Candidate Privacy Notice

1. Who we are

Sterling Manufacturing Company is the Data Fiduciary for the personal data described here — we decide why and how it is used. Where other Sterling group entities recruit through this portal, they handle your data under this same notice.

2. Personal data we collect

Information you give us

• Identity and contact details: name, email address, mobile / WhatsApp number, state, city and address.
• Your resume / CV and everything in it, such as education, work history, skills, certifications and references.
• Job preferences: total experience, current salary (CTC), expected salary, notice period, preferred locations and the jobs you apply for.
• Information you add to your candidate profile, such as date of birth, gender, photograph, documents for verification, and answers to screening or interview questions.
• Messages you send us, and interview feedback and notes recorded during the hiring process.

Information collected automatically

• Technical data: IP address, browser and device type, the page that referred you, and the date and time of your visits and submissions — used for security and to stop spam and fraud.
• Whether our emails were delivered, opened or clicked (see section 11).

Information from others

• Referees you name, background-verification agencies (only after an offer, with your knowledge), job portals or recruitment partners you applied through, and Sterling employees who refer you.

We do not ask for your caste, religion, political views or health information during recruitment. If such information is in your resume, please remove it — we do not use it in any hiring decision.

3. Why we use your personal data

• To review your application and match your profile against our vacancies, including automated reading of your resume to check how well it fits a vacancy. An automated score only helps HR sort applications — every decision is made by a person.
• To contact you about your application by email, phone, SMS or WhatsApp: acknowledgements, tracking updates, interview invitations, reminders and results.
• To schedule and conduct interviews and assessments, make offers and run pre-joining checks.
• To send you job alerts and information about other suitable vacancies, only if you ask for them.
• To keep the portal secure, prevent fake or duplicate applications and protect candidates from recruitment fraud.
• To improve our hiring process using anonymous, aggregated reports.
• To meet legal obligations and to establish or defend legal claims.

4. Legal basis

We process your personal data on the basis of your consent, which you give when you tick the consent box on our forms, register on the portal or confirm a job alert, and for legitimate uses allowed by the DPDP Act — for example, data you choose to give us for a specific purpose, compliance with law, and employment-related purposes.

5. Who we share it with

We do not sell your personal data. We share it only as needed with:

• Our HR team, interviewers and hiring managers who are involved in filling the vacancy.
• Service providers who work for us under contract (Data Processors): cloud hosting, email delivery (Amazon Web Services), WhatsApp business messaging, SMS, and background-verification agencies. They may use your data only to provide their service to us.
• Other Sterling group entities, where you are considered for their vacancies.
• Government, regulators, courts or law-enforcement agencies, when the law requires it.

6. Where your data is stored

Your data is stored on secure servers used by Sterling. Some of our service providers, such as our email delivery provider, may process data outside India. Where this happens, we take reasonable steps to make sure your data stays protected, and we will follow any restrictions the Government of India places on such transfers.

7. How we protect it

We use reasonable security practices, including encrypted connections (HTTPS), password hashing, role-based access for HR staff, access logs, malware scanning of uploaded files, and limits that block automated spam. No system is completely secure, but if a personal data breach affects you, we will inform you and the Data Protection Board of India as the law requires.

8. How long we keep it

• Applications that do not lead to a job: up to 24 months from your last activity, so we can consider you for other suitable roles. After that we delete or anonymise them.
• Job alerts: until you unsubscribe. Unconfirmed alert requests are deleted after 30 days.
• If you join Sterling, your recruitment record becomes part of your employee record and is kept as employment law requires.
• Security and spam-prevention logs: up to 12 months.

We may keep some data longer where the law requires it or to deal with a dispute.

9. Your rights

Under the DPDP Act you can:

• Access a summary of your personal data we hold and how we use it.
• Correct or update information that is inaccurate or incomplete — most details can be changed yourself by logging in to your candidate account.
• Erase your data when it is no longer needed for the purpose you gave it for, unless the law requires us to keep it.
• Withdraw your consent at any time (see section 10).
• Raise a grievance with our Grievance Officer, and if you are not satisfied with our reply, complain to the Data Protection Board of India.
• Nominate another person to exercise your rights if you die or become unable to do so.

To use any of these rights, email hr@sterlingmfgco.com from the email address you applied with, and include your tracking or registration number if you have one. We may ask you to confirm your identity, and we will reply within the time the law sets.

10. Withdrawing consent

You can withdraw your consent at any time, as easily as you gave it: email us, use the unsubscribe link in any job-alert or bulk email, or ask HR to close your application. Withdrawing consent does not affect anything we did before you withdrew it. If you withdraw consent for an active application, we will no longer be able to consider you for that vacancy.

11. Cookies, email tracking & job alerts

• Cookies: we use a session cookie to keep you signed in and to protect forms. We do not use advertising cookies.
• Saved jobs are stored only in your own browser and are not sent to us.
• Email tracking: our emails may contain a small image and tracked links that tell us whether the email was opened or a link was clicked. We use this to improve our communication. You can block it by turning off images in your email app.
• Job alerts start only after you confirm your email address, and every alert email has a link to change or stop it.

12. Accuracy of your information

By applying, you confirm that the information you give us is true, complete and up to date, and that you are allowed to share any third-party details you provide, such as referees. Wrong or misleading information may lead to your application or offer being withdrawn.

13. Recruitment fraud warning

Sterling never asks candidates for money — not for registration, interviews, training, uniforms, offer letters or anything else. Our emails come only from @sterlingmfgco.com and @sterlinggrpco.com addresses. If anyone asks you for a payment in Sterling's name, do not pay, and report it to hr@sterlingmfgco.com.

14. Children

Our vacancies are for people aged 18 and above. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18. If you believe a child has sent us their data, please contact us and we will delete it.

15. Changes to this notice

We may update this notice from time to time. The date at the top shows when it was last changed. If a change materially affects how we use your data, we will tell you by email or on the portal before it applies.

16. Grievance Officer & contact

For any question, request or complaint about your personal data, please contact:

We aim to resolve grievances as quickly as possible, and within the time set by law.