BBC Careers Site Privacy Notice
Your trust is very important to us. The BBC is committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal data. It is important that you read this notice so that you are aware of how and why we are using such data. This privacy notice describes how we collect and use your personal data on the Careers Site, in accordance with data protection law.
Successful applicants will be subject to BBC policies and to the BBC’s People Privacy Notice. Where there is inconsistency between those documents and this notice, this notice shall prevail.
BBC Careers Site
The BBC’s Careers Site is our recruitment portal, where candidates or potential candidates can apply for available positions across the BBC, including the commercial arm, BBC Studios. Unless otherwise stated, references to the BBC include BBC Studios, and its subsidiaries.
The application process is in two stages. At the first stage, you will create a profile on the Careers Site. After you have created your profile, you can apply for specific jobs.
We warmly welcome applications from all backgrounds.
What will BBC collect and how will we use it?
The BBC or BBC Studios will collect and process the personal data that you have provided about yourself when you register and/or apply for available positions via the Careers Site. This includes personal data about yourself, your contact details and details about your education and career history.
We will use this personal data for the following purposes:
- To communicate with you and respond to your requests or application
- For recruitment, evaluation, pre-employment screening including background screening (DBS checks), and hiring purposes
- To keep you informed of various positions available
The BBC belongs to everyone and because of that, we have a particular responsibility to represent as many voices and views as possible, reflecting the diversity and communities of the United Kingdom and our locations around the globe. As part of your application via the Careers Site, you will also be invited to participate in a diversity questionnaire. For information in relation to how the BBC will process your personal data when you participate in the questionnaire, please see the privacy notice attached to the questionnaire.
As part of our candidate application and recruitment process, the BBC carries out various background checks and pre-employment screenings. This may include carrying out reference checks, eligibility to work, criminal record checks, and character and personal reputation assessments through online and social media screening checks, where appropriate.
We will use the personal data processed as part of background checks and pre-employment screenings (including social media checks) to:
- Help us assess your suitability (skills, strengths and behaviours) for the role; and
- Validate the information that you have provided as part of the recruitment process.
Personal data
The BBC will collect and process the following personal data about you when you create your career’s profile:
- Full name and title
- Home address
- Telephone number
- Desired salary
- Career history
- Interests and hobbies
- Employment references
- Educational background
- Skills
- Job qualifications
The BBC will additionally collect and process the following personal data about you when you apply for a specific job:
- Jobs in which you have expressed an interest or for which you would like to submit an application
- Information you include in your CV
- Compensation details, such as salary information
- Information about your competency, ability and suitability for a position
We may also collect and process more sensitive personal data about you, such as any health conditions you may have. Such information is defined as ‘Special Category Personal Data’ under UK data protection law, due to its sensitive nature, and may include your:
- Diversity survey responses, including racial or ethnic origin, religion and sex life and orientation data
- Work eligibility, including your nationality, country of residence, visa and immigration status
- Health data, if you ask for ‘reasonable adjustments’ to be made
Pre-employment screenings
The BBC will undertake pre-employment screening, which will be initiated if the advertised position requires it. These will include the following verification:
- Employment references – to confirm previous roles and performance.
- Right to work – to verify eligibility to work in the UK or relevant jurisdiction.
- Safeguarding and criminal record checks – such as basic or enhanced DBS or PVG Scheme checks, depending on your location and role, to ensure suitability for work involving children, vulnerable adults, or regulated activities.
- Social media and media screening – review of publicly available information to ensure alignment with BBC values and editorial standards.
- International criminal record checks – where relevant for overseas applicants or experience.
- Senior role checks – including directorship, regulatory, and integrity assessments for leadership positions.
- Qualification and membership verification – to confirm academic and professional credentials.
- Adverse financial checks – where relevant, to identify potential financial risks.
Any job offer you receive is conditional upon these checks being satisfactory, if required.
Where we carry out online and social media screening checks, we may be provided with posts or pictures that you have made public that reveal additional personal data. The BBC will use the personal data processed as part of background checks and pre-employment screening, to ensure that the BBC is aware of any adverse media or social media posts that may be incompatible with our values or editorial guidelines.
For more information about our pre-employment screening, please contact bbchr@bbc.co.uk
Who is the Data Controller?
Depending on who you apply to, either the BBC or BBC Studios (and/or its relevant subsidiary) will be the “data controller” of your personal data. This means that either the BBC or BBC Studios decides what your personal data is used for, and the ways in which it is processed. For the avoidance of doubt, your personal data will be collected and processed solely for the purposes set out in this privacy notice. As the data controller, the BBC has the responsibility to comply, and to demonstrate compliance with, data protection law.
Lawful basis for processing your personal data
The lawful basis on which the BBC processes your personal data provided on the application form and profile on the Careers Site is that it’s necessary in order to take steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract. The BBC reviews the applications to select appropriate candidates, contacts candidates in relation to their application and information requests, and to ensure the efficient and effective operation of the BBC’s business in fulfilment of its public purposes.
We undertake pre-employment screening, including background checks where it is our legitimate interest to evaluate and assess your application to ensure that we recruit candidates who are suitable for the role. The BBC has a legitimate interest to select appropriate candidates whose values align with the BBC’s including our obligation to adhere to editorial guidelines. We will have carefully considered the impact on you and will not use your personal data where the impact overrides our interests.
We may process criminal convictions data in the following circumstances:
- In limited circumstances we may need to undertake a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, which we will only do to the extent permitted by law. Our legal basis in those circumstances will be for the safeguarding of children and individuals at risk
- Where we undertake other background checks which process criminal conviction data, we will undertake these with your consent.
Where the BBC processes your special category data (if applicable) it is on the lawful basis that processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest (DPA 2018, Schedule 1, part 2 (6) Statutory etc and government purposes).
For successful candidates, the BBC’s processing of your personal data will also be necessary to enter into a contract with you for employment purposes.
We will also process your data where we have a legal obligation to do so to comply with our obligations as an employer.
Sharing your personal data
The BBC works with approved third-party providers who help us to provide some of our services. These partners only use your personal data on behalf of the BBC and not independently of the BBC. Our processors can only access personal data to the extent required to provide the BBC with services under a contract.
In order to carry out the pre-employment screenings, the BBC may engage selected third-party provider to provide these services to us.
We currently use a third-party provider to provide the BBC with the Careers Site portal.
We will not share your personal data with any other third-parties unless required or permitted by the law.
Your personal data will not be transferred outside of the UK and the EEA, except where the employing BBC entity is itself located outside the EEA.
If you undertake your application outside the UK and EEA, then your personal data will be transferred from the country you are in to the UK, however this is not a restricted transfer under UK data protection law.
Your personal data will be stored in the UK and EEA.
Retaining your personal data
The BBC retains your personal data for the following retention periods:
- Details entered by candidates on the Careers Site remain for two (2) years and are then deleted if the account is inactive.
- Successful candidates’ personal data are transferred to personnel files.
- The BBC will retain your personal data processed as part of any background check or pre-employment screening for three (3) years, after which it will be deleted.
You can delete your account on the Careers Site at any time here. Log in to your profile, go to Settings, and select Delete Profile.
Automated processing
The BBC will not use automated processing and decision making in its recruitment processes without manual intervention.
Your rights and more information
You have rights under data protection law.
- You can request a copy of the personal data BBC stores about you.
- If your personal data is inaccurate, you have the right to have the data rectified.
- You have the right to ask for the personal data we collect about you to be deleted, however there are limitations and exceptions to this right which may entitle the BBC to refuse your request.
- In certain circumstances, you have the right to restrict the processing of your personal data or to object to the processing of your personal data.
- You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal data to you or to another organisation, in certain circumstances.
If you have applied to the BBC, you can contact our Data Protection Officer if you have questions or you wish to find out more details about your rights.
If you have applied to BBC Studios and have any concerns or questions about your rights or this privacy notice, please contact dataprotection@bbc.com.
If you have a concern about the way the BBC has handled your personal data, you can raise your concern with the supervisory authority in the UK, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) https://ico.org.uk/.
Applicants in the US
You may have the benefit of an additional right to opt out of the transfer of personal data to third parties for valuable consideration or cross-contextual behavioural advertising purposes. BBC Studios does not sell or share your personal data other than as described in Sharing your personal data above.
To request access or to correct or delete your personal data you may additionally contact us through either of the following methods:
- via email at human.resources.americas@bbc.com; or
- via phone at (212) 339-1713.
Updating this privacy notice
We will revise the privacy notice if there are significant changes to how we use your personal data.
BBC Careers Site Privacy Notice
Your trust is very important to us. The BBC is committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal data. It is important that you read this notice so that you are aware of how and why we are using such data. This privacy notice describes how we collect and use your personal data on the Careers Site, in accordance with data protection law.
Successful applicants will be subject to BBC policies and to the BBC’s People Privacy Notice. Where there is inconsistency between those documents and this notice, this notice shall prevail.
BBC Careers Site
The BBC’s Careers Site is our recruitment portal, where candidates or potential candidates can apply for available positions across the BBC, including the commercial arm, BBC Studios. Unless otherwise stated, references to the BBC include BBC Studios, and its subsidiaries.
The application process is in two stages. At the first stage, you will create a profile on the Careers Site. After you have created your profile, you can apply for specific jobs.
We warmly welcome applications from all backgrounds.
What will BBC collect and how will we use it?
The BBC or BBC Studios will collect and process the personal data that you have provided about yourself when you register and/or apply for available positions via the Careers Site. This includes personal data about yourself, your contact details and details about your education and career history.
We will use this personal data for the following purposes:
- To communicate with you and respond to your requests or application
- For recruitment, evaluation, pre-employment screening including background screening (DBS checks), and hiring purposes
- To keep you informed of various positions available
The BBC belongs to everyone and because of that, we have a particular responsibility to represent as many voices and views as possible, reflecting the diversity and communities of the United Kingdom and our locations around the globe. As part of your application via the Careers Site, you will also be invited to participate in a diversity questionnaire. For information in relation to how the BBC will process your personal data when you participate in the questionnaire, please see the privacy notice attached to the questionnaire.
As part of our candidate application and recruitment process, the BBC carries out various background checks and pre-employment screenings. This may include carrying out reference checks, eligibility to work, criminal record checks, and character and personal reputation assessments through online and social media screening checks, where appropriate.
We will use the personal data processed as part of background checks and pre-employment screenings (including social media checks) to:
- Help us assess your suitability (skills, strengths and behaviours) for the role; and
- Validate the information that you have provided as part of the recruitment process.
Personal data
The BBC will collect and process the following personal data about you when you create your career’s profile:
- Full name and title
- Home address
- Telephone number
- Desired salary
- Career history
- Interests and hobbies
- Employment references
- Educational background
- Skills
- Job qualifications
The BBC will additionally collect and process the following personal data about you when you apply for a specific job:
- Jobs in which you have expressed an interest or for which you would like to submit an application
- Information you include in your CV
- Compensation details, such as salary information
- Information about your competency, ability and suitability for a position
We may also collect and process more sensitive personal data about you, such as any health conditions you may have. Such information is defined as ‘Special Category Personal Data’ under UK data protection law, due to its sensitive nature, and may include your:
- Diversity survey responses, including racial or ethnic origin, religion and sex life and orientation data
- Work eligibility, including your nationality, country of residence, visa and immigration status
- Health data, if you ask for ‘reasonable adjustments’ to be made
Pre-employment screenings
The BBC will undertake pre-employment screening, which will be initiated if the advertised position requires it. These will include the following verification:
- Employment references – to confirm previous roles and performance.
- Right to work – to verify eligibility to work in the UK or relevant jurisdiction.
- Safeguarding and criminal record checks – such as basic or enhanced DBS or PVG Scheme checks, depending on your location and role, to ensure suitability for work involving children, vulnerable adults, or regulated activities.
- Social media and media screening – review of publicly available information to ensure alignment with BBC values and editorial standards.
- International criminal record checks – where relevant for overseas applicants or experience.
- Senior role checks – including directorship, regulatory, and integrity assessments for leadership positions.
- Qualification and membership verification – to confirm academic and professional credentials.
- Adverse financial checks – where relevant, to identify potential financial risks.
Any job offer you receive is conditional upon these checks being satisfactory, if required.
Where we carry out online and social media screening checks, we may be provided with posts or pictures that you have made public that reveal additional personal data. The BBC will use the personal data processed as part of background checks and pre-employment screening, to ensure that the BBC is aware of any adverse media or social media posts that may be incompatible with our values or editorial guidelines.
For more information about our pre-employment screening, please contact bbchr@bbc.co.uk
Who is the Data Controller?
Depending on who you apply to, either the BBC or BBC Studios (and/or its relevant subsidiary) will be the “data controller” of your personal data. This means that either the BBC or BBC Studios decides what your personal data is used for, and the ways in which it is processed. For the avoidance of doubt, your personal data will be collected and processed solely for the purposes set out in this privacy notice. As the data controller, the BBC has the responsibility to comply, and to demonstrate compliance with, data protection law.
Lawful basis for processing your personal data
The lawful basis on which the BBC processes your personal data provided on the application form and profile on the Careers Site is that it’s necessary in order to take steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract. The BBC reviews the applications to select appropriate candidates, contacts candidates in relation to their application and information requests, and to ensure the efficient and effective operation of the BBC’s business in fulfilment of its public purposes.
We undertake pre-employment screening, including background checks where it is our legitimate interest to evaluate and assess your application to ensure that we recruit candidates who are suitable for the role. The BBC has a legitimate interest to select appropriate candidates whose values align with the BBC’s including our obligation to adhere to editorial guidelines. We will have carefully considered the impact on you and will not use your personal data where the impact overrides our interests.
We may process criminal convictions data in the following circumstances:
- In limited circumstances we may need to undertake a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, which we will only do to the extent permitted by law. Our legal basis in those circumstances will be for the safeguarding of children and individuals at risk
- Where we undertake other background checks which process criminal conviction data, we will undertake these with your consent.
Where the BBC processes your special category data (if applicable) it is on the lawful basis that processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest (DPA 2018, Schedule 1, part 2 (6) Statutory etc and government purposes).
For successful candidates, the BBC’s processing of your personal data will also be necessary to enter into a contract with you for employment purposes.
We will also process your data where we have a legal obligation to do so to comply with our obligations as an employer.
Sharing your personal data
The BBC works with approved third-party providers who help us to provide some of our services. These partners only use your personal data on behalf of the BBC and not independently of the BBC. Our processors can only access personal data to the extent required to provide the BBC with services under a contract.
In order to carry out the pre-employment screenings, the BBC may engage selected third-party provider to provide these services to us.
We currently use a third-party provider to provide the BBC with the Careers Site portal.
We will not share your personal data with any other third-parties unless required or permitted by the law.
Your personal data will not be transferred outside of the UK and the EEA, except where the employing BBC entity is itself located outside the EEA.
If you undertake your application outside the UK and EEA, then your personal data will be transferred from the country you are in to the UK, however this is not a restricted transfer under UK data protection law.
Your personal data will be stored in the UK and EEA.
Retaining your personal data
The BBC retains your personal data for the following retention periods:
- Details entered by candidates on the Careers Site remain for two (2) years and are then deleted if the account is inactive.
- Successful candidates’ personal data are transferred to personnel files.
- The BBC will retain your personal data processed as part of any background check or pre-employment screening for three (3) years, after which it will be deleted.
You can delete your account on the Careers Site at any time here. Log in to your profile, go to Settings, and select Delete Profile.
Automated processing
The BBC will not use automated processing and decision making in its recruitment processes without manual intervention.
Your rights and more information
You have rights under data protection law.
- You can request a copy of the personal data BBC stores about you.
- If your personal data is inaccurate, you have the right to have the data rectified.
- You have the right to ask for the personal data we collect about you to be deleted, however there are limitations and exceptions to this right which may entitle the BBC to refuse your request.
- In certain circumstances, you have the right to restrict the processing of your personal data or to object to the processing of your personal data.
- You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal data to you or to another organisation, in certain circumstances.
If you have applied to the BBC, you can contact our Data Protection Officer if you have questions or you wish to find out more details about your rights.
If you have applied to BBC Studios and have any concerns or questions about your rights or this privacy notice, please contact dataprotection@bbc.com.
If you have a concern about the way the BBC has handled your personal data, you can raise your concern with the supervisory authority in the UK, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) https://ico.org.uk/.
Applicants in the US
You may have the benefit of an additional right to opt out of the transfer of personal data to third parties for valuable consideration or cross-contextual behavioural advertising purposes. BBC Studios does not sell or share your personal data other than as described in Sharing your personal data above.
To request access or to correct or delete your personal data you may additionally contact us through either of the following methods:
- via email at human.resources.americas@bbc.com; or
- via phone at (212) 339-1713.
Updating this privacy notice
We will revise the privacy notice if there are significant changes to how we use your personal data.
