SmartSearch Inc. takes your right to privacy seriously, and wants you to feel comfortable using our web sites. This privacy policy deals with personally-identifiable information (referred to as “data” below) that may be collected by these sites. The policy does not apply to other entities that are not owned or controlled by SmartSearch, nor does it apply to persons who are not employees or agents of SmartSearch, or who are not under SmartSearch control.
SmartSearch complies with the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework as set forth by the US Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of personal information from European Union member countries. SmartSearch has certified that it adheres to the Privacy Shield Principles of Notice, Choice, Accountability for Onward Transfer, Security, Data Integrity and Purpose Limitation, Access, and Recourse, Enforcement and Liability. If there is any conflict between the policies in this privacy policy and the Privacy Shield Principles, the Privacy Shield Principles shall govern. To learn more about the Privacy Shield program, and to view our certification page, please visit https://www.privacyshield.gov.
In compliance with the Privacy Shield Principles, SmartSearch commits to resolve complaints about our collection or use of your personal information. European Union individuals with inquiries or complaints regarding our Privacy Shield policy should first contact SmartSearch.
SmartSearch operates in two distinct ways: as an application service provider to customers of SmartSearch®, our applicant tracking system, and as a vendor of our SmartSearch® services.
SmartSearch is an application service provider to our customers who upload their staffing data (including personal information of prospective job candidates and employees) to the SmartSearch-hosted environment. This data may be transferred to or stored in the US. Once the data is stored, our customers access our solution and their data for staffing purposes.
Individuals involved in recruitment and staffing activities interact directly with SmartSearch’s customers rather than with SmartSearch. SmartSearch is a data “processor” for our customers who operate as “controllers” of personal information. Please be aware that SmartSearch is not responsible for the privacy and security practices of our employer clients. SmartSearch® is a system to manage and store application data, but the application information you enter in one of our client’s sites is the property of the client. If you have questions or concerns about the policies or procedures of a specific employer who is one of our clients, please contact them directly.
The following information pertains to the SmartSearch® system and our processing and storage of application information. It is not enforceable upon our employer clients, as they set their own privacy and security practices as to who has access to your data and how they protect and manage the security and privacy of that data.
Generally, you can visit SmartSearch on the internet at www.smartsearchinc.com without telling us who you are, and without providing any personal information about yourself. There are times, though, when we or our partners may need information from you to deliver the products or services you request. For example, you may wish to give us your name, email address or other information to request a product demonstration or to sign up for a webinar.
We respect your privacy and are committed to protect any personal information you share with us. This policy describes how we collect and use that information.
Personal information means any information that may be used to identify an individual, including, but not limited to: first and last name, email address, phone number, home, postal or other physical address, other contact information, title, birth date, gender, occupation, industry, organization, certifications, education, personal interests, and other information when needed to provide a service you request. This typically relates to requests by you to apply to employment opportunities offered by our clients using career portals we host on the client’s behalf. It may also include information collected by us when you visit our own corporate site to request product information or apply to one of our own jobs.
When you browse our website, you do so anonymously unless you complete an online form to request a product or service, or you log in to our website with a login ID and password you have previously asked us to remember. We don’t automatically collect or track personal information.
We may log your IP address (the internet address of your computer) to give us an idea of which part of our website you visit and how long you spend there and as a security procedure, but we do not link your IP address to any personal information unless you have logged in to our website. Like many other commercial websites, the SmartSearch website may from time-to-time use a standard technology called a “cookie” to collect information about how you use the site. Please read Cookies and Tracking Technology below for more information.
SmartSearch collects personal information if you register for an SmartSearch account, when you use certain SmartSearch online products or services (such as career portals hosted on behalf of our clients), or when you submit your personal information to SmartSearch for any other reason.
Access to certain SmartSearch web pages (including hosted career portals for our clients) may require a login ID and password. The use of those web pages, and the information, programs or files downloadable from them, may be governed by a written agreement between your employer and SmartSearch. Unless you request deletion of your personal information as specified below in Information Sharing and Disclosure, your personal information may be retained by SmartSearch to verify compliance with the agreement or to track usage of other services available on those pages.
When personal information is collected, we will inform you at that time of the purpose for the collection. SmartSearch will not transfer your personal information to third parties without your consent, except under the limited conditions described below under the discussion entitled Information Sharing and Disclosure.
If you choose to provide us with your personal information, we may transfer that information only within SmartSearch or to SmartSearch’s third-party service providers, and only with your permission. Upon receiving your permission, we may transfer your information across borders and from your country or jurisdiction to other countries or jurisdictions around the world.
We will always give you the opportunity to “opt out” of receiving direct marketing or market research information. This means we assume you have given us your consent to collect and use your information in accordance with this policy unless you take affirmative action to indicate that you do not consent, for instance by clicking or checking the appropriate option or box at the point of collection. In some cases we will provide you with the opportunity to “opt in.” This means we will require your affirmative action to indicate your consent before we use your information for purposes other than the purpose for which it was submitted. An individual wishing to limit the use or sharing of their data should contact us directly (using contact information provided above) or refer to the contact-us information listed on each client’s career portal that we host.
A cookie is a small data file that some websites write to your hard drive when you visit them. A cookie file can contain information such as a user ID that the site uses to track the pages you’ve visited, but the only personal information a cookie can contain is information you supply yourself. A cookie can’t read data off your hard disk or read cookie files created by other sites. Some parts of SmartSearch’s website use cookies to track user traffic patterns. We do this in order to determine the usefulness of our website information to our users and to see how effective our navigational structure is in helping users reach that information.
If you prefer not to receive cookies while browsing our website, you can set your browser to warn you before accepting cookies and refuse the cookie when your browser alerts you to its presence. You can also refuse all cookies by turning them off in your browser, although you may not be able to take full advantage of SmartSearch’s website if you do so. In particular, you may be required to accept cookies in order to complete certain actions on our website. You do not need to have cookies turned on, however, to use/navigate through many parts of our website, except that access to certain of SmartSearch’s web pages may require a login and password.
SmartSearch uses information for several general purposes: to fulfill your requests for certain products and services (such as applying to a job for one of our clients); to personalize your experience on our website; to keep you up to date on the latest product announcements; software updates; special offers or other information we think you’d like to hear about from us; and to better understand your needs and provide you with better services. In addition, SmartSearch serves our clients as a tool to assist them in hiring qualified candidates for employment (permanent and temporary placements). When you visit one of our hosted client career portals and apply for a specific job, or upload your CV/resume or other personal information, that data is the sole property of our client, and SmartSearch does not retain any rights to use it or share it in any way or fashion. SmartSearch simply stores the data in a secure environment on behalf our our clients so that they may track employment and recruiting activities. We provide our clients with robust and secure tools to control who has access to your personal information within their own corporation. We also log and track all access to your employment and personal related information including user login information and IP address of logged in user. Access to your personal data by SmartSearch employees is strictly controlled and limited so that we may serve our client’s recruiting needs.
SmartSearch complies with the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (EU-U.S. DPF) as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce. SmartSearch has certified to the U.S. Department of Commerce that it adheres to the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework Principles (EU-U.S. DPF Principles) with regard to the processing of personal data received from the European Union in reliance on the EU-U.S. DPF. If there is any conflict between the terms in this privacy policy and the EU-U.S. DPF Principles, the Principles shall govern. To learn more about the Data Privacy Framework (DPF) program, and to view our certification, please visit https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/.
Your personal information is never shared outside SmartSearch without your permission, except under conditions explained below. Inside SmartSearch, data is stored in controlled servers with limited access. Your information may be stored and processed in the United States or any other country where SmartSearch, its affiliates or agents are located. When you provide your information to our clients, via our hosted portals or other mechanism, that data remains the sole property of our client. We simply act as an agent to store and access the data.
When an individual provides us with personal information, it is primarily done through one of our client’s portals (Career Portal, Onboarding Portal, Hiring Manager Portal, CRM, or VMS Portal) that we host on their behalf. Thus, your information is being provided directly to the client whose portal you visited for the purpose of recruiting or requesting their services. This information is stored only in the client’s own private database that we host for them and our client exclusively owns that data. We have no rights to utilize or share any data you provided to our clients via our hosted portals. Your personal information is not stored in any other SmartSearch owned database. The exception to this would be if you applied for a position at SmartSearch directly or requested product information directly from SmartSearch. In these cases, your information would be stored in our own private database and not shared with any client or other vendor of SmartSearch unless directed by both you and our client. Our clients include Staffing Firms, Placement Firms, as well as corporations hiring for their own company. By uploading your resume or personal information via our client’s private portals you consent to your information being provided to the client.
SmartSearch may provide your personal information to the companies identified above or other people under any of the following circumstances: when we have your consent to share the information; when we need to share your information to provide the product or service you have requested (such as when a client asks you for permission to conduct a background check, with your permission, the client may forward your information to a background check service, or service such as E-Verify (U.S. Only); when we need to send the information to companies who work on behalf of SmartSearch or our clients to provide a product or service to you (we will only provide those companies the information they need to deliver the service, and they are prohibited from using that information for any other purpose); or when we want to keep you up to date on the latest product announcements, software updates, special offers or other information we think you’d like to hear about either from us or them (unless you have opted out of these types of communications).
If after uploading or providing your personal information to us or one of our clients, you may opt-out of your data being shared with any entity by emailing privacy@smartsearchinc.com. Please indicate the URL of the portal you visited, and the nature of your request.
We may be required to disclose an individual’s personal information in response to a lawful request by public authorities, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements.
In cases of onward transfer to third parties of data of EU individuals received pursuant to the EU-US Privacy Shield, SmartSearch is potentially liable.
SmartSearch acknowledges the individuals rights to access their personal data. An individual who seeks access or who seeks to correct, amend, or delete inaccurate data has three choices:
1. They may contact us directly using the contact information provided above.
2. They may log into the hosted client portal in which the originally provided their personal information to and access or correct information using the provided online interface.
3. They may contact our clients directly using the contact-us information listed on each portal we host on behalf of our clients.
Keep in mind, our clients often have legal requirements to retain your information for a set period of time once you apply a job or upload your CV/Resume to their site.
As mentioned, previously, SmartSearch complies with the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework as set forth by the US Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of personal information from European Union member countries. In addition, SmartSearch safeguards the security of the data you send us with physical, electronic, and managerial procedures. In certain areas of our websites, SmartSearch uses industry-standard SSL-encryption to enhance the security of data transmissions. While we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot ensure the security of information you transmit to us, and so we urge you to take every precaution to protect your personal data when you are on the internet. Change your passwords often, use a combination of letters and numbers, and make sure you use a secure browser.
Our websites do not target and are not intended to attract children under the age of 13. SmartSearch does not knowingly solicit personal information from children under the age of 13 or send them requests for personal information.
Our SmartSearch website contains links to other sites. Some of these sites may be co-branded with an SmartSearch or SmartSearch® logo even though they are not operated by us. We do not share your personal information with these third-party sites or with the companies that operate them.
Although we choose our business partners carefully, SmartSearch is not responsible for the privacy practices of third-party websites. We encourage you to learn about their privacy policies before providing them with personal information.
– SmartSearch has further committed to refer unresolved privacy complaints under the Privacy Shield Principles to an independent dispute resolution mechanism, the BBB EU PRIVACY SHIELD, operated by BBB National Programs. If you do not receive timely acknowledgment of your complaint, or if your complaint is not satisfactorily addressed, please visit https://bbbprograms.org/privacy-shield-complaints/ for more information and to file a complaint. This service is provided free of charge to you.
Please note that if your complaint is not resolved through these channels, under limited circumstances, a binding arbitration option may be available before a Privacy Shield Panel.
SmartSearch is subject to the investigatory and enforcement powers of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
SmartSearch may amend this policy from time to time. If we make any substantial changes in the way we use your personal information, we will post a notice on this site.
Last updated October 2023