Candidate data requests

Candidates can ask Staffer to erase their data, or ask for a copy of it. The two work differently: erasure runs on its own once the grace window passes, and there’s nothing for you to approve. A data-access request needs you to review it and choose what goes in the export.

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Where they appear

Both queues are reached from Settings → Organization → Compliance → Retention, and both are org-wide: they list requests against every workspace in the organization, not only the one you’re in.

• Erasure requests: right-to-erasure (GDPR Article 17) requests.
• Application data requests: right-of-access (GDPR Article 15) requests for a copy of the candidate’s own data.

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How a candidate files one

A candidate can ask one specific workspace to stop processing them, ask to erase everything Staffer holds about them, or request a copy of their data, from their own Staffer account. See Your data and privacy for what that looks like on their side.

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Erasure requests

This queue is read-only for you. Only the candidate, or in narrow cases Staffer support, can withdraw a request. The deletion runs automatically once the grace window passes, with nothing for you to approve or refuse. Two kinds of request land here: a candidate asking one workspace to stop processing them, and a candidate asking to be erased from Staffer entirely (shown here if they have an application in one of your workspaces). Rows show a status: requested, scheduled, processing, done, cancelled, or rejected.

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What gets deleted

The candidate’s profile, uploaded files such as résumés and interview recordings, and their sign-in.

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What’s anonymized instead

Each application survives as a stripped-down record of the hiring decision: states, which steps ran and when, and scores, with everything that names or quotes the candidate removed, such as messages, notes, transcripts, and free-text answers. This keeps your own record that a hiring process happened and roughly how it went, without keeping anything that identifies the person.

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Application data requests

This is the queue that needs your action. Open a pending request and you’ll see the candidate’s own reason, if they gave one, and a Prepare export dialog with six sections to include, all checked by default except résumé, which follows whatever’s on file:

• Application details: the record, its state history, and consent events
• Resume: the file on record, if there is one
• Step results: transcripts, answers and files from process steps
• Messages: emails to and from the candidate
• AI evaluations: match score history and the per-criterion breakdown
• Notes: your team’s notes on this candidate

For notes specifically, you can include each one as-is, redact individual words in it, or exclude it entirely. Excluding a note requires a reason, which is recorded either way. Approve it and the export builds in the background. The candidate gets an email with a download link once it’s ready, which expires after 7 days. You can also Reject the request instead, with a required reason: under GDPR Article 12(4) the reason travels with the refusal, so the candidate reads exactly what you write. The candidate is notified either way.

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Notifications

Turn on Candidate filed a data request on your personal Notifications page to get a bell and email alert when one of these comes in.

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Common questions