and business- orientated social networking services (such as LinkedIn, Glassdoor) and career fairs.

2. The types of information we collect and use?

We collect and use personal data that concerns you in connection with the recruitment process at ABB. We may collect the following categories of personal data:

• Personal details and identification data such as name, gender, date and country of birth; personal and business address, personal telephone number, personal email address or other contact details, photo, citizenship and nationality.
• Skill and experience details such as qualifications and certifications including current and previous positions, education and training courses, resume/CV, education records and work achievements. In some cases: contact details of referees and results of capability assessments and interview assessment/feedback and any other personal information you choose to disclose to us as part of your job application;
• Depending on the position, we are performing internal/external assessments, where we collect additional data such as assessment performance data, assessment score, phone interview recordings/notes, video interview recordings/notes;
• In some countries, we further need to process data concerning your trade union membership; religion and philosophical beliefs and criminal records (only when required by the local law or where this is used to secure equal opportunity and treatment for all candidates and employees in ABB, in accordance with the local law). If we run a background check on you as a part of the recruitment process, we will only process such data in accordance with applicable law;
• Data necessary for the employment contract conclusion and onboarding process of the successful candidates only such as the applicable personal identity number (tax, citizenship, social security or possibly other type of individual number applicable for you due to your country in accordance with relevant laws; signature; bank account details; emergency contacts; insurance data; driving license number and training records.;
• In some countries, during the onboarding process we need to process your health data and data regarding your racial or ethnic origin (only when required by the local law or where this is necessary to secure equal opportunity and treatment for all candidates and employees in ABB, in accordance with the local law). Respectively, any category of personal data mentioned above will not be processed, if such processing is prohibited according to applicable provisions of national law.

For further details of the personal data that we collect in your country, please submit a request to privacy@abb.com.

3. Why we use your personal data and what are the legal basis we rely on?

The personal data we collect will be used for the following purposes:

• Evaluation of your job application for the specific position within ABB or joint venture of ABB and a third party of for the purpose of potential future recruitment purposes within ABB or a joint venture of ABB and a third party, on the basis of your consent.
• In case of employment contract conclusion – to undertake steps necessary to fulfill controller obligations resulting from the employment contract and applicable legal provisions such as confirming that you meet internal and legal requirements relevant to the position, creation and signing of the employment contract and other employment documentation, creation of necessary accounts in our information systems; providing you access to the ABB premises; providing mandatory notifications to governmental authorities; providing you work uniform and personal protection equipment where necessary; and performing an onboarding session necessary to provide you with equipment, training and information required for the position you have been recruited.
• In case of employment contract conclusion, on your request we can also process your data as required for performance of the contract in scope of some employment related services (e.g. relocation services or obtaining required or visa and work permit).
• carrying out audits, reviews and compliance checks to monitor the quality recruitment process, including compliance with ABB’s corporate policies and legal requirements including disciplinary actions as well as responding to complaints and process related questions, on the basis of on legitimate interest of ABB or a joint venture of ABB and a third party .

You may obtain a copy of our legitimate Interest assessment of why we process your personal data for these interests by visiting www.abb.com/privacy. For more information regarding the purposes above, please submit a request at privacy@abb.com.

We collect only your personal data, which we need for these purposes. The use of your personal data provided during your job application will be limited to a need basis and shared only with the employees and third parties that are directly involved in the recruitment processes for the specific position.

4. Profiling and automated processing of your data.

In case we use automated methods, you have a right to obtain human intervention or to express your point of view and to contest the decision by submitting a data subject request at www.abb.com/privacy.

We can also use automated methods to analyse your personal data submitted on our recruitment platform and build the profile of our candidates (profiling). The profile will be only used to assess our candidates in unified manner, ensuring greater consistency and fairness of the recruitment process. The profiling outcome is an additional feedback for the recruiter and does not preordain the results of the recruitment process.

After your application, irrespective of whether you have been hired or not, we may send you an email asking you to participate in a survey related to the recruitment process. Your participation in such a survey is voluntary.

5. What happens if you do not provide us with the information we have requested?

Your application may be rejected in case your profile is incomplete and/or inaccurate. Accurate personal data, correct contact details and a complete profile is required to contact you and process your job application.

6. Parties we share your personal data with (in and outside the EU and EEA or outside the country where your employer is located)

We only share your personal data with other ABB affiliates or third parties as necessary for the purposes described in the table below. Where we share your personal data with an affiliate or third party so that it transfers to or becomes accessible from outside the European Union (“EU”) and European Economic Area ("EEA") or outside the country where your employer is located, we always put adequate safeguards in place to protect your personal data. Examples of these safeguards are an adequacy decision of the European Commission or Standard Contractual Clauses. We have taken additional measures for the transfer of data from within to outside the EU, EEA and outside the country where your employer is located to protect your personal data. If you would like an overview of the safeguards which are in place, please submit a request at www.abb.com/privacy.

If required, we will share your personal data with third parties in the country for which you have applied for the job or with third parties in countries that are directly involved in the recruitment process for the relevant position for which you have applied. This can be the case when you apply for a position in a country different to the country you are based. The purpose is for the creation and organization of visa and work permit.

In case you are applying for a position outside the EU, your data will be transferred out of the EU to the country where you are applying for the particular position. The EU Commission considers that this country does not provide adequate safeguard for your personal data, therefore we use European model clauses to protect your personal data.

7. How long we and other ABB affiliates or third parties keep your personal data

We will only retain your personal data obtained via this process as long as our legitimate interest or your consent remains valid. In general, although there may be limited exceptions due to local legal requirements (such as tax or commercial law), your personal data will be processed for up to 24 months. This retention period starts with every log-in to your account.

In case of employment contract conclusion, we will process your personal data for the duration of this contract.

Based on mandatory legislation, ABB must keep certain personal data for a minimum period of time. For example, employment contracts, information about salary payments and reimbursements need to be kept for a minimum period based on local corporate and tax legislation.

After the retention period, your personal information will be deleted.

For more information regarding specific retention periods that apply to your personal data, please submit a request at privacy@abb.com.

8. Your data privacy rights

Depending on the jurisdiction in which you are located and in which your personal data is processed, you may have the following rights:

Please note that the rights described above are not absolute, and that your request cannot always be met entirely. For example, sometimes we cannot delete or restrict the processing of your personal data as we may have legal obligations or contractual obligations to keep certain personal data.

9. Contact and further information

If you want to access your personal data, make use of any of your other rights mentioned above or if you have any questions or concerns about how ABB processes your personal data, please contact our Group Data Protection Officer at privacy@abb.com, or submit your complaint at www.abb.com/privacy.

Should you not be satisfied with our response or believe we are processing your personal data against the law, you have the right to file a complaint with the Data Protection Authority in your country of residence or work, or seek a remedy through the courts where you believe an infringement of data protection laws (and your rights) may have taken place.

10. Updates to this document

This Privacy Notice may be updated from time to time as a result of required developments. In case of such updates, we will undertake necessary actions to inform you about them depending on the importance of changes done. If and where required by applicable laws we will also ask for your consent to any material Privacy Notice changes describing our up-to-date practices.

Please check the “date of publication” to see when this Privacy Notice was updated.

Join our recruitment mailing list

We would like to use your email address to inform you about open positions at ABB, specified to the country and area you are interested in. You may unsubscribe at any time by clicking the “unsubscribe” link in any future communications or by completing the form at www.abb.com/privacy.

Further information

By submitting your application, you confirm that your personal data therein is accurate and up-to-date. Further, you confirm that you have read and understood this privacy notice and you are aware that by submitting your application you consent for us to process your personal data to review and assess your application (in the event we rely on a consent) or to do the same in order to take steps to prepare your employment contract. 

[Additional Information on Personal Data for Residents in Korea]

Personal data mentioned above will not be processed, if such processing is prohibited according to applicable provisions of national law.

Join our recruitment mailing list

Based on your consent, we would like to use your email address to inform you about open positions at ABB, specified to the country and area you are interested in.

Rights of legal representative and method of exercising the rights

A legal representative may request at any time to view, correct/delete, suspend the processing of, and withdraw consent to your personal data on your behalf. The legal representative should prepare a Power of Attorney signed by you and contact us at the contact information provided above.

Period of retention and use of personal data; destruction of personal data

In principle, we immediately destroy relevant personal data after the purpose of collection and use are achieved. However, if applicable laws and regulations require us to retain the data, we will store it for a certain period as prescribed in the applicable laws and regulations. In this case, we will transfer the relevant data to a separate database or store in another storage place.

• Records on contract or subscription withdrawal: 5 years (Act on the Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce, Etc.)
• Records on price settlement and supply of goods: 5 years (Act on the Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce, Etc.)
• Records on consumer complaints or dispute settlement: 3 years (Act on the Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce, Etc.)
• Records on collection/processing and use of credit information: 3 years (Use and Protection of Credit Information Act)
• Records on labelling/advertising: 6 months (Act on the Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce, Etc.)
• User’s internet log records/user’s location of access tracking data: 3 months (Protection of Communications Secrets Act)
• Other data verifying that communication took place: 12 months (Protection of Communications Secrets Act)

Unless otherwise agreed by the applicant, the information of the applicant who has been dropped from the recruitment process will be deleted immediately. Same applies if a third party is provided with applicant information.

Destruction process and destruction method of personal data

In principle, we immediately destroy your personal data after the purpose of collection and use are achieved. The process and method of destruction are as follows:

(1) Destruction process

Once the purpose is achieved, your personal data is moved to a separate database (or a document box in the case of papers) and is destroyed after storage for a certain period under our internal data protection policy and other applicable laws and regulations (refer to the period of retention and use of personal data). The personal data moved to a separate database will not be used for a purpose other than the purpose of retention, unless otherwise provided by laws and regulations.

(2) Destruction method

We delete electronically stored personal data by using the technical means that make it impossible to restore the data. For paper-based personal data, we shred them via paper shredder or incinerate them.

Installation, operation and rejection of automatic collection device for personal data

We operate ‘cookies’ that may store and find a user’s information from time to time. A cookie is a very small text file that a server, used by us to operate our website, sends to your browser and is stored in the hard disc of your computer.

(1) Purpose of using cookies

Implementation of automatic login function; analysis of a member/non-member’s visit frequency or time; understanding your preferences and interests; tracing your footsteps; providing target marketing and customized services by identifying the degree of participation in various events and the number of visits.

(2) How to reject installation of cookies

You have the right to choose the installation of cookies. In other words, you may either allow all cookies by setting an option on your web browser, make confirmation every time a cookie is stored, or reject storage of all cookies. Please note that if you reject the installation of cookies, it may be difficult for us to provide you with our services.

• How to set cookies (if you use Internet Explorer 8.0)

Go to “Tools” menu and click “Internet Options.” Click “Privacy” tab. Click “Settings” and set your level of accepting cookies.

• How to see the cookies you have received (if you use Internet Explorer 8.0)

Go to “Tools” menu and click “Internet Options.” Click “General” tab, and click “Settings” in “Search History.” Click “View Files.”

• How to reject the installation of cookies (if you use Internet Explorer 8.0)

Go to “Tools” menu and click “Internet Options.” Click “Privacy” tab.

Click “Settings” and adjust to high level to “Block all cookies.”