privacy policy

At Orex, our policy, and our habit, is to respect and protect the privacy of all Orex team members, candidates, clients and of subscribers to Brandish, our retail intelligence newsletter. When you provide your email address to Orex, we will send you the Brandish newsletter. When you subscribe to Brandish, your details will be placed on the Orex database.

Orex recognizes that your privacy is very important to you and that you have a right to control your personal information. We know that providing personal information is an act of trust which we take seriously. Whenever you deal with Orex or Brandish, we may record and store information about you and about the contact. The information we store may include notes on our judgement regarding your suitability for current or future vacancies, or as a potential client. We do this to help us better understand you, which of our services might be useful and how to develop services in the future. This information is intended to help ensure future contact is more relevant.

This privacy policy explains how we handle information provided to us by applicants, subscribers, clients, candidates and team members.

Information regarding Team Members, Subscribers, Candidates and Applicants

Orex is a specialist retail recruiter and has, in the course of conducting this activity for more than a decade, accumulated an extensive body of information about more than 70,000 people who work in and around retail. This database is widely sourced. It is continually being built and expanded from a variety of information sources including:

• directly from people about themselves, frequently in the form of an application or resume or during face to face or telephone contact;
• from third parties about colleagues, friends, competitors, suppliers or customers;
• publicly available information from sources such as print and electronic media, company reports and press releases;
• the proactive efforts of our researchers;
• by clients providing us with the names of people who they believe would be suitable candidates;
• during search activities when we contact sources of information including people who may have dealt with potential candidates;
• by candidates providing us with the names of referees;
• from information provided to us by subscribers to Brandish, our retail intelligence newsletter.

We also hold personal information about Orex team members.

Individually identifiable information will not be provided to any other individual or organisation unless at least one of the following applies:

• we have the permission of the candidate or team member
• we believe it is necessary to provide a subscriber, candidate or team member with a service they have requested
• the information is already available to the public
• we are required by law to make the disclosure
• it is required to lessen a threat to health or safety

This information may include the fact that someone is an applicant for a role or that we have discussed a position with a candidate.

During discussions with our clients, we may discuss the suitability of some people on our database for a position. This is always in general terms, without implying the candidacy of that person. Unless we have obtained the candidate's consent, we will not disclose detailed information or the fact that someone is an applicant. Once you are an applicant, or we have personal contact with you, we recognise a higher duty of care.

Brandish Subscribers

Personal information is collected by Orex when you during sign-up for Brandish newsletter or e-mail us your details.

Some Brandish subscriber information may be used for the purposes of:

• providing subscribers with a more personalised service;
• conducting market research surveys;
• running competitions;
• adding your name to the Orex database;
• or providing you with information about other products or services offered by Brandish or Orex.

We may also collect information automatically about your visit to the Brandish website. The information obtained in this way, which includes demographic data and browsing patterns, is only used in aggregate form. We may use this aggregated information to:

• build up marketing profiles;
• aid strategic development;
• manage our relationship with advertisers;
• or to audit usage of the site.

Brandish may use cookies. A cookie is a small text file written to a user's hard drive that contains the User ID. The cookies do not contain any personal information about users. The use of cookies is now widespread. The reason we use cookies is to save our users time on the site and also so that we can personalise a user's experience of the site. If a user sets up his browser to reject the cookie, he or she may still use the site although functionality will be impaired.

Storage of information

Hard copies of resumes and interview notes are stored securely. This material is regularly culled to identify information that is irrelevant or obsolete. We use secure disposal methods.

All information stored electronically is kept in password protected secure environments. To the best of our knowledge, the security is sound. In addition, all employees, contractors and third parties providing services to Orex are bound to respect the privacy of information held by us.

Candidates play an important role in keeping their personal information secure by maintaining the confidentiality of any candidacy or other contact with us. Towards the conclusion of an assignment, people from Orex generally conduct detailed reference checks on candidates to verify their background and to confirm personality traits, work habits and work quality. Details of these checks are provided verbally to the client and sometimes also in writing. We regard reference checking as an essential quality measure and take great care to ensure that the process is rigorous, accurate and fair. Because reference checking can diminish the confidentiality of the candidacy, candidates should ensure that their referees can be trusted.

Information regarding Employers, Clients and Prospective Clients

We actively seek and store information about employers and potential clients. Some of this information is in the public domain. Some is given to us by applicants and candidates during the course of a job application process.

During the course of an assignment a client may provide us with confidential information about their company and markets. We undertake not to breach these confidences.

The security of client briefing notes is similar to that which applies to candidate material.

Access to individual records

Any individual may request access to our records relating to themselves. At any time, with suitable confirmation of identity, you are able to request access to read, update, dispute or seek deletion of information we hold about you. We will endeavour to respond to your request promptly. If information we hold about you is widely known or in the public domain, we reserve the right to retain it.

If you have any queries about privacy and the use of personal information by Orex please contact us.