How long should you keep candidate data in Singapore?
Apply Singapore’s one-year hiring-record guidance without keeping every candidate file forever. Set practical rules for recordings, talent pools and deletion.
· 5 min read
Guidance checked 9 October 2026.
There is no single retention period for every candidate record in Singapore. TAFEP’s interview guidance calls for interview, assessment and job-offer records to be kept for at least one year. That does not mean every recording must be kept indefinitely—or that the whole profile should be deleted on its first anniversary.
A hiring-decision record, an interview recording and a talent-pool profile serve different purposes. Set a rule for each, then make sure your applicant tracking system (ATS), suppliers and downloaded copies follow it.
How does the one-year guidance fit with the PDPA?
The PDPA’s retention rule has two linked conditions: the original purpose is no longer served, and keeping the data is no longer necessary for a legal or business purpose. Once it is reasonable to assume both, stop retaining the data or remove the means of linking it to the person. The PDPC’s explanation of the retention obligation describes the duty; your schedule must turn it into record-specific actions.
Removing a name is not enough to make a record anonymous when it can still be linked to the candidate. Include coded records in the review rather than treating them as automatically outside the policy.
Keep enough evidence to explain the assessment and outcome: the criteria used, relevant candidate answers, assessment, reviewer and decision. A score of 72 or a note saying “not a fit” may not explain why someone was rejected. These are suggested contents for a useful record, not a prescribed form.
The one-year guidance is a minimum for the records it covers, not automatic permission to destroy them on their anniversary. A complaint, another applicable requirement or a continuing legal or business purpose may justify longer retention. Check any recruitment, employment-agency or sector-specific requirements that apply to your organisation.
Separate the records before choosing their periods
Use this inventory before choosing periods. Keep the evidence needed for the purpose, not every duplicate produced along the way.
| Record | What it may be needed for | Decision to make |
|---|---|---|
| Application and CV | Showing the information used to assess the application | Which version and supporting evidence need to remain with the hiring record? |
| Interview notes, transcript and assessment | Explaining what was assessed, uncertainties and the outcome | What must a reviewer be able to reconstruct later? |
| Raw audio or video | Producing and checking the interview record | When can it be removed without losing necessary evidence or an unresolved correction? |
| Talent-pool profile | Considering the person for future roles | Is that use appropriate, explained and still useful? |
| Messages, exports and shared reports | Communicating or sharing the recruitment record | Which copies are needed, and who removes the others? |
Keeping someone in a talent pool is a separate purpose from retaining evidence of a past hiring decision. Removing them from future-role contact should not silently destroy records that still need to be kept. Equally, an old application is not a reason to keep contacting someone indefinitely.
Can the recording be deleted before the transcript?
It may be possible, but a transcript is not automatically an adequate replacement. Check its accuracy, what evidence must remain and whether a complaint or correction is unresolved.
For example, a transcript appears to omit a material part of an answer. Keep the affected audio while the reviewer checks the discrepancy. Record the hold so it does not become indefinite:
Reason for hold: A potentially material answer is missing from the transcript.
Owner and review date: [Reviewer and date].
Action: Check the audio, correct the record and reconsider any decision affected by the omission.
Release condition: Necessary evidence is preserved and no further hold applies; resume the approved schedule.
A temporary hold needs an owner and review date. It is not a reason to keep every recording forever. Before releasing it, confirm that the corrected transcript and decision record preserve the evidence still required.
Write a schedule an administrator can follow
Create one instruction per record type. This copyable structure turns the policy into a task:
Record and purpose: [What is retained and why].
Retention clock: [Approved period] from [defined event and system field].
Copies covered: [Systems, suppliers and exports].
Action when due: [Delete or approved anonymisation process].
Owner and access: [Who performs the action; who can view retained records].
Hold: [Reason, approver and review date, when applicable].
“Keep for one year” is incomplete unless the administrator knows which event starts that year. State whether the period runs from a decision, the close of the recruitment process or another approved event. The choice must fit the applicable requirements; a supplier’s default is not a legal answer.
Check the field that drives the clock. A routine note can change “last modified” without creating a new reason to retain the record. For example, if your approved rule runs from the application’s closure, a later contact-detail update should not silently restart it. A new application may have its own retention clock; keep the two purposes distinguishable.
Have the responsible privacy or legal reviewer approve the periods and triggers. Before automating deletion, produce a preview of the records due for removal. Check a closed application, a talent-pool profile, an active application and a record on hold against the policy.
Ask suppliers what deletion actually removes
Send your ATS and interview suppliers a concrete question:
When we delete a candidate, what happens to their application, recording, transcript, assessment and attachments? Which connected systems receive the instruction, and which need a separate action? Explain backup, security-log or legal-retention exceptions, including access and removal dates. Can we remove someone from a talent pool without deleting a hiring record that still needs to be retained?
Account for your own exports and emailed reports too. A supplier cannot remove a spreadsheet from a manager’s laptop simply because the candidate profile has disappeared from the ATS.
