After unsuccessful job applications, many firms tend to keep the applicant's personal details for 12 months or even forever. Some claim they would get back to you once a suitable opportunity comes up...which is outright lie because they never do. I would like to hear your views, but my experience has shown me that they merely keep the applicant's details just to quickly decline any subsequent application they make in the future. I think it is a very wrong practice!

I'm sure one of the big IT companies (not naming names) does that. Since my very first application to them 15 years ago, subsequent applications have also been rejected and points have been raised during the course of early interviews that lead me to suspect that the interviewer wasn't exactly starting from square 1 again. Short of changing my name, I think there's a real need to figure out a way of getting around this kind of thing.

Just Curious - under the Data Protection Act organisations can only collect your personal data provided it is:1. processed for limited purposes2. accurate and up to date 3. not kept for longer than is necessary.Some organisations will argue that keeping your CV for ten years is necessary so they can consider you if suitable roles come up or to filter you out for future appilcations. It is, however, against the spirit of the Act. In any case, they should be taking positive steps on regular basis to ensure that 2 remains true.Unless something goes horribly wrong and an organisation comes to the attention of the Information Commissioner the only thing you can do is to write to them asking them to delete all instances of your CV and to confirm when they have done so.

Forum Fan- You are right. Unless sth goes horribly wrong, this practice will never stop. On the aspect of writing them and asking for your CV to be deleted, there is no way to verify that they have actually done it.Gone are the days when you could just change your email address and re-apply. These days they search for your record with the profile that you cannot change such as your name, home address, etc.

I sent my CV in to Deloitte a few years ago and have recently had an email asking if I would like them to still keep it on file or they would delete it if I didn't respond.Maybe this doesn't happen everywhere but I was quite surprised to get the email.

Almost every reputable company or major recrutier I have made contact with has sent me a similar letter after a year.Just indicate they have a decent information governance system.

I am a recruiter and we send out emails like this: we may be kidding ourselves but we think we are trying to let people down gently. A more accurate letter might be “sorry we can’t help and there’s no point in applying to other jobs because we don’t handle jobs for which you might be suitable” but many candidates would not actually like that candour. But in bald terms yes it is a lie as we won’t look at your CV again BUT I believe some firms DO. It depends on how they manage their database.I think you credit firms with too great a level of sophistication. It’s much easier to look at your CV there and then than it is to dig out old records to see if we’ve rejected you before so don’t assume you are forever blacklisted: definitely not.