cant i request the notes taken in my interview under data protection?

Trust_2

Lauren
No-one is shooting you down we are trying to be constructive,

Contrary to comments made you can not pay £10 and get access to interview notes sorry does not happen, may well get you a copy of your application form and a job description.

We have all been to interviews, where in our hearts the interview went well, and this partly is down to the quality of the interviewer, and putting you at ease.

On your comments they seem to be a big company as previously mentioned phone their recruitment department (HR) and ask for some feedback, whilst they do not have to do this most do.

Be constructive, say that this was an ideal job for you and was there any so called weaknesses you can work of for the future.

Lets be clear people take on the best candidate for the position, sorry this is not what you want to hear, hopefully a better job is just around the corner.

bitsandpieces

You could make a subject access request under the Data Protection Act. Whether or not they give you any interview notes/scoring is another question (and, if they did discriminate against you based on any protected category, they'd have been pretty stupid to write that down and put it on your file :eek:) They shouldn't hold a subject access request against you on future applications, but you can't be sure they won't.

I'd think about what you want to achieve, and whether a subject access request would be helpful to you. It's annoying when companies don't give interview feedback - but they may just find some way around this type of request, too...

RobertoMoir

laurenjs88 wrote: »

Thats what i wanted, i've already got a job within the DWP but im waiting for a start date, I progressed really well through all of the recruitment process 5 stages in just over a week, and got an unsuccesful email yesterday morning. I wanted to see what was written about me, and my answer to the interview and how I was marked. I wasnt sure if I could request this, so asked here.

I was upset yesterday as everything had gone so well and its left me in a pickle.

I can see why you were upset but it doesn't mean that anything "bad" will show up in their notes.

I doubt anyone but a total idiot would incriminate themselves by writing stuff down in their interview notes that they shouldn't in the first place, and as you can see from the replies here, unscrupulous employers are not above forging replies to access claims.

It may also be that you've done nothing wrong in the interview and neither have they. If you're playing cards, you might have a king in your hand and that's great, but if all the other cards in your hand are aces then that king is still the worst card in your hand and the first one you're going to discard.

ferien_uk

http://www.kettering.gov.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=75&pageNumber=9

This page gives some info about obtaining interview feedback. Apparently under the 2002 Data Protection Act, employers have a duty to provide you with any notes taken in an interview.

However, I agree with some of the others that it would be very easy for the interview to just retype the notes, so I doubt any discrimination could be proved.

Zazen999

laurenjs88 wrote: »

I was asking for an answer to a simple question, not to be put down... All i wanted to know was if you could claim the interview notes, which thanks to DMG24 i know that you can, so if the rest of you would kindly keep your opions to yourself.

They aren't opinions, they are what happens in the workplace, after 25 years of being there. You can ask for them, but they will be looked at and if anything looks vaguely discriminatory, they will be changed. Most managers within the public sector will have had 'fair and effective' recruitment training, which teaches you to only make fair and effective notes - and never ever to write down anything that is discriminatory. Those in the private sector will either lose the notes conveniently, not respond or will just rewrite them.

You'll never prove discrimination at interview stage by looking at their notes. They are hardly going to write 'pregnant' across the top of the notes page. [For 'pregnant' substitute the reason that you think you might not have got the job....it's the same principle].

To be honest, it is no good asking on a public forum and then throwing your toys out of the pram and telling people to keep their opinions to themselves if they disagree with you.

PlayingHardball

Hiya, I don't think there is any law to say a company must keep the interview notes for unsuccessful candidates. However, I do know that HR departments should be keeping copies of successful applicants interview notes, along with the other required documentation.

Good luck on your job search - I'm sure the right one will come along. I will say in defence of poster #2, I can't emphasize enough how important 100% accuracy in spelling is on an an application form and documents is. I'm sure you know that, but keep it in mind. This is just an informal forum and we don't have to spell well to be understood, perhaps the poster didn't mean offense?

I've actually put applications in the 'reject' pile just for clerical errors and poor spelling (mind you, it was for an admin job which requires those skills)

Best of luck!

x__Indigo_x

i know in a recent job i applied for it stated that you could recieve feedback whatever the result. but like everyone says they wouldnt write anything discriminative down.

Enfieldian

Maybe your arrogance and over confidence blew it for you?

ferien_uk

Enfieldian wrote: »

Maybe your arrogance and over confidence blew it for you?

I don't think thinking you did well in an interview necessarily means the person is arrogant. I've come out of interviews knowing I did well because a had a good rapport with the interviewer. Maybe they did do amazingly well and are just having confidence in themself. Or maybe they are arrogant. None of us were in the interview so we can't really know.

Savvy_Sue

I have to say that there have been a few occasions when I've known people demand feedback while giving the clear impression that the wrong decision's been made / it should have been them / discrimination is at work etc. And those of us on the other side of the recruitment process breathe a HUGE sigh of relief and feel even more certain that we did right not to pick this person ...

By all means ask for feedback, but don't do it in a way which suggests a mistake has been made ...