Anonymization of Candidates and Talents

To comply with data privacy regulations such as GDPR, flair provides an automatic anonymization feature for candidate and talent records. When enabled, personal data is replaced with anonymized values after a configurable retention period, ensuring that your organization does not store personal information longer than necessary.

How Automatic Anonymization Works

A scheduled job runs daily at 1:00 AM and checks whether any candidate or talent records have reached their anonymization date. Records that meet the criteria are processed in batch:

1. All fields tagged with the GDPR compliance group are overwritten with anonymized values.
2. The record is marked as Anonymized.
3. Related data (activities, documents, Chatter posts) is removed based on your configuration.

Anonymization is enabled by default. If you need to disable it, see Disable Automatic Anonymization.

Anonymization Rules

The anonymization date for each record is calculated based on several factors:

Scenario	Anonymization Period	Calculated From
Candidate without linked talent	6 months (default)	Record creation date
Candidate with linked talent	Uses the talent's anonymization date	—
Talent without double opt-in	6 months (default)	Record creation/update date
Talent with double opt-in	24 months (default)	Record creation/update date
Hired candidate	Never anonymized	—

note

When a candidate is linked to a talent, the candidate inherits the talent's anonymization date. This ensures that both records are treated consistently.

Double Opt-In

If a candidate or talent has confirmed a double opt-in (i.e., explicitly consented to longer data retention), the retention period extends from 6 months to 24 months by default. Double opt-in is tracked via the Double Opted In Datetime field on the record.

What Gets Anonymized

Personal Fields

flair automatically detects which fields to anonymize by reading the Compliance Categorization metadata on each field. All fields tagged with GDPR are included. By default, these are:

Candidate fields: First Name, Last Name, Email, Phone, LinkedIn, Cover Letter, Coordinates

Talent fields: First Name, Last Name, Email, Phone, LinkedIn

Each field is anonymized according to its data type:

Field Type	Anonymized Value
Text / Text Area	Anonymized
Email	Cleared (empty)
URL	Cleared (empty)
Phone	Cleared (empty)
Date	January 1, 2000
Currency	0.00
Number	0
Checkbox	Default value
Location (Geolocation)	0.0, 0.0

Related Data

In addition to field values, the following related data can be removed during anonymization:

Data Type	Applies To	Setting
Activities (Tasks & Events)	Candidates and Talents	Remove Activities on Anonymize
Recruiting Documents	Candidates and Talents	Remove Documents on Anonymize
Chatter Posts	Candidates only	Remove Chatter Posts on Anonymize

All three options are enabled by default. See Configuring Related Data Cleanup to change this behavior.

Configuring Anonymization Timing

You can adjust the default retention periods through the Candidate Setting custom setting:

1. In Salesforce Setup, go to Custom Settings.
2. Click on Candidate Setting.
3. Click the Manage button.
4. Click Edit.
5. Update the following fields:
   • No Talent Anonymization Period — the number of months before anonymization for records without double opt-in (default: 6).
   • Double Opt In Anonymization Period — the number of months before anonymization for records with double opt-in (default: 24).
6. Click Save.

note

These settings apply to both candidates and talents. The talent anonymization flow reads from the same Candidate Setting values.

Configuring Related Data Cleanup

Candidate Settings

1. In Salesforce Setup, go to Custom Settings.
2. Click on Candidate Setting.
3. Click the Manage button, then Edit.
4. Configure the following checkboxes:
   • Remove Activities on Anonymize — deletes tasks and events linked to the candidate.
   • Remove Chatter Posts on Anonymize — deletes Chatter feed items on the candidate record.
   • Remove Documents on Anonymize — deletes recruiting documents attached to the candidate.
5. Click Save.

Talent Settings

1. In Salesforce Setup, go to Custom Settings.
2. Click on Talent Setting.
3. Click the Manage button, then Edit.
4. Configure the following checkboxes:
   • Remove Activities on Anonymize — deletes tasks and events linked to the talent.
   • Remove Documents on Anonymize — deletes recruiting documents attached to the talent.
5. Click Save.

Anonymizing Custom Fields

If you add custom fields to the Candidate or Talent object that contain personal data, you can include them in the anonymization process by tagging them with the GDPR compliance group. flair automatically discovers and anonymizes all fields with this tag.

To tag a custom field:

1. In Salesforce Setup, go to Object Manager.
2. Select the Candidate or Talent object.
3. Click on Fields & Relationships and select your custom field.
4. In the field details, find the Compliance Categorization section.
5. Add GDPR to the compliance group.
6. Click Save.

The field will be automatically included in the next anonymization run. Make sure the field type is one of the supported types listed in the What Gets Anonymized section.

note

Supported field types for anonymization: Text, Text Area, Email, URL, Phone, Date, Currency, Number, Checkbox, and Geolocation. If a custom field uses an unsupported type, it will not be anonymized automatically.

Manual Anonymization

You can anonymize records at any time without waiting for the scheduled job.

Single Record

Open a Candidate or Talent record and click the Anonymize quick action button. A confirmation dialog will show the fields that will be anonymized. Click Anonymize to proceed.

Bulk Anonymization

1. Navigate to the Candidates or Talents tab.
2. Select the Candidates to Anonymize or Talents to Anonymize list view, which shows records that have reached their anonymization date.
3. Select the records you want to anonymize.
4. Click the Anonymize button.
5. Confirm the action.

note

Manual anonymization works regardless of whether the record has reached its anonymization date. Use this to fulfill individual data deletion requests from candidates or talents.

Disabling Anonymization

Anonymization can be disabled separately for candidates and talents:

• Candidates: In Custom Settings → Candidate Setting, check Disable Anonymization.
• Talents: In Custom Settings → Talent Setting, check Disable Anonymization.

For detailed steps, see Disable Automatic Anonymization.