Ending the CV Search product on United Baristas Careers
An update on further protecting the privacy of our community on United Baristas Careers
United Baristas has decided to end the CV Search product on United Baristas Careers.
The conclusion of CV Search has benefit for the high-quality talent that use Careers, and will mean some changes for employers that have previously used the CV Search to recruit staff.
Summary
- All Careers Resumes and CVs (whether marked private or public) can now only be viewed by the relevant employer once a job application is submitted
- Employers will no longer be able to purchase the CV Search to browse searchable CVs and Careers Resumes
United Baristas sees the changes as overwhelmingly positive, but accepts that it will potentially adversely impact some employers and recruiters. So we are providing a full, upfront explanation to explain why we have made these changes and what the changes mean for our community.
Connecting coffee while protecting privacy
United Baristas exists to connect the coffee industry, and Careers is our service to connect the industry’s talent with coffee companies. To achieve this function, we collect information from individuals and companies to join the dots between the industry’s talent and recruitment requirements. In doing so we facilitate career progression, business growth and the facilitate the industry’s further development.
While our community wants us to share information to achieve these objectives, our users have the right to expect that we will only share their information with their consent and in line within the structure of the relevant United Baristas service.
CV Search was included as one of three initial products when we launched United Baristas Careers around 12 months ago because a) there was demand from employers, and b) similar products existed on other recruitment platforms used by the coffee industry.
Since we launched Careers, three factors have combined to tip the balance of our judgement against continuing CV Search:
- We have taken the time to more clearly define our values, including our commitment to protecting our community’s privacy, and have been revisiting previous decisions to ensure their alignment with our direction of travel
- We have seen how the product is used in practice
- The introduction of GDPR
It is important to re-state our commitment to privacy and connecting the coffee industry. The product has been used successfully, and without privacy breach, by employers and recruiters over the past year. However, because we cannot see how such a product is compatible with our values as we continue to grow and have decided to conclude the product at this time to prevent future misuse.
Protecting our talents’ privacy
The CV database now includes hundreds of potentially searchable job applications. Many of these contain personal information such as a home address, an email address, date of birth, and an education history.
The CV Search product required both a current active job listing and a fee to search the database. Over the past year some employers have suggested that we have been double-dipping on the fees (other platforms don’t share these requirements), but the impetus has been to ensure that all accounts that view CVs are legitimate coffee industry employers with a genuine current vacancy.
To enforce this, we have been manually screening all new accounts that post a job listing. United Baristas Careers has growth significantly over the past year and it is a) increasingly time-consuming to screen all new employer accounts, and b) we are not able guarantee that all new accounts will be screened in a sufficiently timely manner. For example if an account was opened outside of normal working hours, such as a Bank Holiday or overnight.
We want to protect against a scenario where a malignant party, opens an employer account, submits a job, pays to search the database, and then proceeds to access the personal information contained in searchable CVs.
In summary, we can’t see how CV Search products can be offered securely with our commitment to privacy, the regulatory environment, and the current range of threats without immediately and manually screening all accounts that wish to use the product.
Benefits
As well as enhancing the privacy of our community, we see several other key benefits from concluding the Search CV product:
No more slips revealing your job search
Each person has had to opt for their CV to be searchable, but this hasn’t prevented mistakes. Made a job application and didn’t get the privacy setting right on your Careers Resume only to be discovered by your present employer? Made the wrong CV searchable? This is now impossible. All talent can now apply for jobs easily on United Baristas Careers in confidence of privacy.
No random approaches
A number of people have significantly benefitted by being approached by employers from CV Search, but others find ill-considered approaches to be intrusive. We can see their point, but it has been difficult for us to create a blanket policy which takes into account all personal preferences. Now if you see a job you want, make sure you apply, because you won’t get approached!
No risk of information theft
Now the only users that can see your personal information are the companies that you make a job application to. It’s simpler, safer, and more secure.
Mitigating those impacted
We appreciate that some users, mainly employers and recruiters using CV search, will be impacted. However, it’s always been our objective to have the highest quality coffee jobs and on balance we see these changes as further supporting our quest to attract the highest calibre talent, which is only good for the companies using United Baristas Careers.
If you have a question about how these changes impact your job search or recruitment, contact us.
The Future
United Baristas remains focused on connecting the industry’s talent with coffee companies.
We are delighted that so many people and companies are finding United Baristas Careers useful and we will continue to explore ways that we can even better connect the industry as we continue to grow and the industry’s needs further develop.
