This Privacy Policy explains how EquiVenture Executive Search Ltd collects, uses, stores, and protects personal data, and outlines your rights in relation to that data.

This Privacy Policy is issued on behalf of EquiVenture Executive Search Ltd. When we refer to “we”, “us”, or “our”, we are referring to the relevant EquiVenture Executive Search Ltd entity responsible for processing your personal data.

It is important that you read this Privacy Policy together with any other privacy notices we may provide at specific times when collecting or processing your personal data, so that you are fully aware of how and why we use your information.

This Privacy Policy is structured in sections so that you can easily navigate to areas of interest.

1. IMPORTANT INFOMRATION AND WHO WE ARE

Data Controller

The controller of your personal data is EquiVenture Executive Search Ltd that provides its executive search services to you, or that collects personal data about you in relation to its services.

Data Protection Officer

We have appointed a data protection officer (DPO) to oversee any queries about this Privacy Policy. If you have any such queries, including any requests to exercise your legal rights in relation to your personal data, please contact the DPO using the following details set out below:
Email: info@equiventuresearch.com

You have the right to lodge a complaint with your data protection supervisory authority at any time. In the UK, this is the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at www.ico.org.uk. We would, however, appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns before you contact a supervisory authority, so please contact us first.

Keeping Your Information Up to Date

It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please inform us if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.

Third-Party Links

Our website and communications may include links to third-party websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those sites and accept no liability for them.

2. THE PERSONAL DATA WE COLLECT

“Personal data” means any information relating to an identifiable individual. It does not include anonymised data where identification has been removed.

In the course of providing our services, we may collect, use, store, and transfer different types of personal data, including the following:

Candidate Data

Personal data collected about candidates or potential candidates to identify suitable employment opportunities may include:

• Contact details (such as name, title, date of birth, gender, email address, telephone number, and home address)
• Professional profile information (including qualifications, employment history, experience, skills, achievements, references, accreditations, work preferences, salary expectations, and career objectives)
• Any additional information you choose to provide
• Information received from clients, referees, or other sources such as professional networking sites

Candidate Data may also include personal data relating to third parties (for example, referee contact details) that you provide to us.

Client Data

Personal data relating to our clients or potential clients and their employees, typically limited to business contact information such as names, email addresses, and telephone numbers.

Special Categories of Personal Data

We do not typically collect special categories of personal data (such as information relating to health, ethnicity, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, or criminal convictions).

We will only collect and process such data where:

• It is required for a particular role,
• It is permitted by law, and you have provided explicit consent.
• You may withdraw that consent at any time by contacting us.

Failure to Provide Personal Data

If you do not provide personal data required by law or necessary for us to provide our services, we may be unable to perform those services or enter into a contract with you. We will notify you if this applies.

3. HOW WE COLLECT YOUR PERSONAL DATA

Candidate Data

We collect Candidate Data primarily through direct interactions with you, including when you:

• Speak with us by phone
• Submit a CV or application
• Communicate with us by email
• Meet with us in person or via video conferencing

We may also collect Candidate Data from:

• Our clients
• Referees
• Publicly available sources (such as LinkedIn)
• Professional referrals or word-of-mouth

Client Data

Client Data is collected during initial discussions about engaging our services and throughout the course of our business relationship. We may also obtain information from publicly available sources, such as company websites, for marketing purposes, so that we can tell potential new clients about the services we can offer them.

4. HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL DATA

We only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly we shall use your personal data on the following legal grounds:

Because it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party)

When we collect and process Candidate Data or Client Data in relation to our services we do so because it is necessary in our interests as a provider of executive search services to be able to identify and match potential candidates to roles and opportunities in an efficient and effective way. It is also in the interests of potential candidates that we are able to offer them access to new opportunities that are tailored and targeted to their experience and interests, and to facilitate the recruitment process. Equally, it is in the interests of our clients that we are able to fill their vacancies with the best possible candidates available. Some of the purposes for which we may use information on this basis include:

• speak with us on the phone;
• provide us with your CV or application information;
• send us emails; or
• meet with us face-to-face (or, for example, via video-conferencing).

We may also collect personal information about you from other sources, including:

• to contact our clients to discuss new briefs and positions to be filled;
• to contact potential candidates to discuss their interest in, and suitability for, positions;
• to collect personal information from candidates, referees and from other sources;
• to share information about candidates with clients, in order to assess the suitability of potential candidates and whether they are a good fit for a particular role;
• to request and obtain additional personal information from candidates that may be required for a particular role or position;
• to discuss with clients and candidates how the recruitment process is
  progressing;
• to support candidates through the interview and appointment process; and/or
• to share information about candidates and clients with employees within EquiVenture Executive Search Ltd, for the above-mentioned purposes, where there is a possible international dimension to a particular position or candidate.

We may also process personal data for our general marketing purposes, as it is necessary for our legitimate interests as a profit-making organisation to make both candidates and potential clients aware of the services we may be able to provide to them.

Whenever we process personal data in our legitimate interest we will always do so having considered your interests, and your fundamental rights and freedoms, and we will not process your personal data if those outweigh our legitimate interests (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law).

If you have any objection to our processing of your data, or you have any queries at all about our use of your data, then please contact us using the information given at the beginning of this policy.

Performance of a Contract

We process Client Data to perform contracts with clients or to take steps prior to entering into such contracts.

Consent

Generally we do not rely on your consent for processing your personal data other than in relation to any special categories of personal data (or criminal offence or conviction information) that you provide to us in a particular context (as described at section 2 above). You have the right to withdraw consent to us using that data/information at any time by contacting us.

Legal or Regulatory Obligations

We may process personal data to comply with legal or regulatory requirements.

Please note that we may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data.

Change of Purpose

We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which it was collected, unless a compatible purpose applies or we are legally permitted or required to do otherwise. Where required, we will notify you.

Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

Opting Out

If, at any time, you would like us to stop using your personal data or to correct any factual inaccuracies, just you can contact us by email or post.

5. DISCLOSURE OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA

We may share personal data as follows:

Candidate Data may be shared with:

• Our clients (e.g. who may be interested in considering a potential candidate for a position).
• Other employees within EquiVenture Executive Search Ltd.
• Other third parties, where reasonably necessary to verify a candidate’s identity and the information they have provided (e.g. referees).

Client Data may be shared with:

• Potential candidates (e.g. after a client has told us that they would like us to share the client’s identity and/or contact details with a potential candidate).
• Other employees within EquiVenture Executive Search Ltd.

Other Third Parties

Candidate Data or Client Data may also be shared with certain other third parties such as:

• Service providers who help us to fulfil our contractual obligations and to operate our business (e.g. by providing IT and system administration services).
• Professional advisers including lawyers, bankers, auditors and insurers who provide consultancy, banking, legal, insurance and accounting services.
• Taxation authorities, regulators and other authorities who require reporting of processing activities in certain circumstances.
• Third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer, or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this Privacy Policy.

We require all such third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

6. INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS

To provide our services, we may transfer personal data to recipients outside the UK or European Economic Area (EEA).

In the course of providing our services, you acknowledge that we may share your personal data with other employees within EquiVenture Executive Search Ltd.  You also acknowledge that, in order to provide our services effectively, we may, where relevant, also need to share your data with third parties (e.g. with potential employers) in various countries around the world.

For our candidates and clients in the European Union, this may involve transferring your data outside the European Economic Area (EEA). By submitting your personal data to us, you do so on the understanding that territories outside the EEA may provide a lower standard of protection for your personal information, and so there may not be adequate safeguards in place to protect your information, and you acknowledge that we may share your data with international recipients in this way.

We may also share data with international recipients where we are permitted to do so by law, in which case we will ensure that a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:

• transferring your personal data to a country, organisation or sector that has, at the time of transfer, been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data by the European Commission;
• using specific forms of contract approved by the European Commission that give personal data the same protection it has within Europe; and/or
• transferring data to a provider based in the US if such provider is part of the Privacy Shield, which requires it to provide similar protection to personal data shared between the Europe and the US.

By submitting your personal data, you acknowledge that such international transfers may occur.

7. DATA SECURITY

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

8. DATA RETENTION

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected and to meet legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

Given the nature of executive search, Candidate Data may be retained for up to ten years from the last point of contact, unless you request deletion or provide consent for longer retention.

We may anonymise data so that it can no longer be associated with you, in which case it may be retained indefinitely without further notice to you.

9. YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS

Under certain circumstances, you may have the following rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data:

• Right of access to your personal data (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data that we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing such data.
• Right of rectification of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, although we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data that you provide to us.
• Right to erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for our continuing to process such data. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Please note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons, which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.
• Right to restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios: (a) if you would like us to establish the accuracy of such data; (b) where our use of the data is unlawful, but you do not want us to erase it; (c) where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or (d) you have objected to our use of your data, but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.
• Right to portability of your personal data to you or to a third party. If you so request, we shall provide you, or a third party that you have chosen, with a copy of your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Please note that this right only applies to automated information that you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.
• Right to object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation that makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you believe that it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information that override your rights and freedoms.
• Right not to be subject to automated decision-making (including profiling) where that would have a significant effect on you. We do not in fact engage in such activities, so this right will not, in practice, be relevant.
• Right to withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. This will not, however, affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain services to you. We shall inform you if that is the case at the time when you withdraw your consent.

To find out more about these rights, please see the ICO’s website (www.ico.org.uk).

If you wish to exercise any of those rights, please contact us.

No fee usually required
You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). We may, however, charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with your request in those circumstances.

What we may need from you
We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and to ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data are not disclosed to any person that has no right to receive such data. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

Time limit to respond
We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we shall notify you and keep you updated.

10. COOKIES AND ANALYTICS

Our website at www.equiventureexecutivesearch.com is operated by EquiVenture Executive Search Ltd.

We do not set cookies on our website, nor do we collect, use or store any personal information about visitors to our website. If we set cookies in the future, we will update this Cookies Policy accordingly.

Our website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (“Google”). Google Analytics measures how users interact with our website content through the use of tracking cookies. As a user navigates between web pages, Google Analytics provides our website with tags to record information about the page a user has seen, such as the page URL, time and date of visit, length of visit, country of residence and language settings.

The information generated by Google’s cookies about your use of the website (including your IP address) is anonymous and will be sent to Google and held on Google’s servers in the USA in accordance with Google’s privacy policy (available at http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en/privacy/). Please note that Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. You can find out more information on how Google uses cookies at: http://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/technologies/cookies/

By continuing to use our website, you acknowledge our use of web analytics.

11.CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on our website.

Last updated: December 2025