Recruitment policy
PolyGrants recruits the way it works: honestly, free of charge, on merit. This policy governs job applications from first click to offer, and completes the general PolyGrants documents, which continue to apply.
What this policy covers, and how it fits the general documents
This Recruitment policy governs everything connected to applying for a role at PolyGrants: the careers pages, the job application form, interviews, assessments, references, offers and the data handled along the way. It applies to every candidate and every role, whether the engagement offered at the end is an employment contract or an independent representative or contractor agreement.
It works together with the general PolyGrants documents: the Terms of Service, the Privacy Notice, the Cookie Policy, the Payment information page and the Disclaimer. Those general documents continue to govern candidates. If this policy and a general document ever conflict on a point, the general document prevails on that point. Anything this policy does not address falls under the general documents.
Applying is free. Always.
Applying, interviewing and being hired at PolyGrants is free, at every stage, in every country, for every role. Nobody may ever ask a candidate for money, deposits, equipment fees, training fees, processing fees or anything similar, before, during or after recruitment. Anyone who does is not acting for PolyGrants: refuse, keep the evidence and report it to or through the Contact page. Recruitment fraud of this kind is common; this rule is how you recognise us.
Who can apply
Any person aged 18 or over may apply. You apply in your own name, for yourself, and everything you state must be true, accurate and complete. Where a role requires the legal right to work in a given country, that requirement is stated with the role, and the form asks about it openly.
How the process works
You apply through the form on the careers pages. The stages that may follow (conversations, interviews, assessments, reference checks, an offer) depend on the role and are communicated to you as you progress. First conversations often happen on WhatsApp, and interviews may be held remotely.
We try to answer every application, but we cannot promise an individual reply to each one, and indicated reply times are good-faith targets, not commitments. An application, an interview or any other stage is not a promise of employment or engagement: only a signed contract or agreement creates one.
Truthfulness, diplomas and verification
Recruitment at PolyGrants runs on the same honesty it demands toward students. False statements, invented experience, forged diplomas or certificates, or another person applying in your place end the application immediately, whatever the stage, and are grounds for terminating an engagement concluded on their basis. PolyGrants may verify the diplomas and certificates you present.
References
You may name referees in your application. By listing a referee you confirm that the person agreed to be named and to be contacted about you. PolyGrants may contact your referees at any stage after you submit your application. If a particular referee should not be contacted before a certain point, tell us; we take it into account where we reasonably can.
Equal opportunity
Applications are assessed on merit: what you know, what you have done, and how you would do the role. PolyGrants does not discriminate on the basis of sex, colour, ethnicity, religion, disability, family situation or any other characteristic protected by law. The form deliberately avoids questions about health, family plans or beliefs; identity questions exist to verify who you are and your legal working age, never more.
Some answers may voluntarily reveal such information, for example community activities that include a religious group. Volunteering it is your choice, and it is never used as a selection criterion.
Adjustments and accessibility
If you need adjustments for interviews or assessments (accessibility, interpretation, timing), say so in the form or at any moment of the process. Adjustment requests are confidential, are used only to organise the process, and are never counted against you.
The criminal convictions question
The form asks whether you have unspent criminal convictions because PolyGrants staff and representatives work with students, families and their money: it is a safeguarding question, nothing else. 'I prefer not to say' is an accepted answer. An answer never causes automatic rejection; where relevant, it is weighed against the role concerned. Your answer is confidential, visible only to the people deciding the hire, and deleted with the rest of your application under the retention rules below.
Your data as a candidate
PolyGrants Ltd (Company Number 16951447, registered office 128 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX, United Kingdom) is the data controller for recruitment data, exactly as in the general Privacy Notice, which continues to apply. This section adds the recruitment specifics.
What we collect: your answers in the application form (identity, contact details and address, education, training, work experience, languages, skills, activities, awards, interests, values answers, pay expectations, ambitions, motivation), your CV and any documents you attach, your referees' names and contact details, your convictions answer and any adjustments request, and later the notes of interviews and assessments.
Why, and on what legal basis: to assess your application and run the process (steps taken at your request before entering a contract), to meet legal obligations, and to establish or defend legal claims if any arise (legitimate interest). The convictions answer, and any sensitive information you volunteer, are processed under the safeguards United Kingdom law requires for such data.
Who sees it: the PolyGrants people involved in hiring for the role, on the same United Kingdom infrastructure described in the Privacy Notice. Candidate data is processed in PolyGrants' own systems; no external recruitment agency or software receives it unless a role page says so explicitly. It is never sold and never used for advertising, and your current employer is never contacted unless you name them as a referee.
How long we keep candidate data
- If you are not hired: your application is deleted 6 months after the decision, unless you gave the optional consent to be kept for other roles.
- With that optional consent: kept up to 12 months from submission, then deleted, unless a new process starts with you in the meantime.
- If you are hired or engaged: your application joins your staff or representative file and follows its rules.
- If you withdraw before any decision: deleted within 30 days of your request.
- Records the law obliges us to keep, or that are needed for a legal claim already raised, may be kept for as long as that reason lasts.
Your rights over recruitment data
Every right described in the general Privacy Notice applies to candidates identically: access, correction, deletion, restriction, objection, portability, withdrawal of consent, and complaint to the United Kingdom Information Commissioner's Office or your local authority. Data requests go to ; recruitment questions go to .
Withdrawing your application
You may withdraw at any time, by writing to or through the Contact page, without giving reasons and without any consequence for future applications. Withdrawal starts the deletion timeline above.
Confidentiality, both ways
PolyGrants treats your application confidentially: only the people involved in the hire see it.
In return, anything non-public you learn about PolyGrants during the process (tools, partner information, internal figures, unpublished plans) must be kept confidential and used for nothing other than your application. This duty survives the end of the process.
Work samples and assessment tasks
If an assessment involves producing work (a text, a plan, an analysis), that work remains yours. PolyGrants uses it only to assess your application and does not exploit it commercially without your written agreement. Do not include other people's confidential material in anything you submit.
Offers and engagement
An offer, when made, states the form of the engagement: an employment contract or an independent representative or contractor agreement, with its terms, remuneration and conditions. Until both parties sign, no engagement exists.
Representative and staff engagements are also governed by PolyGrants' ethical rules, including the absolute prohibition on promising outcomes to students and on accepting money from them.
Complaints, law and everything else
Recruitment complaints follow the same route as every complaint: write to or use the Contact page, and we look at it honestly and promptly. Governing law, jurisdiction, liability and every point this policy does not address are governed by the general documents, led by the Terms of Service, as stated in the first section.
Contact
for roles and applications; for data requests; PolyGrants Ltd, 128 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX, United Kingdom.