Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

At theskill.club, we value your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your personal data when you use our platform to showcase skills, take assessments, or hire talent. By using the platform, you consent to the data practices described in this policy.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Information You Provide

• Talent: Name, email address, phone number, work history, educational background, skill tags, portfolio links, and preferences (e.g., remote work, salary expectations).
• Companies: Company name, business email, billing information (if applicable), hiring needs, and job descriptions.
• Assessment Data: When you take a test, we collect your answers, code submissions, time taken, score, and ranking relative to other users.
• Proctoring Data: For high-stakes assessments, we may collect anti-cheat monitoring data, which may include browser focus tracking, copy-paste activity logs, or temporary snapshots (webcam/screen), strictly to ensure test integrity and prevent fraud.

2.2 Information Collected Automatically

• Technical Data: IP address, browser type, device type, operating system, and crash data.
• Usage Data: Pages visited, time spent on the platform, interaction logs, and feature usage.
• Cookies: We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to manage sessions, authentication, and user preferences.

3. How We Use Your Data

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data to third parties for commercial purposes. We use your information strictly to:

1. Provide Services: Create accounts, authenticate users, facilitate job applications, and deliver the core platform functionality.
2. Matching & Ranking: Our algorithms process your skills and assessment scores to match Talent with Companies and to rank candidates based on performance metrics. You acknowledge that this involves automated decision-making support.
3. Assessment Integrity: Validate the authenticity of test results and detect cheating or fraud through proctoring data analysis.
4. Communications: Send onboarding emails, service notifications, and relevant product updates. By signing up, you consent to receive these communications.
5. Analytics: Use third-party tools (specifically Google Analytics) to monitor platform performance, analyse trends, and improve user experience. This data is used for internal business intelligence only.

4. How We Share Information

We share your data only in the following limited circumstances:

• With Companies: If you are Talent, your profile, work history, and assessment scores/rankings are visible to Companies only when you apply for a specific job or if you explicitly set your profile to public for recruitment purposes.
• Service Providers: We use trusted third-party vendors for hosting (e.g., AWS), analytics (e.g., Google Analytics), and email delivery. These vendors are contractually bound to protect your data and process it only on our instructions.
• Legal Compliance: We may disclose information if required by law, regulation, subpoena, or legal process, or to protect the safety, rights, or property of theskill.club or others.

5. Data Storage and Security

We implement industry-standard technical and organisational measures to protect your data, including encryption in transit (SSL/TLS) and secure database storage. Access to personal data is restricted to authorised personnel with a legitimate business need. However, no method of transmission over the Internet is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

6. Your Rights

Depending on your location, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Correction: Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Deletion: Request the deletion of your account and personal data (subject to legal retention requirements for fraud prevention and record-keeping).
• Opt-Out: Unsubscribe from marketing emails via the "Unsubscribe" link in the footer of our emails. Note: You cannot opt out of essential transactional emails (e.g., password resets, account alerts).

7. Cookies and Tracking

We use cookies to ensure the platform functions correctly and to analyse usage. You can control cookie preferences through your browser settings. We use Google Analytics to understand traffic patterns; this data is aggregated and anonymised where possible and is used solely for performance monitoring.

8. Children’s Privacy

Our Services are strictly prohibited for individuals under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 16. If we become aware that a child under 16 has provided us with personal data, we will delete it immediately and terminate the associated account.

9. International Data Transfers

If you are accessing the platform from outside the United States of America, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States of America, where our servers are located. By using the Services, you consent to this transfer, storage, and processing.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. We will notify you of any significant changes by sending an email to the address associated with your account or by posting a notice on our website.

11. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise your data rights, please contact our Privacy Team at: support@theskill.club.