GitHub Candidate Privacy Policy

Effective Date: March 8, 2021

This GitHub Candidate Privacy Policy explains what information we collect about you during the application or recruitment process for employment with GitHub, as well as the purposes for which we collect and use that information.

For the purposes of this policy:

“Candidate” includes applicants and candidates who are part of the GitHub application or recruitment process; and

"Candidate Personal Information" refers to any information we collect about one of our Candidates during the application or recruitment process which could, alone or together with other information, personally identify them or otherwise be reasonably linked or connected with them.

This policy does not apply to the use of GitHub services, which are covered under our GitHub Privacy Statement.

What Candidate Personal Information do we collect?

The Candidate Personal Information we collect, use, and maintain (or “process”) can include the following, but is not limited to:

Identification and contact information, including your name, email address, phone number, location, GitHub profile, and any other information you provide (such as referrals and references).

National identifiers, such as your citizenship status, residency and work permit status.

Employment and education history, such as your resume or CV, cover letter, details of how you heard about the position you are applying for, information about any previous employment at GitHub or affiliates of GitHub, or other information you provide to us in support of an application and/or the application and recruitment process.

Professional or employment information, including your desired salary or terms related to benefits, willingness to relocate, other job preferences, interview details, reference information and/or information received from background checks (where applicable), and information from publicly available resources (such as your LinkedIn profile or website).

Sensitive or demographic information, such as your gender, medical or health information, veteran status, or your racial or ethnic origin.

How do we use the Candidate Personal Information we collect?

We use the Candidate Personal Information for the following purposes:

To assess your skills, qualifications and interests for employment opportunities with GitHub;
To verify the information provided by you or others, including checking your references;
To communicate with you about your application and the recruitment process, including informing you of other potential employment opportunities at GitHub;
If you were referred, to inform the referrer of the status of your application;
If you are offered a position, to prepare your offer letter and conduct a background check (to the extent permitted by applicable law);
If you are offered a position and where requested by you, to assist you with obtaining an immigration visa or work permit;
To comply with local laws, regulations, legal processes or enforceable government requests; and
To prepare and submit reports as required under local laws and regulations;
To manage and improve our application and recruitment process (such as making the application process more efficient and improving our diversity practices).

GitHub will share your Candidate Personal Information with those who have a legitimate business need for it. Whenever we permit a third party to access your Candidate Personal Information, we will make sure the information is used in a manner consistent with this policy. Your Candidate Personal Information may be shared with our affiliates (such as Microsoft) and other third parties (such as vendors) for the following purposes:

In order to carry out the uses of Candidate Personal Information described above;
To enable third parties to provide products or services to us or on our behalf (such as to facilitate the application process or conduct background checks).
To comply with our legal obligations, regulations or contracts, or to respond to a court order, administrative or judicial process (such as subpoena, government audit or search warrant) or, in response to lawful requests by public authorities (such as national security or law enforcement);
As necessary to establish, exercise, or defend against potential or pending litigation;
Where necessary to protect GitHub, your vital interests (such as safety and security), or those of another person; or
With your consent (such to contact your references). It is your responsibility to obtain consent from references before providing their personal information to GitHub.

Your rights to your Candidate Personal Information

In some locations, Candidates may have certain rights under applicable local privacy laws (such as the European General Data Protection Regulation). However, regardless of your location, we provide the same high standard of privacy protection to all of our Candidates around the world.

This includes the rights to request access or correct your information, request that your information be deleted, or object to or restrict GitHub from using it for certain purposes.

You can make a request to do so by contacting privacy@github.com. We will respond to all requests in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

How long do we retain your Candidate Personal Information?

Candidate Personal Information will be stored for one year after your application to comply with our legal obligations. After that time, we will contact you and ask for your consent to continue to retain your personal information so that we can consider you for any future job opportunities at GitHub.

If you are hired for a position at GitHub, we will retain the information provided during the application and recruitment process as part of your employee record.

Changes to this Policy

We may occasionally update this GitHub Candidate Privacy Policy. When we do make changes to this page, we will update the "last updated" date.