Is the recruitment industry in denial over GDPR? – Peter Moore

I’d probably say ‘GDPR ready’ is a misnomer, but there’s an optimum state of preparedness, and I don’t think very many are at that stage.

Whilst most recruitment businesses in the UK are already aware that they need to prepare for GDPR, some are a lot further along the acceptance path than others. I spoke with Pete Moore of Look at your Data, gaining an insight into just how close the UK’s recruitment industry is to being GDPR ready.

Steve: Hello Peter.

Pete: Hi, good to speak to you.

Steve: So, tell me what is the number one misconception people have about GDPR?

Pete: In this country it is that Brexit won’t happen, and that really depends where people are up to on their GDPR learning curve. GDPR’s an extraterritorial law. Therefore, Brexit is completely irrelevant.

Steve: How did you get into GDPR? What’s your background?

Pete: I’m a data strategist, and my clients started asking about GDPR. So, this time last year, I was an IT director at Evolution Recruitment, and I was looking into GDPR. Then I started Look at your Data in January to perform data strategy, so I was already GDPR aware.

Steve: What percentage of your clients are in recruitment?

Pete: All of my clients are in recruitment.

Steve: When you look at recruitment companies now, how many do you think are ready for GDPR?

Pete: Ready is a very big word in GDPR. In fact, I’d probably say ‘GDPR ready’ is a misnomer, but there’s an optimum state of preparedness, and I don’t think very many are at that stage.

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Even when I’m deployed, I tend to leave people with thoughts and ideas of things they could do with their data strategy, rather than a blueprint that says, “Yes, I am GDPR approved.” I probably liken it to how TV was when HD came in, and all of the TV sets were HD ready, that’s the law, but then the actual channels were still outputting on the old standard definition. Well, most businesses are still outputting on the old Data Protection Act, not the tighter GDPR laws.

Steve: What do you think the objective for recruitment companies is? Do you think it’s an industry that’s in denial?

Pete: Denial is a really interesting word because I think denial is the first stage of grief, and if I’m going into a business that really hasn’t paid any attention to it, which was much truer three or four months ago than it is today, then, yes, you will get denial.

The next stage of grief is anger, and I actually do quite a lot of being the messenger and taking bullets for the GDPR. I didn’t write it, but that tends to be my role quite a lot.

Steve: Thank you for your time Pete.

Pete Moore (@thedatabloke) is the founder, chief data strategist and GDPR export at Look at your Data.