LAST UPDATED: November 2024
This is the Recruitment Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) for The Boston Consulting Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates (“BCG”, “we”, “us”, or “our”). For more details on BCG’s international operations, please see https://www.bcg.com/offices/default. With this Privacy Policy, BCG aims to make sure you understand how BCG collects, discloses, and retains your personal information, explain the purposes of BCG processing your personal information, and additionally inform you on your rights under applicable data privacy laws.
This Privacy Policy only applies to the personal information of job applicants, potential candidates for employment, and participants of our optional recruiting programs and events or personal information collected via our recruiting system or recruiting website.
Depending on your relationship with BCG, additional or different privacy statements may apply to you. For our privacy practices in connection with the personal information you provide or as you access and use materials on bcg.com or other BCG websites, including BCG subscription pages or other BCG websites or apps, or information that you submit to BCG in response to an email request for information or other outreach from BCG, please see our Privacy Statement. For our privacy practices in connection with the personal information that we obtain from our access to and use of our tools and solutions and the research and development thereof, please see our Solutions Privacy Statement.
If you are a U.S. resident, please see the U.S. Addendum at the end of this Privacy Policy for further details on how we handle your personal information and how to exercise your rights.
LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES
Some of our online recruiting activities enable access to external sites operated by third parties, which are not governed by this Privacy Policy. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any such sites before you submit information there.
WHAT PERSONAL INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?
This is the Recruitment Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) for The Boston Consulting Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates (“BCG”, “we”, “us”, or “our”). For more details on BCG’s international operations, please see https://www.bcg.com/offices/default. With this Privacy Policy, BCG aims to make sure you understand how BCG collects, discloses, and retains your personal information, explain the purposes of BCG processing your personal information, and additionally inform you on your rights under applicable data privacy laws.
This Privacy Policy only applies to the personal information of job applicants, potential candidates for employment, and participants of our optional recruiting programs and events or personal information collected via our recruiting system or recruiting website.
Depending on your relationship with BCG, additional or different privacy statements may apply to you. For our privacy practices in connection with the personal information you provide or as you access and use materials on bcg.com or other BCG websites, including BCG subscription pages or other BCG websites or apps, or information that you submit to BCG in response to an email request for information or other outreach from BCG, please see our Privacy Statement. For our privacy practices in connection with the personal information that we obtain from our access to and use of our tools and solutions and the research and development thereof, please see our Solutions Privacy Statement.
If you are a U.S. resident, please see the U.S. Addendum at the end of this Privacy Policy for further details on how we handle your personal information and how to exercise your rights.
LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES
Some of our online recruiting activities enable access to external sites operated by third parties, which are not governed by this Privacy Policy. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any such sites before you submit information there.
WHAT PERSONAL INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?
The types of personal information that BCG requests from you and the ways that we process it are determined by the requirements of the BCG office’s country in which the position is located, and not the country in which you reside. If you apply to more than one location or if the role to which you apply is available in more than one country, the types of personal information we request from you and the ways that we process it are determined by the requirements of all BCG offices’ countries in which the position is located. It can include e.g. your name, contact data of email address, phone number, CV/Resume information, employment and educational history, grades, and data relating to your recruiting performance, where applicable documentation required under immigration laws as well as criminal records or other data revealed during background screenings. When using our recruiting website or our recruiting platform, we may also collect information via cookies and other technologies as described in the “Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies” section to this Privacy Policy below.
In addition to information, you may submit directly to us now, we also collect information from third-party sources, such as professional recruiting firms, resume books, student organizations, and social media sites, and from BCG employees who referred you for the role in order to populate your profile. As a result, you may see information in your profile which you did not provide directly to us. We encourage you to revise any data which you feel is inaccurate or outdated or that you prefer not to include, and we thank you for your help in keeping your profile up to date.
We may collect sensitive personal information about a candidate to the extent prescribed by applicable laws (e.g., U.S. equal opportunity laws) and, where applicable, to support our efforts to support BCG’s diversity goals, evaluate the effectiveness of our equal opportunity policy and create an inclusive and diverse work environment. We may collect some optional information that may reveal your sensitive personal information when we ask you about your dietary requirements for events registration, or whether you are interested in any BCG affiliation initiatives (e.g. Pride@BCG, AccessAbility@BCG, AsianDiversity@BCG, Indigenous@BCG, Black@BCG, Latinx@BCG etc.) only to invite you specifically to the events based on your choices, and you may share with us information or a photo or video, which can reveal for instance your ethnicity or disability status. If you choose to provide your sensitive personal information, your data will be shared only with the authorised BCG employees on a strictly need-to-know basis only for the purposes explained at the time of collection, subject to your consent and will never be used for any individual employment decision making. Sensitive personal information is a subset of personal information and includes ethnicity, health, sexual orientation, as well as other categories, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, genetic data, biometric data as prescribed by applicable data privacy laws or other relevant laws.
You are not required to provide any requested information to us but failing to do so may result in not being able to continue your candidacy for the job for which you have applied.
HOW DO WE USE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?
Personal information is processed in the following ways and in accordance with applicable data privacy laws, the processing is based on the lawful bases as stated below:
In addition to information, you may submit directly to us now, we also collect information from third-party sources, such as professional recruiting firms, resume books, student organizations, and social media sites, and from BCG employees who referred you for the role in order to populate your profile. As a result, you may see information in your profile which you did not provide directly to us. We encourage you to revise any data which you feel is inaccurate or outdated or that you prefer not to include, and we thank you for your help in keeping your profile up to date.
We may collect sensitive personal information about a candidate to the extent prescribed by applicable laws (e.g., U.S. equal opportunity laws) and, where applicable, to support our efforts to support BCG’s diversity goals, evaluate the effectiveness of our equal opportunity policy and create an inclusive and diverse work environment. We may collect some optional information that may reveal your sensitive personal information when we ask you about your dietary requirements for events registration, or whether you are interested in any BCG affiliation initiatives (e.g. Pride@BCG, AccessAbility@BCG, AsianDiversity@BCG, Indigenous@BCG, Black@BCG, Latinx@BCG etc.) only to invite you specifically to the events based on your choices, and you may share with us information or a photo or video, which can reveal for instance your ethnicity or disability status. If you choose to provide your sensitive personal information, your data will be shared only with the authorised BCG employees on a strictly need-to-know basis only for the purposes explained at the time of collection, subject to your consent and will never be used for any individual employment decision making. Sensitive personal information is a subset of personal information and includes ethnicity, health, sexual orientation, as well as other categories, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, genetic data, biometric data as prescribed by applicable data privacy laws or other relevant laws.
You are not required to provide any requested information to us but failing to do so may result in not being able to continue your candidacy for the job for which you have applied.
HOW DO WE USE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?
Personal information is processed in the following ways and in accordance with applicable data privacy laws, the processing is based on the lawful bases as stated below:
- In some situations, as listed below, we may need to process your personal information for the legitimate interests pursued by us for following purposes, unless consent is required specifically under applicable data privacy laws
- Recruiting and business management reasons including, identifying, and evaluating candidates for potential employment, as well as for future roles that may become available
- Inviting you to recruiting events and keeping you informed about recruiting programs
- In case of active sourcing, analyzing if you might fit with a role and initiating contact with you
- For assessing suitability for the role that you apply for and to communicate with you in relation to your application
- In case you accept offer from BCG for a role, running background checks [1], financial checks where applicable, and identity verification
- Record keeping in relation to recruiting and hiring; we will retain your data for a period of up to five years subject to your consent, if you join a recruiting program
- To store your data on a global tool which also enable BCG to assess your application for available roles in different BCG offices
- To provide you with secure log-in and remember your log-in credentials and ensure functionality of our recruiting website and recruiting platform
- To monitor the performance and allow personalized experiences in connection with our recruiting website and recruiting platform
- To serve advertisements relevant to your interests and allow for site tracking in connection with our recruiting website and recruiting platform
- For marketing communications from BCG based on your consent where required
- Ensuring compliance with legal requirements (e.g. immigration laws, tax laws), including diversity requirements and practices; and protecting our legal rights to the extent authorized or permitted by law
Whatever the outcome of your application or other interaction with us, we may also analyze, in anonymized form, your personal information or aggregated data to improve our recruitment and hiring process by using such information to build algorithms which will inform our decisions about future candidates and augment our ability to attract successful candidates from diverse backgrounds.
We process your personal information for the purposes described above: when we have your consent to do so, where applicable; when necessary to enter into an employment contract with you; when necessary for us to comply with a legal obligation; or when necessary for the purposes of our legitimate interests as an employer operating globally. You may withdraw your consent at any time by sending an email to datasubjectrights@bcg.com. For candidates in Germany and Austria please email us at datenschutz@bcg.com.
AUTOMATED SORTING OF CANDIDATES AND ONLINE ASSESSMENTS
Our recruitment process may include data analytics and algorithms to help us to efficiently review the large quantities of candidates and application data that we receive. When you submit a job application, the information you share with us will be screened and compared to the predefined responses and scores set for the relevant roles to help us score candidates based on professional characteristics that suggest skills and capabilities necessary to perform the role.
As a part of your recruitment process, you may also undergo a series of online assessments. We may collect data generated by your participation in psychological, technical, or behavioural assessments. The predefined responses are based on data that indicates what good job performance at BCG looks like and/or in relation to these assessments. You will receive more information about the nature of such assessments before your participation in any of them.
These results are always considered in tandem with, and not in lieu of, human judgement and evaluation of individual candidates.
WHEN WILL WE DISCLOSE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?
BCG may disclose your personal information to carefully selected third-party service providers who:
We process your personal information for the purposes described above: when we have your consent to do so, where applicable; when necessary to enter into an employment contract with you; when necessary for us to comply with a legal obligation; or when necessary for the purposes of our legitimate interests as an employer operating globally. You may withdraw your consent at any time by sending an email to datasubjectrights@bcg.com. For candidates in Germany and Austria please email us at datenschutz@bcg.com.
AUTOMATED SORTING OF CANDIDATES AND ONLINE ASSESSMENTS
Our recruitment process may include data analytics and algorithms to help us to efficiently review the large quantities of candidates and application data that we receive. When you submit a job application, the information you share with us will be screened and compared to the predefined responses and scores set for the relevant roles to help us score candidates based on professional characteristics that suggest skills and capabilities necessary to perform the role.
As a part of your recruitment process, you may also undergo a series of online assessments. We may collect data generated by your participation in psychological, technical, or behavioural assessments. The predefined responses are based on data that indicates what good job performance at BCG looks like and/or in relation to these assessments. You will receive more information about the nature of such assessments before your participation in any of them.
These results are always considered in tandem with, and not in lieu of, human judgement and evaluation of individual candidates.
WHEN WILL WE DISCLOSE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?
BCG may disclose your personal information to carefully selected third-party service providers who:
- Provide a recruiting software system
- Process information on our behalf to help run some of our internal business operations including email distribution and IT services
- Assist us in recruiting talent, administering and evaluating pre-employment screening and testing, and improving our recruiting practices
- Assist in scheduling, organizing, and hosting events, meetings and interviews
BCG will ensure that legal mechanisms are in place with such third parties to protect your personal information.
We may also disclose your personal information to:
We may also disclose your personal information to:
- a third party in the context of any reorganization, financing transaction, merger, sale, joint venture, partnership, assignment, transfer, or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, assets, or stock (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings)
- law enforcement bodies in order to comply with any legal obligation or court order
Lastly, we may disclose certain personal information collected via cookies to the third parties listed in our cookie consent managers.
DO WE TRANSFER YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION ACROSS GEOGRAPHIES?
Because BCG is a global organization, we may need to transfer personal information across geographical borders to authorized BCG personnel, BCG entities, or our service providers in other countries in accordance with applicable data privacy laws. Our authorized personnel, BCG entities, or our service providers may be based in different countries around the world, including outside of your country of origin. These arrangements or transfers may involve storing your personal information located in systems and applications around the world. The personal information is only accessible by authorized personnel, BCG entities, or service providers who are bound by certain confidentiality and privacy requirements. We only make these arrangements or transfers where we are satisfied that adequate levels of protection are in place to protect personal information held in that country.
COOKIES AND OTHER TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES
BCG may use cookies and similar tracking technologies on our recruiting website and recruiting platform. A “cookie” is a small amount of data sent from a web server to your browser and stored on your computer’s hard drive. Other tracking technologies work similarly to cookies and place a small amount of data on your devices to monitor your website activity to allow us to collect information about how you use our recruiting website and our recruiting platform. With most internet browsers, you can erase cookies from your computer hard drive, block all cookies, or receive a warning before a cookie is stored on your computer. Please refer to your browser instructions or you can visit https://www.aboutcookies.org/ which will give you more information. Please be advised that certain sections or functionalities of the recruiting website or the recruiting platform may be inaccessible to you if your browser does not accept cookies. We do not currently respond to browser do-not-track signals.
A detailed list of cookies used on our recruiting website and recruiting platform are available on our cookie consent managers.
CHATBOT
On our recruiting website, BCG provides a chatbot operated by our software provider to provide you with information and support. Our chatbot and software service provider does not request or aim to collect any personal information but may collect any information (including personal information) that you may enter or certain device or usage information automatically.
RECORDING OF USER EXPERIENCE
On our recruiting website, BCG utilizes a third-party provider, Contentsquare, to record user sessions, including clicks, hovers, swipes, and what you may be viewing on the website, and create insights based on such information. Before deploying Contentsquare’s technology to conduct such recordings, BCG obtains your consent via our cookie consent manager on the recruiting website. If you have previously provided your consent, but now wish for BCG to stop utilizing Contentsquare’s technology, please adjust your cookie settings on the cookie consent manager on the recruiting website to only utilize essential cookies. For more information on Contentsquare’s privacy practices, please visit Contentsquare’s services privacy policy.
HOW DO WE PROTECT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?
BCG has in place appropriate technological and operational security processes designed to protect your personal information. Only authorized employees and providers will have access to any personal information provided by you, and that access is limited by need. Each employee or provider having access to any personal information is obligated to maintain its confidentiality.
HOW LONG WILL WE RETAIN YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?
If we do not employ you, we may continue to retain and use your personal information for a period of time (which may vary depending on the country) for system administration purposes, to perform research, to comply with our legal or tax obligations, and for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims. At the expiry of this period, we will retain a minimum amount of your personal information to record your recruiting activity with us. In addition, we may ask you for permission to retain your personal information to consider you for future employment opportunities, as part of our optional recruiting programs. In this case, we will retain your data for a period of up to five years. If you join a recruiting program, but subsequently wish to withdraw, please contact us at datasubjectrights@bcg.com. For candidates in Germany and Austria please email us at datenschutz@bcg.com.
YOUR RIGHTS
Depending on where you reside, you may have the following rights in accordance with applicable data privacy laws. You have a right to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you and details of how we use that information. If any of the personal information held about you is incorrect or out of date, you have the right to amend or rectify such personal information. You also have the right to request that we erase your personal information, stop processing your personal information, restrict the processing of your personal information, and provide your personal information in a portable format. Where processing of personal information is based on your consent, you may withdraw your consent to such processing. This may not apply if there are other legal justifications to continue processing. You also may have a right to lodge a complaint with a relevant supervisory authority.
If you would like to exercise any of your data protection rights, please contact the appropriate point of contact below. Please note that we may need you to prove who you are (including providing additional information from you) before we can act on your request.
For further questions, or to exercise any of your data protection rights, you may contact the appropriate data protection point of contact:
Data Protection Office
Boston Consulting Group Inc.
200 Pier Four Boulevard
Boston, MA 02210
Contact the Data Protection Office.
Germany and Austria
Data Protection Officer (Der Datenschutzbeauftragte)
Boston Consulting Group GmbH
Ludwigstrasse 21
80539 Munich Germany
Contact the Germany and Austria Data Protection Officer (Der Datenschutzbeauftragte)
CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY
We may change or update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will communicate changes and updates to this Privacy Policy by posting the updated Privacy Policy on this page with a new “Last Updated” date.