International development consultant privacy notice

This privacy notice explains what personal information Mott MacDonald Group Limited, its subsidiaries and trusted business partners (‘we’, ‘us’, ‘our’) collects, why we collect it, how we use it, how we protect it and the control you have.

It applies to personal information that we collect in our capacity as a controller (the entity that determines why and how it will be processed) from you through the freelance consultant application and appointment process, either directly from you or sometimes indirectly, for example from another consultancy organisation. The freelance consultant application and appointment process is managed by our Consultancy Services Team (CST) who support the work of our colleagues across the business, such as in the International Development Services (IDS) unit.

This privacy notice may be updated at any time to include any changes to our processes. It was last reviewed and updated in November 2021. If we process your personal information, we will notify you of any significant changes.

If you are unsure about anything in this notice please contact CST@mottmac.com for further information.

What personal information are we collecting?

Below is a non-exhaustive overview of the categories of personal information that we may process during the recruitment process.

Personal identification: Name, title, gender, country, date of birth, military status (where required), nationality
Contact information: Email, phone, address
Network traffic and other online data (collected using cookies and similar technologies): Identification numbers, location, IP address, browsing behaviour, device ID, websites visited, language used
Account login information: Login ID, other information used to access and/or secure systems and applications including the careers website
Personal information regarding qualifications and career development: Any information contained in CVs and additional documents such as professional certificates, assessment and/or test evaluations, interview notes, application details
Background information: Employment references and, where permitted, information from background checks
Sensitive personal information, including special categories: Where necessary and permitted by law, depending on your location we may collect information about your racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, disability status, sexual orientation, gender identification or other protected characteristics (this allows us to monitor and report on workforce diversity and equality of opportunity). Please note that this type of sensitive personal information is used to comply with legal obligations (where applicable) and, in an aggregated and depersonalised form, for reporting purposes.
Criminal history: Data relating to criminal records and/or alleged offences to the extent that a client, process or law requires us to ask
Compensation and payroll: Bank account information (for payment), desired salary, current salary, compensation and benefits
Any other information that you volunteer: Feedback, opinions, information provided in emails and letters or other conversations
Images and/or videos: Pictures included in your CV, video surveillance footage captured during your visit to our offices

Please note that your decision not to provide any of your personal information as required or requested in the context of the recruitment procedure, may affect your ability to participate in the recruitment process.

Information we may collect from other sources

To the extent permitted by applicable law, in addition to our freelance consultant appointment channels or careers website, we may also obtain information about you from other sources, such as through your interactions with Mott MacDonald personnel during the interview process or from third parties, such as agents. We may also obtain information from other websites on the Internet (subject to such third parties’ privacy notices). For example, you may choose to provide us with access to certain data stored by third parties such as business and employment-orientated social media sites or websites.

Why are we collecting it and how will we use it?

In general, we collect this information to progress your appointment with Mott MacDonald (under our legitimate interests) and to inform you about future opportunities (with your consent). We may also need to process your personal information in order to fulfil legal or regulatory requirements associated with the appointment process, such as right to work checks. Some of the grounds for processing may overlap and there may be several grounds which justify our use of your personal information. The below table provides further details on the purposes for which we may process your personal information during the appointment process.

Progressing your application and internal management of that application

Identifying and evaluating applications
Assessing skills, qualifications and interest against Mott MacDonald career opportunities,
Setting up and conducting interviews and assessments
Evaluating, selecting and recruiting applicants
Conducting background checks and assessments as required or permitted by applicable local law
Contacting third party references provided by applicant to evaluate previous performances or as otherwise necessary in context of recruitment activities
Managing expenses and reimbursements

Responding to your queries and managing our relationship with you

Our consultancy services team communicating with you to:

inform you of available vacancies,
provide information relating to an opportunity,
fulfil any requests made by you,
offer suitable consultancy opportunities with Mott MacDonald,
share technical updates about Mott MacDonald projects that may be of interest to you, and
respond to your ad hoc queries.

Complying with legal obligations arising out of recruitment process

Disclosing personal information to government institutions or supervisory authorities as applicable in all countries in which Mott MacDonald operates, such as record-keeping and reporting obligations, compliance with government inspections and other requests from government or other public authorities, responding to legal processes such as subpoenas, pursuing legal rights and remedies, and managing any complaints or claims.

Responding to any legal claims

Establishing, exercising or defending Mott MacDonald’s legal position.

Who will we share it with?

Mott MacDonald will share your personal information with our trusted business partners (including suppliers and service providers) or other third parties only when it is necessary and proportionate to do so. We may share personal information with:

External service providers who help us communicate with you and deliver our programmes, products, information and services, process visa and work permit applications, support our technology systems and infrastructure or manage access to our work premises and facilities.
Regulatory authorities for visa and immigration purposes, tax audits or investigations.
Law enforcement agencies investigating alleged criminal offences by you, another individual or an organisation.

Please note that we will never sell your personal information to another organisation for any purpose.

Where will it be stored and processed?

We are a global business and our clients and trusted business partners (including service providers and suppliers) are located all over the world. This means your personal information may need to be accessed, stored, used, handled or otherwise processed in countries outside of the one where you are normally located, for the purposes described in this recruitment privacy notice.

Before sharing your personal information across international borders we ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place and that your privacy and data protection rights are protected. Those safeguards will normally include data encryption, role-based access permissions, and legal agreements that facilitate the lawful cross-border transfer of personal information.

How will we protect it?

We work hard to maintain and improve security measures that prevent personal information from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. We limit access to personal information to individuals or organisations who have a legal right of access (for example, regulatory authorities or law enforcement agencies) or a legitimate business need to know, for example line managers, HR professionals and (subject to appropriate contractual terms and conditions) our clients, suppliers and service providers or other third parties.

Our service providers and suppliers will only process personal information under our instructions, and we ensure that all third parties (including clients) are subject to a legal duty of confidentiality. We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breaches and will notify you and any relevant regulator or supervisory authority of a breach when required.

All Mott MacDonald People are required to complete mandatory privacy and data protection training on an annual basis. This includes supervisors, line managers, HR professionals and any other colleagues who may be required to access your personal information when carrying out their duties.

Please also see our Information security and Privacy and data protection Group policies for more information.

How long will we keep it?

We will only keep your personal information for as long as necessary. In certain cases, if required to do so by law (for example, tax, health and safety, immigration, financial audit, litigation or dispute), we may need to keep personal information for an extended period of time. Specific retention periods are defined, recorded and applied by the business unit responsible for the personal information to which they apply.

When your personal information is deleted or destroyed, we ensure that it is safely and permanently disposed of in accordance with any local legal requirements.

What control do you have?

Where we are a controller (responsible for determining why and how your personal information will be processed), Mott MacDonald gives you control over your personal information including:

Informing you about our processing of your personal information in relevant privacy notices;
Enabling you to withdrawing your consent to our processing, where applicable; and
Providing you will a copy of the personal information that we hold about you on request.

In most circumstances we will also be able to action your requests to:

Rectify or complete your personal information if you inform us that it is inaccurate or incomplete;
Erase (delete) the personal information that you hold about you;
Restrict our processing of your personal information;
Port your personal information to another company; and
Manually review any automated decisions about you that may have a significant or legal impact.

Please complete this online form to submit any of the requests listed above.

We endeavour to respond to all valid requests within one month of receipt, or any alternative time period specified by law. It may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated. To help us provide a response in a timely manner, please be as specific as possible when describing both the information you believe may exist and its possible sources.

You will not normally have to pay a fee to exercise any of these rights, and your application will not be affected in anyway. However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.

In addition to the above, you may also have the right to contact a privacy and data protection regulator in the country, state or province where you are located if you are not happy with how we are processing your personal data. If you need any help identifying the relevant regulator please contact the Privacy and Data Protection Team at privacy@mottmac.com.

Contact us

If you are unsure about anything in this notice please contact CST@mottmac.com for further information.

Alternatively, if you have any concerns about this privacy notice, or how we have used your personal information, please contact our Group Privacy and Data Protection Officer at privacy@mottmac.com. If you are located in Singapore, you can also contact us by calling +65 6293 1900.

If you are unhappy with how we have used your personal information, you can register a complaint with the data protection regulator in the country, state, or province where you are located.

If you would like to exercise any of your privacy and data protection rights please contact us using this online form.