Candidate Privacy Policy

Privacy Notice for Renesas Candidates

1. Introduction

This notice (“Notice”) describes the categories of personal information that Renesas Electronics Group (“Renesas”)[1] collects about individuals who apply or are recruited for a job with us (“candidates”), and the purposes for which we use that information.

This Notice does not create or form part of any contract for employment or otherwise. If you have questions about this Notice, please contact [email protected]. 

2. Information we collect about candidates

2.1 Categories of personal information

The categories of personal information we may collect and process during the application and recruitment process include:

• Contact information, such as home address, telephone number, and email address;
• Information from job application materials or recruiters, such as your job application, resume or CV, cover letter, references, work history, education transcripts, whether you are subject to prior employer obligations, and information that referrers provide about you;
• Professional qualifications, such as licenses, permits, memberships, and certifications;
• Information from the application process, such as any phone-screens, interviews, and evaluations;
• Immigration status and other information that would allow us to verify your employment eligibility at the appropriate time in the recruiting process, as permitted by law;
• Biographical information, such as name, gender, professional history, references, language proficiencies, education details, and information you make publicly available through job search or career networking sites. We may collect your date of birth after an offer is made and as part of the background check process;
• Job preferences, such as desired position and compensation, location preferences, and willingness to relocate;
• Employment history, such as the companies you have worked for, job titles, and dates of employment;
• Background check information, such as information necessary to complete background, credit, drug/alcohol, and/or other checks when permitted by law, and information received during these checks; and
• Other information you provide to us.

Providing personal information to us is voluntary. However, if you do not provide sufficient information, we may be unable to consider your application or, if you are hired, your subsequent promotion, transfer, or relocation. In certain cases, we may ask you for additional information for purposes of complying with applicable laws. We may also inquire about criminal records. We will do so only where permitted by applicable law. 

In principle, we do not collect any special categories of personal information, i.e., personal information revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, genetic data, biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person, data concerning health, or data concerning a natural person’s sex life or sexual orientation (collectively, “Sensitive Personal Information”). This does not apply if the collection is required by law or is mandatory with regards to the job offered. We kindly ask you not to send us any such information, unless unavoidable or we have expressly requested you to submit such information.

If you use the Renesas career portal (“Candidate Portal”)[2], we may collect technical data or use cookies to optimize the use of the portal for you. However, we use such data only for statistical and technical purposes or to ensure safe use. We do not use such data for the evaluation of your application.

2.2 Sources of personal information

We collect personal information from you when you apply for a job and throughout the job application or recruitment process. We may also collect your personal information from other sources and combine it with the personal information you provide us. For example, we may collect your personal information from:

• Job board websites you may use to apply for a job with us;
• Prior employers that provide us with employment references;
• Professional references that you authorize us to contact;
• Pre-employment screening services, such as background check providers (where permitted by law);
• Employment agencies and recruiters;
• Your educational institutions;
• Publicly available sources, including your public social media profile or other publicly available sources;
• Other personnel at Renesas; and
• Recruiting or other events where Renesas is a sponsor or participant.

3. How we use personal information about candidates

3.1 Purposes for which we use personal information

We may use the categories of personal information above for the following purposes:

• Recruitment management. Managing recruitment generally, such as:
  • operating the Candidate Portal and any other site to which this Notice is posted;
  • recruiting, interviewing, and evaluating job candidates;
  • conducting background checks and other pre-employment screening (where permitted by law);
  • analyzing and improving our application and recruitment processes;
  • communicating with you regarding your candidacy, opportunities with Renesas, or about the Candidate Portal and any changes to applicable terms or policies; and
  • other business operations.
• Compliance, safety, and fraud prevention, such as:
  • complying with or monitoring compliance with legal and other requirements, such as reporting and equal opportunities monitoring requirements, where applicable;
  • complying with internal policies and procedures;
  • complying with lawful requests and legal process, such as responding to subpoenas or requests from government authorities;
  • investigating and deterring against fraudulent, harmful, unauthorized, unethical, or illegal activity, or conduct in violation of our policies or procedures; and
  • sharing information with government authorities, law enforcement, courts, or private parties where we have a good-faith belief it is necessary for the foregoing purposes.
• Analytics. Creating anonymous, aggregated, or de-identified data that we use and share to analyze our application and recruitment activities, business, and for other lawful business purposes.

In cases where Renesas processes Sensitive Personal Information, we do so because it is necessary for the purposes of carrying out our obligations and exercising specific rights in the field of employment, specifically: 

• We will use information about your disability status to consider whether we need to provide appropriate adjustments during the recruitment process or your potential employment.
• We will use information about your race or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, sexual orientation, and gender identity to ensure meaningful equal opportunity monitoring and reporting.

3.2 Sharing personal information

We may share your personal information with other parties as necessary for the purposes described above. For example, we may share your personal information with:

• Affiliates. Our affiliated entities for purposes consistent with this Notice or to operate shared infrastructure, systems, and technology.
• Service providers. Companies that provide us with services that help us manage the recruiting process and operate our business, such as job boards, recruiters, pre-employment screening, interview travel booking and expense reimbursement (where applicable), relocation (where applicable), and recruitment analytics. We will establish suitable data protection agreements, data processing agreements, and/or confidentiality agreements with each of these service providers.
• Government authorities, law enforcement, and others. Government authorities, law enforcement, courts, and others as described in the “Compliance, safety, and fraud prevention” section above.
• Business transfers.  Parties to transactions and potential transactions whereby we sell, transfer, or otherwise share some or all of our business or assets, including your personal information, such as a corporate divestiture, merger, consolidation, acquisition, reorganization, or sale of assets, or in the event of bankruptcy or dissolution.
• Professional advisors. Lawyers, immigration advisors, and other outside professional advisors.
• Business partners. Other companies and individuals with whom Renesas does business or is exploring a business relationship.

4. Your rights with respect to your personal information 

You have the following rights under applicable data privacy laws, which can be exercised by contacting Renesas at [email protected], to:

• Request access to your personal information. This enables you to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about you, for example to check that it is accurate.
• Request correction of the personal information that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you corrected.
• Request deletion of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove your personal information, for example, where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it.
• Request the restriction of processing your personal information. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of personal information about you, for example if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it.
• Request the transfer of your personal information to another party. 
• The right to withdraw consent at any time where we have relied on it to process your personal information.

5. Security and Transfer

The data you enter in the Candidate Portal is stored in encrypted form. An appropriate level of data protection is further ensured by protecting your data against unauthorized access by means of encrypted transmission, encrypted storage, a role and authorization concept, a data protection concept, and physical protection for the servers. The persons responsible for recruiting within the relevant Renesas company have access to the data you enter in the Candidate Portal. 

During the application process, including the preparation of job interviews, individual Renesas employees may gain access to specific information about you. The recipients of this information will vary depending on the job being offered, and may encompass prospective managers or colleagues at different levels who are relevant to the position.

6. Other information about this Notice

6.1 Legal basis

We generally process your personal information on the basis of the consent you give us, which is deemed given when you create a user account in the Candidate Portal, upload information, and submit an application. So long as you maintain a user account with us and participate in the application process, we will process your information based on our legitimate interest in examining and evaluating your application.

6.2 Changes to this Notice

We reserve the right to change this Notice at any time. 

6.3 No automated individual decisions

When using your personal information in connection with our recruiting processes, we do not apply automated decision-making or profiling procedures. 

6.4 Children

The Candidate Portal is not intended for minors under the age of 18.

6.5 Retention

If you are offered and accept employment with Renesas, the information collected during the application and recruitment process will become part of your employment record and managed in accordance with Renesas’s retention policy for employment records.

If you apply for a job at Renesas and your application is unsuccessful (or you withdraw from the process or decline our offer), Renesas will retain your information for a period after your application. We retain this information for various reasons, including in case we face a legal challenge in respect of a recruitment decision, to consider you for other current or future jobs at Renesas, and to help us better understand, analyze, and improve our recruitment processes.

If you do not want us to retain your information for consideration for other roles, or want us to update it, please contact [email protected]. Please note, however, that we may retain some information if required by law or as necessary to protect ourselves from legal claims.

7. Additional Information for Candidates in the EU

To ensure proper operation of the Candidate Portal, selected employees of Renesas have access to your personal information from Japan. These employees are subject to confidentiality obligations and may not use your personal information for their own purposes.

The usual retention period for information will be twelve months after completion of the application process, or twelve months after you have deleted your account.

To the extent a transfer of data in countries outside the EU occurs, we require appropriate guarantees to ensure an adequate level of data protection. Generally, we enter into the EU Standard Contractual Clauses with such third parties. Please note that Japan is considered by the EU as a country with an adequate data protection level.

You have the right to lodge a complaint with a competent supervisory authority in accordance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and the applicable laws if you consider that the processing of personal information relating to you infringes the GDPR. For this purpose, you may contact in particular the supervisory authority in the EU Member State of your habitual residence or the place of the alleged infringement.

The responsible data protection for Renesas Electronics Europe GmbH is the North Rhine-Westphalia Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (LDI NRW), whose current contact details you may find under www.ldi.nrw.de., and for Renesas Electronics Germany GmbH is the Data Protection Commissioner of Saxony whose current contact details you may find under www.saechsdsb.de.

You may also contact our data protection officer using the following contact information: Renesas Electronics Europe GmbH, Attn: Data Protection Officer, Arcadiastrasse 10, 40472 Dusseldorf, Germany or [email protected]. 

8. Additional Information for Candidates in Japan

In some cases, the personal information of candidates in Japan may be accessed by Renesas employees in other countries. We only transfer your personal information abroad to countries that are considered to provide an adequate level of data protection, or in the absence of such legislation that guarantees adequate protection, based on appropriate safeguards provided by local applicable law. 

9. Additional Information for Candidates in China

In principle, the Personal Information that Renesas affiliates in the People’s Republic of China collect within the territory of the People’s Republic of China will be stored within the same territory. However, there may be instances where your Personal Information is transferred overseas or accessed from overseas territories.

In such cases, we are committed to making every effort to ensure that your Personal Information receives an equivalent level of protection as it would within the territory of the People’s Republic of China. For instance, we will seek your consent for the cross-border transfer of your Personal Information, implement security measures such as data de-identification prior to any cross-border data transfer, and establish cross-border transfer contracts of Personal Information with overseas affiliates that receive such information.

10. Your obligations

Among other obligations, including without limitation the obligation to provide complete and accurate information in recruiting documents and processes, it is your responsibility to ensure that information you submit does not violate any third party’s rights.

You should keep your personal information on file with Renesas up to date and inform us of any significant changes to it.

In order to continue the application process, you must agree to the following terms. However, you have the option to withdraw your consent at any time using the contact information provided above.

1. You acknowledge that your personal information will be transmitted to Renesas and retained in accordance with the terms described above.
2. If you choose to voluntarily share personal information, including any information or documents you upload, you explicitly consent to the handling of such information as outlined in this Notice. 

By applying for a position with Renesas through the Candidate Portal, you confirm your agreement with the above terms. Your consent will be recorded and stored.