Recruit Co. Ltd. announced Monday that its Recruit Career subsidiary received an administrative admonishment from Japan’s Personal Information Protection Committee.

The Tokyo-based company said the admonishment came after an investigation of its “Rikunabi DMP Follow” service operated by Recruiter Career. It said there was a determination that it provided personal data to third parties without obtaining required consent.

Recruit noted the service was discontinued on Aug. 4.

The company said it plans several measures to strengthen governance, including establishing a data usage policy for all subsidiaries and putting in place an advisory committee on data utilization. It also plans a program to train and educate the company’s employees.

Jiji Press reported Monday the company was called to take corrective measures after it was found to have sold to client firms data on the odds that job-hunting students would decline informal job offers without the students’ consent.

An article posted on The Japan Times website said the data involved nearly 8,000 job seekers, and said Recruit Career President Daizo Kobayashi said internal checks were insufficient and he is concentrating on changing the organization.