Privacy Policy

Purpose and form of data processing

We process and use your personal data in our online application system only for the purposes required to ensure that the application process runs efficiently and correctly. The same applies to additional data received in the course of the application process, e.g. data obtained from queries and subsequently submitted documents. As part of the online application process, data is requested that is required for online applications. The corresponding fields are marked as “mandatory fields”. Further information can be entered voluntarily in “optional fields”.

Relevant personal data includes:

• Core data (e.g. name, title, academic title, gender, place and date of birth, nationality, private contact details, marital status, photos, language skills etc.).
• Job application data (e.g. cover letter and CV, references, testimonies, certificates etc.).
• Marital status details (marriage, civil partnership, children) that could possibly indicate sexual orientation, provided you have disclosed such details as part of your application. 
• Health data (severe disability): You have the option to make a voluntary disclosure concerning particularly sensitive personal data so that we can ensure participation by Volkswagen’s representative body for disabled employees in the selection process.

You are also given the option of approving your applicant profile. This means that your applicant profile can then be considered for jobs matching your applicant profile, regardless of any application you may have submitted. In such a scenario, we would contact you without obligation.

If you do not wish this to happen, you can independently block your applicant profile at any time, with effect for the future. This can be done by clicking the corresponding button (removing the checkmark).

Your registration data (first name, last name, user name, email address and password) is then collected so that we can send you the necessary access data for our careers portal. If you create an individual applicant profile after successfully registering, your registration data will be automatically copied over into your applicant profile, with the exception of your user name and password. You no longer have to enter this data separately. In this respect, your registration data will be treated as application data when it is further processed.

Your data is sent in encrypted format using a suitable system.

Once you have registered, you will have the option to activate the so-called job agent. The job agent notifies you by email as soon as new positions are advertised, which either match the previously defined filter criteria in the job search or have similar criteria to the position via which you activated the job agent. There are two ways to activate the job agents as indicated below:

1. Right at the bottom of the job portal (black banner with blue “Activate” button). The previously defined job search filters are considered here.
2. Directly when viewing a position with the “Tell me about similar jobs” option. The criteria for the respective position are considered here.

All active job agents are listed in your applicant profile under the “Job Agent” option. You can likewise deactivate the job agent at this point in the applicant profile by clicking the waste bin icon for the respective entry.

In order to make our offers more attractive to future applicants, you can also tell us how you became aware of Volkswagen and/or the job offer. This information is of course voluntary and has no influence on the application process. You’d be helping us out a lot, though.

On what legal basis do we process your data?

We process your data primarily to enable us to conduct the job application process and to decide whether to offer you employment or not based on Article 26 Par. 1 (1) of the Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG). If necessary, we process particularly sensitive personal data to enable us to assess your employability on the basis of Article 22 Par. 1 No. 1 (c)) BDSG.

Who processes my data?

Your application will not be machine-reviewed either as part of the screening process or as part of the subsequent selection process. The application will be read and reviewed by employees in the Human Resources department and by employees/managers in the specialist department of our company that you are applying to. This also applies to when an advised vacancy matches an existing applicant profile, provided you have created such a profile in our system. All of the people involved in processing the application are separately required to maintain confidentiality and will treat your data as strictly confidential. Your data is stored on servers in Germany. We reserve the right to employ service providers to undertake so-called "contract data processing" to enable proper operation of the careers portal.

Third-party processors

• The Volkswagen careers portal ("Stellenbörse" and online application) is provided by the Volkswagen Group subsidiary Audi AG, (Auto-Union-Straße 1, 85045 Ingolstadt, Germany; www.audi.com). Your data is accordingly processed by Audi AG as the processor.
• Volkswagen Group Services GmbH (Major-Hirst-Str. 11, 38442 Wolfsburg; www.volkswagen-groupservices.com) can be engaged by us for data processing. Your data will be processed accordingly in this case by Volkswagen Group Services GmbH as the processor.
• Wolfsburg AG (Major-Hirst-Straße 11, 38442 Wolfsburg; https://www.wolfsburg-ag.com) can be engaged by us for data processing in applications for pupil internships. Your data will be processed accordingly in this case by Wolfsburg AG as the processor.

No disclosure of data

Applications are only reviewed for jobs within Volkswagen AG in Germany. If you are interested in vacancies outside Volkswagen AG, but within the Volkswagen Group, you are requested to apply to the relevant company. Your data will only be passed on to other Group companies outside Volkswagen AG with your express consent.

Deletion of data

Once the application process, for the purposes of which we have received your data, has been completed, your data will be automatically deleted from our system after a period of 180 days. Your applicant profile will be automatically deleted if you have not logged in to your profile for more than 180 days. You will receive an automated notification e-mail to this effect 30 days before expiry of this deadline. Automatic deletion will not take effect if

• you log in to your profile within this 180-day period
• you are in the midst of an active application

The automatic deletion of your applicant profile will be extended by 24 months if

• you have been assigned to a Talent Group
• you have activated your applicant profile

In the case of applications for an apprenticeship or the dual-study programme (Volkswagen dual), your data will be deleted by 1 September of the following year, based on the selection process.

Furthermore you can update or delete your data/your applicant profile in/from the system yourself at any time.

You can withdraw your application at any time and/or deselect your approval. These options are included within the application process.

In addition, you can delete your external profile at any time or ask us to do so.

Use of the Job Portal, in particular for the purpose of application or job search

We process and use your personal data provided by you within your application in our online application system solely for the purposes required to ensure the application process is carried out effectively and correctly.

This also applies to data additionally added during the application process, e.g. from queries and subsequently submitted documents. The online application process asks for data required for the online application. The fields provided for this purpose are marked as “required fields”. Additional voluntary information can also be entered in “optional fields”.

Relevant personal data includes the following:

• Master data/personal information (e.g. salutation, name, identified gender, date and place of birth and nationality, private contact details, marital status, etc.).
• Application data (e.g. cover letter, curriculum vitae, certificates, highest qualification, references, etc.).
• Information on marital status (marriage, registered civil partnership, children), which may indicate sexual orientation if provided as part of your application.
• Health data (severe disability): You have the option to make a voluntary disclosure concerning extra sensitive personal data regarding the information about severe disability so that we can ensure that the representative body of employees with disabilities is involved in the selection process.
• Your registration data (last name, first name, country of residence, email address and password) will be collected for the purpose of providing you with the access data for our Job Portal.

Further data relevant to the application process may be additionally requested by us depending on the individual process status, if necessary for the successful completion of the application process.

Registration & Profile Visibility

If you create an individual application profile after successful registration, your registration data will be transferred directly to your application profile. This registration data is regarded as application data in further processing. You no longer need to enter this information separately.

You are giving the option of sharing your candidate profile nationally (All national recruiters of the participating VW Group companies, i.e. in the country/region of my home address (see privacy policy for list of companies)) or worldwide (All recruiters worldwide of the participating VW Group companies (see privacy policy for list of companies)). This means that your candidate profile can then be considered by our recruiters for jobs matching your profile, regardless of any application you may have submitted. In such a scenario, we would contact you without obligation, e.g. with an invitation by e-mail to apply for this job. You can change this profile visibility setting in your applicant profile at any time, with effect for the future.

If you select the profile visibility setting “national” or “worldwide”, the recruiters of our participating VW Group companies named in Section A ("Responsible") will have access to the data in your shared candidate profile. This includes the following data:

• Master data/personal information (e.g. title, name, private contact data)
• Application data (e.g. resume as well as attachments added to the profile, such as references)
• Information on preferred brand within the Group and location preferences
• Your profile visibility information
• Overview of the jobs you have applied for with the date, the current status and the name of recruiter in charge
• Correspondence with you in the context of your shared candidate profile
• Talent pool membership and associated email campaigns

Data from your submitted applications are only visible to the Recruiter who is processing them.

Talent Pool & Job Notifications

Furthermore, you have the opportunity to be included in our talent pool by activating this option in the "Notification" section during your registration/application. This means that your candidate profile can then be considered for jobs that meet filter criteria, regardless of any application you may have submitted. In such a scenario, we would contact you without obligation. If you do not wish this to happen, you can independently block your applicant profile at any time, with effect for the future. This can be done by clicking the corresponding button in the section “Search Options and Privacy” in your applicant profile (removing the checkmark).

In order to make our offers more attractive for future applicants, you can also tell us how you became aware of the job offer. This information is, of course, voluntary and has no influence on the application process.

Upon registration, you have the option of activating Job Alerts. The Job Alert will notify you by email as soon as new jobs are published that meet the criteria you specified in the job search or that have similar criteria to the position for which you activated the Job Alert. All active Job Alerts are listed in your candidate profile under Options > Job Alerts. At this point, you can also deactivate the job notifications in your candidate profile.

Your data will be encrypted using a suitable method.

The provision of your data is neither legally nor contractually required. However, if you would like to apply for a specific job via our Job Portal, the provision of your data is required so that Volkswagen AG and the advertising VW group companies can decide on your application - and thus also your hiring. The use of the previously mentioned functionalities (job notifications, HR marketing information, Talent Community) is basically voluntary, but the provision of your data is required to use these functionalities.

On what legal basis do we process your data?

During your visit to our website, we would like to provide you the best possible experience. In doing so, we take your cookie preferences into account and process your data for marketing-oriented purposes on the legal basis of Section 6 (1) lit. a) GDPR only if you agree via the "Accept all cookies" button.

We process your personal data primarily for the purpose of the application process and for hiring decisions on the basis of the first sentence of Section 26(1) of the German Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG). If necessary, we process particularly sensitive personal data to enable us to assess your employability on the basis of Section 22(1) no.1 lit c) of the Federal Data Protection Act.

If you create a candidate profile on the Recruiting Website in order to set up a job notification or activate HR marketing information, or if you voluntarily provide us with further personal data, we process your data in this context on the basis of your prior consent. The legal basis for this consent is Article 6 (1) a) GDPR or specific national law (e.g. Article 88 GDPR in conjunction with Section 26 (2) Federal Data Protection Act). You can withdraw your consent at any time - with effect for the future. You can make the withdrawal yourself by changing the corresponding settings in the candidate profile.

Who processes my data?

When you apply for an advertised job, your personal data will generally only be accessed by those departments that absolutely need them in order to decide on the creation of an employment relationship or to further process your candidate application.

Your application is reviewed and checked by our recruiters/employees in HR and by employees/Hiring managers in the respective department and by Workers Council members of our company. This also applies in the event that a staffing requirement matches an existing candidate profile, insofar as you have created one with us. Recruiter from other participating group companies will only have access to the data in your candidate profile if you have shared your profile. The information in your application is only visible to the recruiter of the advertising company.

All persons involved in the processing are specifically bound to confidentiality and keep your data strictly confidential.

We reserve the right to use service providers within the scope of so-called " contract data processing" for the proper operation of the job portal.

Third parties processors

The Job Portal of Volkswagen AG with the sub-websites of the participating VW Group companies is being provided to us by SAP Deutschland SE & Co. KG (Hasso-Plattner-Ring 7, 69190 Walldorf, Germany). Your data will therefore be processed by SAP SE as the provider. Your data is stored on servers in Germany with a backup in Europe.

In addition, Volkswagen AG and its participating Group companies use other service providers (so-called order processors) who are given access to data for the contractually defined scope in each case. These include, e.g.

• Companies of the Volkswagen Group that provide services for Volkswagen AG and its Group companies (e.g. IT services for the operation & support of the recruiting system)
• Services (applicant hotline, orders for data processing in the recruiting process)
• Service provider for the background check
• Hosting service provider (e.g. provision of software for online selection processes)

Data deletion

Your data will be automatically deleted from the system 180 days after the end of the application process for which we received the data. Your candidate profile will be automatically deleted if you have not logged into your profile for more than 180 days. Shortly before this deadline expires, you will receive an automated announcement email. Automatic deletion does not take effect

• if you log into your profile within 180 days,
• if you are in an active application process

You also have the option of independently updating or deleting your data/candidate profile in the system at any time.

You can withdraw your application at any time and/or deactivate your approvals. This is taken into account in the application process.

You can also delete your external profile at any time or ask us to do so via jobs@volkswagen.de. Regardless of this, you may exercise your right to erasure in accordance with the rights described below.

Stored data that is transmitted to us via hotline requests from Volkswagen AG is deleted after 61 days at the latest.