Vacation scheme issue

[sd234]

Hi!

New here and just wanted some advice on my situation please. I work at a regional firm, but have also been offered a vacation scheme at probably this firm's biggest competitor. In my vacation scheme interview, the interviewers said that they knew some of the staff at my current firm.

I am worried because I do not want my current firm to know that I have secured a vacation scheme with this other firm, for obvious reasons. Does the GDPR prevent them from legally sharing this information with my current firm's employees, or do I need to explicitly request for this to be kept private? I am also concerned that my current firm would being notified of my vacation scheme during screening. Do firms typically carry out employment checks pre-vacation scheme or not until just before starting a training contract?

Thank you!!

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi!

New here and just wanted some advice on my situation please. I work at a regional firm, but have also been offered a vacation scheme at probably this firm's biggest competitor. In my vacation scheme interview, the interviewers said that they knew some of the staff at my current firm.

I am worried because I do not want my current firm to know that I have secured a vacation scheme with this other firm, for obvious reasons. Does the GDPR prevent them from legally sharing this information with my current firm's employees, or do I need to explicitly request for this to be kept private? I am also concerned that my current firm would being notified of my vacation scheme during screening. Do firms typically carry out employment checks pre-vacation scheme or not until just before starting a training contract?

Thank you!!

You are likely to going to need to let your firm know anyway.

1) your employment contract may state you can’t be employed by someone else without disclosing it and getting it approved

2) both firms will likely need to do conflict checks even if you can go ahead with the vacation scheme

GDPR means neither firm should disclose it unless the information is in the public domain anyway.

You need to speak to you current employer about this unfortunately though. There could be much serious consequences if you don’t.

 

[James Carrabino]

Hi!

New here and just wanted some advice on my situation please. I work at a regional firm, but have also been offered a vacation scheme at probably this firm's biggest competitor. In my vacation scheme interview, the interviewers said that they knew some of the staff at my current firm.

I am worried because I do not want my current firm to know that I have secured a vacation scheme with this other firm, for obvious reasons. Does the GDPR prevent them from legally sharing this information with my current firm's employees, or do I need to explicitly request for this to be kept private? I am also concerned that my current firm would being notified of my vacation scheme during screening. Do firms typically carry out employment checks pre-vacation scheme or not until just before starting a training contract?

Thank you!!

You are likely to going to need to let your firm know anyway.

1) your employment contract may state you can’t be employed by someone else without disclosing it and getting it approved

2) both firms will likely need to do conflict checks even if you can go ahead with the vacation scheme

GDPR means neither firm should disclose it unless the information is in the public domain anyway.

You need to speak to you current employer about this unfortunately though. There could be much serious consequences if you don’t.

Hi @sd234,

@Jessica Booker has given a great answer here. I know it may not be what you were hoping to hear, but these situations can be tricky. That said, you would not be the first person to be in this position so I would not stress yourself out! You may wish to consider asking the firm where you got the vacation scheme whether they would consider assessing you via a direct TC interview in order to get around this, although they may not offer this opportunity.