1. Who we are

Virtual Talent provides strategic talent advisory, hiring support and recruitment-related services to businesses.

Virtual Talent is the trading name of Stamatina Stavrakopoulou, a sole trader. For data protection purposes, Stamatina Stavrakopoulou trading as Virtual Talent is the data controller responsible for the personal information described in this policy.

Contact details

Email: hello@virtual-talent.com
Postal address: Pound Road, Bristol, BS15 4QR

If you have any questions about this policy or how your information is handled, please contact us using the details above.

2. Information we collect

Depending on how you interact with Virtual Talent, we may collect:

• Your name, job title, email address and telephone number

• The name of your business and information about its hiring requirements

• Information you provide through website forms, emails, meetings, networking conversations or discovery calls

• Responses submitted through the SME Hiring Health Check

• Your marketing and communication preferences

• Candidate information such as CVs, employment history, skills, qualifications, availability and salary expectations

• Client, supplier, invoicing and transaction information

• Technical information about how you use our website, including IP address, browser type and cookie information

• Notes and correspondence relating to our professional relationship

Please do not provide sensitive personal information unless it is necessary and we have agreed that it should be supplied.

3. How we collect your information

We may collect information:

• Directly from you

• Through the Virtual Talent website and Hiring Health Check

• Through email, telephone calls, video meetings and in-person conversations

• From clients, candidates, referral partners and professional contacts

• From publicly available professional sources, such as LinkedIn, company websites and recruitment platforms

• Through service providers used to operate our business

4. How and why we use your information

We use personal information to:

• Respond to enquiries and arrange conversations

• Understand your business, hiring plans and support requirements

• Deliver talent advisory, hiring and recruitment services

• Review Hiring Health Check responses and prepare personalised scorecards

• Communicate with clients, prospective clients, candidates and professional contacts

• Assess candidate suitability and, where appropriate, introduce candidates to clients

• Manage proposals, contracts, invoices and business records

• Improve our services, website and resources

• Send practical hiring guidance or marketing communications where you have chosen to receive them

• Meet legal, regulatory, accounting and safeguarding obligations

• Establish, exercise or defend legal claims

5. Our lawful bases

Under UK data protection law, we must have a lawful basis for using personal information.

We may rely on:

• Contract: where processing is necessary to provide services under a contract or take requested steps before entering into one

• Legitimate interests: where it is reasonably necessary to operate and develop Virtual Talent, respond to business enquiries, manage professional relationships, provide requested resources and deliver relevant recruitment or talent services

• Consent: where you have actively agreed to receive optional marketing communications or where consent is otherwise appropriate

• Legal obligation: where we must retain or use information to comply with the law

Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

6. The SME Hiring Health Check

When you complete the SME Hiring Health Check, we use the information you provide to:

• Review your current hiring approach

• Calculate and interpret your scores

• Prepare and email your personalised scorecard and recommendations

• Contact you briefly about your result where you have agreed to this

• Improve the assessment using feedback provided by participants

Completing the Health Check does not automatically add you to a marketing list. We will only send ongoing marketing guidance where you separately choose to receive it.

7. Recruitment and candidate information

Where Virtual Talent supports a recruitment process, we may process candidate information to assess suitability, discuss opportunities and make introductions.

We will not normally share identifiable candidate information with a prospective employer without the candidate’s knowledge. Clients receiving candidate information are responsible for handling it securely and lawfully.

8. Who we share information with

We may share information, where necessary, with:

• Clients and prospective clients involved in an agreed hiring process

• Candidates participating in relevant recruitment activity

• Technology and business-service providers supporting our website, communications, document storage, recruitment systems, accounting and administration

• Professional advisers, including accountants, insurers and legal advisers

• Regulators, courts, law-enforcement bodies or other authorities where required by law

Our service providers may include Wix, Google Workspace and Google Forms, Manatal, Notion, Microsoft, Zoom, Canva and FreeAgent.

We do not sell personal information.

9. International data transfers

Some technology providers may process information outside the United Kingdom.

Where personal information is transferred internationally, we take reasonable steps to ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as UK adequacy regulations, approved contractual clauses or other lawful transfer mechanisms.

10. How long we keep information

We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary.

As a general guide:

• Hiring Health Check responses and scorecards: up to 12 months

• General enquiries and prospective-client records: up to 24 months after the last meaningful contact

• Candidate records: normally up to 24 months after the last meaningful contact

• Client service and contractual records: for the duration of the relationship and normally up to six years afterwards

• Financial and tax records: for the period required by law

• Marketing records: until you unsubscribe or we determine that the information is no longer current or necessary

We may retain information for longer where required by law or where necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

11. How we protect information

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, alteration or disclosure.

These measures include appropriate access controls, secure cloud-based systems, password protection and limiting access to people and providers who need the information for a legitimate purpose.

No internet-based service can be guaranteed to be completely secure, but we regularly consider the safeguards used to protect the information we hold.

12. Marketing communications

We will only send optional email marketing where we have an appropriate lawful basis to do so.

You can unsubscribe at any time by:

• Using the unsubscribe option included in a marketing email; or

• Emailing hello@virtual-talent.com

Unsubscribing from marketing will not prevent us from sending necessary service-related communications, such as your Hiring Health Check scorecard or messages relating to an existing engagement.

13. Cookies and website analytics

Our website may use cookies and similar technologies to operate correctly, understand website use and improve the visitor experience.

Where required, non-essential cookies will only be used after you have made a choice through the website’s cookie controls. Further information about the cookies used should be available through the website’s cookie settings.

14. Your data protection rights

Depending on the circumstances, you may have the right to:

• Ask for access to the personal information we hold about you

• Ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information

• Ask us to delete your information

• Ask us to restrict how your information is used

• Object to certain uses of your information

• Request the transfer of information you provided to us

• Withdraw consent at any time where we rely on consent

• Object to your information being used for direct marketing

These rights are not absolute and may depend on the circumstances and lawful basis involved.

To exercise a right, contact hello@virtual-talent.com. We may need to confirm your identity before completing a request.

15. Complaints

Please contact us first if you have concerns about how your information has been handled so we can try to resolve the issue.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office:

Website: www.ico.org.uk
Telephone: 0303 123 1113

16. Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to other websites. Virtual Talent is not responsible for the privacy practices of third-party websites. You should review their privacy information before providing personal information.

17. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy when our services, systems or legal obligations change. The latest version will be published on this page with the updated date shown at the top.