Privacy notice
How we use your information.
This notice explains what personal information SWJ Search holds, why, and what you can do about it. It applies to candidates, clients, prospective clients and visitors to this website.
Last updated: November 2026
1. Who we are
SWJ Search is a trading name of Operis Vitae Group Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 16663325). Registered office: Swan Building, 20 Swan Street, Manchester, England, M4 5JW.
We are the data controller for the information described here and are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). For anything about your data, email info@swjsearch.com or call 0161 524 7346.
2. What we collect
Candidates
- Name and contact details
- CV, employment history, qualifications and skills
- Current salary and benefits, salary expectations and notice period
- Notes from our conversations and interviews, and feedback from clients
- Right to work information where a client needs it before an offer
Clients and prospective clients
- Name, job title, employer and business contact details
- Details of vacancies, briefs and our correspondence with you
Website visitors
- What you enter in our forms
- Basic technical information such as browser type and pages viewed, in aggregate and without identifying you
We do not ask for special category information such as health, ethnicity or religion. If you choose to tell us something of that kind, for example to request an adjustment at interview, we use it only for that purpose and with your consent.
3. Where it comes from
- You, when you apply, register, complete a form, or speak or write to us
- Job boards and CV databases you have registered with
- Professional networking sites and other public professional sources
- Referees and people who recommend you
- Your employer's website or public business information, for client contacts
If we obtained your details from somewhere other than you, we will tell you when we first contact you, and in any case within one month.
4. Why we use it, and our lawful basis
| Purpose | Lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Finding and approaching candidates for roles, and assessing suitability | Legitimate interests: running a recruitment business and connecting people with relevant roles |
| Sending your details to a client for a specific role | Consent: we always ask you first |
| Showing an anonymised profile on this website | Consent: only with your agreement, and never with your name or employer |
| Contacting clients and prospective clients about our services | Legitimate interests: business to business marketing. You can opt out at any time |
| Performing our agreements with clients | Contract |
| Keeping records required by law, such as financial and right to work records | Legal obligation |
| Replying to an enquiry or sending a report you asked for | Legitimate interests, or consent where you subscribed |
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have weighed them against your rights. You can object at any time. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time and we will stop.
We do not make decisions about you by automated means alone. Software helps us organise and search our records; a person makes every decision about who is put forward.
5. Who we share it with
- Clients, for a role you have agreed to be considered for
- Service providers who host our systems and email, under contracts that require them to protect your data and act only on our instructions
- Professional advisers and our invoice finance provider, where needed to run the business
- Regulators and authorities, where the law requires it
We never sell personal information.
6. Transfers outside the UK
Some of our service providers store data outside the UK. Where that happens we rely on UK adequacy regulations or the UK International Data Transfer Agreement, so your information keeps an equivalent level of protection.
7. How long we keep it
- Candidates: for two years after our last meaningful contact with you, then deleted unless you ask us to keep you on file
- Placed candidates and client records: for six years after the placement or the end of the relationship, for legal and tax reasons
- Prospective client contacts: until you opt out, or two years without contact
- Website enquiries: for twelve months if they do not lead to further contact
You can ask us to delete your information sooner.
8. Security
Your information is held in access controlled systems, encrypted in transit, and available only to the people who need it for their work. If a breach ever put your rights at risk, we would tell you and the ICO as the law requires.
9. Your rights
Under UK data protection law you can:
- Ask for a copy of the information we hold about you
- Ask us to correct anything that is wrong or incomplete
- Ask us to delete your information
- Ask us to restrict how we use it
- Object to our use of it, including for marketing
- Ask us to transfer it to you or another organisation
- Withdraw consent at any time
Email info@swjsearch.com. There is no charge, and we will respond within one month.
10. Cookies
This website does not use advertising or tracking cookies. We use privacy friendly analytics that count visits without identifying individuals, and a security check on our forms to block automated spam.
11. Complaints
Please tell us first, so we can put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or 0303 123 1113.
12. Changes to this notice
We review this notice at least once a year. The date at the top shows when it was last updated.