Why case closure is a useful retention boundary
Recruitment teams often know when a role is filled or abandoned, but leave the case open in the system. That makes the retention clock ambiguous and encourages people to keep candidate files “just in case”. A closure event is a practical operational boundary: it says the active hiring work has ended and starts a review of what still needs to be kept.
The EU General Data Protection Regulation requires data to be kept no longer than necessary for the purpose, while recognising that the appropriate period depends on context. This guide is an operational checklist, not a universal legal retention period or legal advice.
Three decisions to make before closing
- Is the hiring purpose complete? Record whether the role was filled, paused, cancelled, or replaced. Do not close a case merely to start the clock while interviews or an approved follow-up remain active.
- What evidence is still needed? Separate candidate documents, parsed data, evaluations, review state, and drafts from the job brief, case notes, and other operational records.
- What instructions or constraints apply? Check the customer's documented instructions, privacy process, and any locally applicable record-keeping or dispute requirements. Escalate uncertainty rather than inventing an exception.
How the Skilltage case-closure routine works
Skilltage guidance: when a recruitment case first moves to closed, the backend records closed_at. The weekly retention cleanup selects cases that have remained closed for at least six months. It deletes uploaded candidate documents from storage before deleting candidate and document rows; parsed CV payloads, evaluations, review state, action drafts, and candidate interaction receipts go with those rows. The recruitment case, job brief, and job-ad drafting records remain.
Reopening a case before cleanup clears the closure timestamp. The routine is anchored to case closure, not to an individual candidate's decision date. It is a product control, not a promise that every organisation's lawful retention period is six months.
Worked example: closing a filled role
The team hires for the “Maintenance Supervisor” opening on 12 August. Interviews and candidate communication are complete, so the owner marks the case closed on 15 August and records the reason “role filled”. The team checks whether a documented instruction requires an earlier deletion or a separate record. If not, the product's six-month cleanup window is measured from 15 August. The job brief remains available for operational history; candidate evidence is scheduled for cleanup.
Case-closure checklist
- The role outcome and closure reason are recorded.
- No interview, accommodation, candidate communication, or approved review remains open.
- Customer instructions and privacy escalation routes were checked.
- Candidate evidence is distinguished from the job brief and case record.
- The closure date is visible to the team and can be reopened if work resumes.
- The team knows the cleanup is weekly and may not be immediate on the exact anniversary.
- Any deletion failure or unusual request is escalated; do not recreate a deleted evidence package from exports.
Limits and decision boundaries
Retention rules can differ by jurisdiction, role, customer instruction, litigation or complaint context, and the organisation's controller responsibilities. This article does not decide those questions, create a legal hold, or provide a customer-configurable retention override. Skilltage's current routine does not delete the recruitment case or job drafting records, and it does not use a candidate's hiring decision timestamp as the trigger. Confirm the applicable notice, DPA, and internal policy before publishing a customer-facing period.
Skilltage guidance
Skilltage is designed for GDPR-aligned B2B recruitment workflows with customer-as-controller and Skilltage-as-processor roles, human-reviewed AI assistance, deletion paths, and case-closure evidence cleanup. The product helps make the boundary explicit; the organisation remains responsible for its lawful basis, instructions, notices, accommodations, and final decisions.
Next step
At your next hiring retrospective, close one completed case deliberately and record the three decisions above. Then compare the evidence boundary with your privacy notice and customer instructions. For the review habit that should precede cleanup, read the evidence-first CV screening guide.
Related resources
Use the missing-evidence guide to keep unresolved evidence from becoming an unrecorded rejection reason, and the AI recruitment tool evaluation checklist to ask vendors where deletion and retention actually happen.