Privacy Policy

The Next Group ("TNG", "we", "our") respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store and disclose your personal information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

This policy applies to all TNG brands, including The Next Step and The Safe Step, and outlines how we manage personal information about: 

• Candidates
• Temporary workers
• Clients and their representatives
• Suppliers
• Referees
• Employees
• Website visitors.

Sensitive information is only collected with consent and where it is necessary for the performance of our functions and activities as a recruitment agency. Sensitive information will need to be collected where it relates to a genuine occupational requirement or an inherent requirement of the job or work being considered.

2.1 What Information We Collect

We may collect personal and sensitive information directly from you, or from third parties (e.g, referees, previous employers, LinkedIn), when you:

• Apply for a role through our website or job platforms
• Submit your resume
• Attend interviews or communicate with us during recruitment processes• Contact us via phone, email or our website
• Complete assessments, medical checks or background checks (e.g., work rights, police checks, credit checks)
• Subscribe to newsletters, events or marketing content

This may include:

• Contact details, resume, qualifications and employment history
• Work rights, background check results and professional references
• Assessment results or psychometric data
• Sensitive information (only with consent) where relevant to job requirements
  

2.2 Purpose of Collecting Personal Information

We collect and use your information for:

• Assessing your suitability for roles
• Recruitment and placement activities
• Providing career advice
• Conducting assessments, background checks and work rights verification
• Communicating market insights, job opportunities and invitations to events
• Supporting workplace injuries, return-to-work, complaints or insurance matters
• Complying with legal, regulatory, industrial and WHS obligations
• Improving our systems and services
• Creating anonymised industry benchmarks and market insights
• Providing newsletters, thought leadership and promotional content

If you do not provide consent for us to collect and use your information, we may be unable to present you for roles.

2.3 Disclosure of Your Information

We may disclose your information to:

• Potential employers or clients
• Referees and background check providers
• Third-party service providers (IT systems, ATS/CRM, payroll services)
• Legal or regulatory authorities
• Artificial intelligence technologies (including algorithms or machine-learning tools used by approved third-party providers)

We take reasonable steps to ensure third parties protect your information in line with privacy obligations.

3.1 What Information We Collect

From clients we may collect:

• Contact details (name, phone, email, job title)
• Organisational information
• Details about recruitment needs and vacancy requirements
• Communication records
• Candidate feedback
• Billing and invoicing information
  

3.2 Purpose of Collecting Client Information

We collect this information to:

• Deliver recruitment and advisory services
• Understand workforce needs
• Identify suitable candidates
• Manage client relationships• Provide billing and administrative services
• Send marketing material, invitations and talent insights
• Fulfil contractual or legal requirements
  

3.3 Disclosure of Client Information

We may disclose client information to:

• Third-party IT and software service providers
• Legal or regulatory authorities where required by law
• Providers of AI and data tools used for recruitment and advisory operations
• Related entities and partner businesses of The Next Group, including The Strategic Step Advisory

The Strategic Step Advisory operates as a related or affiliated entity of The Next Group and may share systems, resources and service functions where appropriate. Where client information is disclosed between The Next Group and The Strategic Step Advisory, such disclosure will be limited to what is reasonably necessary to deliver services, support client relationships, or fulfil contractual and operational requirements.

All third parties and related entities are required to comply with privacy, confidentiality and data protection obligations consistent with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles.

4.1 Information We Collect

We collect personal and sensitive information necessary for employment and HR operations, including:

• Application and onboarding information
• Contact details, personal identifiers and demographic information
• Qualifications, skills and employment history
• Work entitlement information
• Performance information
• Incident and workplace safety information
• Leave, payroll, bank and superannuation details
• Criminal history (where relevant)
• Health information (only if required for safety or workplace adjustments)
• Tax File Number and statutory information
  

4.2 Purpose of Collecting Employee Information

We collect and use this information for:

• Recruitment, onboarding and staff management
• Work health and safety
• Payroll and employment administration
• Training and development
• Risk management
• Performance and conduct management
  

4.3 Disclosure of Employee Information

We may disclose information to:

• Referees
• Payroll and HR system providers
• IT and software providers
• Legal or regulatory authorities
• AI technologies used for internal operations
• Social media or website platforms (e.g., for photographs or videos with consent)
  

5.1 Information We Collect

Referee information may include:

• Contact details and authority to give a reference
• Opinions about a candidate’s work performance, character or suitability
• Supporting details or examples
  

5.2 Purpose of Collecting Referee Information

We collect and use this information for:

• Candidate suitability assessments
• Recruitment operations
• Risk management
  

5.3 Disclosure of Referee Information

We may discuss this information to:

• Potential employers or clients
• Third-party verification or reference
• Legal or regulatory bodies (if required)
  

Your information may be disclosed to overseas recipients where required for our operations. These include:

We may collect limited personal information via:

• Cookies
• Forms
• Analytics tools

for purposes including:

• Improving website functionality
• Preventing fraud
• Identifying services that may be of interest

We do not identify users or their browsing activities except, in the event of an investigation, where a law enforcement agency may exercise a warrant to inspect the Internet service provider's server.

Our website may contain links to third-party websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these third-party websites. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party websites you visit before providing them with any personal information.

We may use personal information for digital marketing.

Consent is obtained before sending marketing material.

You may unsubscribe at any time via:

• The link at the bottom of our emails
• Email to: info@thenextgroup.com.au
  

We use a secure cloud-based ATS/CRM to store and manage recruitment information.

TNG takes reasonable steps to:

• Securely store personal information• Protect information from misuse, interference, or unauthorised access
• Apply access controls and multi-factor authentication
• Use encryption where appropriate

We do not store sensitive identity documents such as passports or driver licences.

Financial information is retained for at least 7 years, then securely destroyed or de-identified when lawful to do so.

Personal information is destroyed or de-identified when:

• It is no longer needed for our functions or activities
• Legislative record-keeping requirements have been met

Hard copy records are disposed of via secure shredding services.

TNG may update this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect:

• Changes to legal requirements
• Updates to systems or operations
• Industry best practice

The latest version will always be available on our website.

You may contact us to:

• Request access to your personal information
• Request correction or deletion
• Make a privacy-related enquiry
• Lodge a complaint about an alleged breach of the APPs

Contact:

Privacy Officer

The Next Group

• Email: cdalby@thenextgroup.com.au
• Phone: 0404 117 071
• Website: www.thenextgroup.com.au
• Address: Level 1, 500 Bourke Street, Melbourne VIC 3000
  

This policy will be reviewed annually or earlier if required due to:

• Legislative changes
• Organisational changes
• Incident learnings