The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will become effective from 25 May 2018 and CTMfile has already covered it extensively, including articles on how to manage the GDPR compliance process: 8 steps to steer your company towards GDPR compliance. 

But new research suggests the new European data protection law will also have unintended consequences for business executives. The report by recruitment firm GatedTalent said that: "Senior executives are jeopardising their future career prospects due to a widespread lack of awareness surrounding new data privacy legislation." This assertion relates to the recruitment process and suggests that business executives who don't authorise search firms to store their data could miss out on career opportunities. The report goes so far as to say that executives are “set to miss out on pay uplifts of between 11 per cent and 30 per cent."

Dr Bernd Prasuhn of search firm Ward Howell, who was interviewed as part of the research, explained: "If executives want to make it to C-suite level then they have to be on the radar of executive firms, otherwise it just won’t happen."

And GatedTalent's Jason Starr said: "Few executives seem to realise the effect GDPR may have on their career and salary prospects. The message is consequently clear: professionals need to take active steps to ensure search firms have access to the most up to date information and understand that any information given in the past will not necessarily be available to firms in the future.”