Privacy policy

Welcome to Highre, an online career event platform that connects students and employers to democratize the job finding experience, in college and beyond. From the very beginning, our goal has been to design privacy into our platform in a way that respects the rights of students, the obligations of Universities, and the needs of employers. We understand that student data privacy is a hot topic these days so we want to make clear the very basic privacy principles that guide our policies and practices:

Students are in complete control of what data they make public
We give students control over whether they want to make their profile public to employers and what information they share on it. No student data uploaded to Highre is ever viewable by any employer until a student has chosen to share their profile with that employer. 

Highre will never sell personal student data
We have never done it and we never will! Our business model is based on offering valuable tools for our student and employer users that enhance the career discovery process. 

You should read our full Privacy Policy to understand what data we collect, how we use it, and the limited circumstances where we may share it. Please note if that you reside in the EU or other regions outside the US, information collected through our Service will be transferred to and processed in the US or elsewhere. While Highre participates in the EU/US Privacy Shield program as described below, these locations may not have the same data protection laws as the country in which you initially used our Services. By using our Services, you consent to any transfer and processing in accordance with this Policy. If you have any questions, please contact us at privacy@highre.co.

Welcome to Highre!

We are an online career event platform that connects students, schools and employers to democratize the job finding experience in college and beyond.This Privacy Policy applies to your use of the highre.co website and the Highre Service (collectively Highre”, “the Highre Service” or “the Service”). This policy is part of Highre’s Terms of Service. By using our Service, you agree to both our Terms of Service and this Privacy Policy; if you do not agree, please do not use the Service.
This Privacy Policy may change over time. If we make minor changes to it without materially changing your rights, we will post the modified Policy on our website. We will notify you by email, through the Highre Service, or by presenting you with a new Privacy Policy to accept if we make a modification that materially changes your rights.

What information we collect
We collect personal and non-personal data from you when you use our Services. Personal Data is data that includes a personal identifier like your name, email or address, phone number, IP address or device identifier, or is data that could reasonably be linked back to you. It also may include demographic information, geolocation information, educational information, or commercial information as described below.
You need to have an account to use Highre. You can create an account on Highre as a student seeking a job or career advice or as an employer looking for exciting new talent. You may also create an account as a career center or school employee or as an invited mentor.

• Student or alumni data:
We receive personal data about you when you create a Student Account, update your profile, respond to questions or surveys on our website or otherwise use our Site, from our Partner Universities, and from other third party data sources.

• From University Partners: Our University Partners share information about their students with us so we can provide them with services that they use to manage their career centers. Each University Partner chooses what it shares, which may include your name, mailing and email address, major, or GPA. Where FERPA or GDPR applies to data shared by University Partners, it is stored, used and shared in compliance with the statute.

• From you, your account and your profile: You can choose to share additional information with us, such as an updated email address, phone number, work experience, resume and transcript, and answers to questions about your interests and activities that will be covered by this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Service. You can also share this information by updating your profile, uploading documents that include personal information, or answering questions or surveys (such as the First Destination Survey) we email you or present to you on the Services. 

• From employer reviews: We receive any personal information you choose to include in submitted employer reviews. Highre collects this information even if the review is not published or made public.

• From third parties: We may receive additional information about you from other schools, alumni or career counseling organizations, or from other sources.

• Usage and log data: When you visit the Site, we log and store your IP Address and technical information about your visit like your browser type and how you progressed through the Site, where you abandoned it, etc. (“Usage Data”). We can use your IP address to determine your general location.

• Mobile data: When you use the Highre mobile app, we collect analytic information about your device, such as IP address, OS version, and clickstream.

• Precise location data: For a limited set of features, we allow users to opt-in to our collection of precise location data (GPS data). We only use this information to enable these features, such as displaying your precise location on a map at a career fair. We do not share precise location data with third parties, and we do not combine precise location data with personal information for advertising purposes.

• Employer data: When Employers create a Highre Employer Account, we request contact information, including email address and telephone number, to provide a point of contact for Universities and administrative staff and which is made available on your public profile. 

How we use your personal data

We use, process and store your Personal Data to provide the Highre Service and to maximize opportunities to connect you with potential employers. This includes:

Providing services such as allowing you to make appointments with career center professionals or sign up for career fairs and other events.
Delivering job opportunities and communications from potential employers by email in accordance with your account settings and communication preferences.
Allowing you to choose whether your profile is public or private, so potential employers, or others, can find you--or not.Allowing you to contact employers and employers to contact you.
Allowing you to post reviews and other content on employers and employment experiences.
Personalizing the Service. For example, we may suggest employers to you based on the information in your resume or the demographic information you provide or suggest students with public profiles to employers based on search criteria.
Contacting you about additional Highre or Partner services you might be interested in, unless you opt-out (see “How to Opt-Out of Email Communications”).
Researching new ways to improve the Highre Service.
Using FERPA protected data only in compliance with the requirements of the statute.

When we may share your personal data
We will only share your personal data with third parties under the following circumstances:

With your consent. For example, you may choose to make your profile public so that we can share it with employers through the Services or choose to apply to a job and we will share your profile information, resume and transcript with the employers you choose. You may also choose to make your profile public to specific audiences to help grow your professional brand and network. When posting an employer review or other related content, you may choose to publish your name and profile alongside the content publicly. You may also choose to post the content without any directly identifying information (i.e. you may post “pseudonymously”). Please note, even when posting pseudonymously, it may be possible to infer your identity from the content, and we share the identities of both public and pseudonymous content with Universities.

With vendors that are contractually engaged to provide us with services, such as cloud service providers and other services for maintaining our systems, order fulfillment, email management and credit card processing. These companies are obligated by contract to safeguard any personal data they receive from us.

With vendors that are contractually engaged to provide us with services, such as order fulfillment, email management and credit card processing. These companies are obligated by contract to safeguard any personal data they receive from us.

If we believe that disclosure is reasonably necessary to comply with a law, regulation, valid legal process (e.g., subpoenas or warrants served on us), or governmental or regulatory request, to enforce or apply the Terms of Service, to protect the security or integrity of the Highre Service, and/or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Highre, its employees, users, or others. If we are going to release your data, we will do our best to provide you with notice in advance by email, unless we are prohibited by law from doing so.

We may disclose or transfer your personal data in connection with the sale, merger, bankruptcy, sale of assets or reorganization of our company. We will notify you if a different company will receive your personal data and the promises in this Privacy Policy will apply to your data as transferred to the new entity

When we use and share non-personal data
Non-personal data is data that itself cannot reasonably be linked back to you or data that is combined with other data in a way that cannot reasonably be linked back to you. We use and share your non-personal, de-identified or aggregated data in a variety of ways to help our Partners and the public understand trends in the job seeking market through analytics reports, statistics and other metrics and guides. For example, to understand:

What percentage of students from certain colleges work in a specific geographic area.
Whether a certain major or extra-curricular activity fits well with a particular employer’s hiring patterns.
How employers compare to each other in the number of applicants they receive from different colleges.

Cookies
As a Site visitor, we place a small piece of software referred to as a “session cookie” on your computer. If you use the Services and create an account, we also use this cookie to recognize you on return visits and expedite the login process. You can remove this and other cookies through your browser preferences menu, though the exact method varies depending on the type of browser you use – but note that you won’t be able to log into our service if your cookies are disabled. If you visit from a mobile device, we may reference your device identifier or other information about where your visit originated.

Our email communications contain web beacons or similar technology which track when the email has been opened or read. This functionality sends the resulting records back to our Service, which may be associated with other information you have provided us.

How to opt-out of email communications
To stop receiving notifications or promotions, please click the unsubscribe link found at the bottom of each email or update your account preferences. For EEA users: We only send marketing communications to users located in the EEA with your prior consent. Please see the section “GDPR: Information For EEA Users” below.

Storage, security and how to remove your information
We use industry standard technical, administrative and physical controls to protect your data including encrypting it at rest and as it is transferred from you to Highre. While we take reasonable precautions against possible security breaches, no website or internet transmission is completely secure and we cannot guarantee that unauthorized access, hacking, data loss or other breach will never occur. In the event of a breach, we will take reasonable steps to investigate the situation and, where appropriate, notify affected individuals in accordance with any applicable laws and regulations.

Do not track signals
We are currently unable to respond to Do Not Track signals that may be sent by some browsers.

De-activating your account or deleting your personal data
You can choose to deactivate your account so that you are no longer viewable on the Service or you can make your account private. You may also request Highre delete information about you, however we may be obligated as a service provider to your college or university to retain certain data about you. This means that if they re-send us your data to process on their behalf, we will retain it unless they request we delete it. You can request deactivation or deletion by sending a message to privacy@highre.co or by contacting your University to ask them to delete your information. All your personal identifiers will be deleted. Highre can still use the pseudonymised data to gain insight about our service. 

Third party links
The Services may contain links to and from third party websites of our Employer and University Partners or other Highre Partners. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for their policies. We also cannot be responsible for your personal data that you submit to employers using the Services. Please check their individual policies before you submit any information to those websites.

Children
Minors under 16 are not permitted to use our Site without express parental consent to both use the Services and be bound by our Terms of Service and this Policy. We do not intentionally collect information from minors under 13. If you believe we have collected any personal information from a child younger than 13 years of age, please notify us immediately at privacy@highre.co and we will take reasonable measures to remove that information from our systems.

Payments
Highre provides the ability for employers to pay schools for collateral expenses, such as hosting a booth at a career fair, through the use of a third party payment processor. Highre does not collect or use any of that payment information. If an employer has any conflicts regarding the method of payment acceptance, they should contact the school. Highre claims no responsibility or liability for payment transactions.

Your California Privacy Rights
This Privacy Policy complies with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which requires that we provide California residents with notice that you have the right to:
opt-out of the sale of personal information,
know about personal information collected, disclosed or sold,
to request deletion of personal information, and
to be treated without discrimination should you exercise these rights.

More information regarding the sources from which we collect personal information can be found above in the section titled “What Information We Collect”; business and commercial purposes for which we collect your personal information can be found above in the section titled “How We Use Your Personal Data”; categories of recipients with whom personal information is shared or sold can be found in the section above titled “When We May Share Your Personal Data.”

We do not sell any personal information collected from your use of the Highre Service.

To make a request under the California Consumer Privacy Act, or for any questions or concerns about our Privacy Policy or practices, please contact us at privacy@highre.co.

Privacy Shield Information for EU and Swiss Individuals
Highre complies with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework and the Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of personal information transferred from the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland to the United States pursuant to the Privacy Shield. Highre has certified to the Department of Commerce that it adheres to the Privacy Shield Principles. If there is any conflict between the terms 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, please visit http://www.privacyshield.gov.

In compliance with the Privacy Shield Principles, Highre commits to resolve complaints about your privacy and our collection or use of your personal information pursuant to the Privacy Shield. EU and Swiss individuals with inquiries or complaints regarding our Privacy Shield policy should first contact Highre at privacy@highre.co

In certain circumstances, the Privacy Shield Framework provides the right to invoke binding arbitration to resolve complaints not resolved by other means, as described in Annex I to the Privacy Shield Principles.

The Federal Trade Commission has jurisdiction over Highre’s compliance with the Privacy Shield.

The Privacy Shield Principles describe Highre’s accountability for personal data that it subsequently transfers to a third-party agent. Under the Privacy Shield Principles, Highre shall remain liable if third party agents process the personal information in a manner inconsistent with the Privacy Shield Principles, unless Highre proves it is not responsible for the event giving rise to the damage.

Note that Highre may be required to release the personal data of EU and Swiss individuals whose data is pursuant to the Privacy Shield in response to legal requests from public authorities, including to meet national security and law enforcement requirements.

GDPR: information for EEA users

What rights do I have?
Individuals located in the European Economic Area (EEA) have certain rights in respect of your personal information and Highre will provide these capabilities to all our worldwide users, including:
The right of access to your personal data;
The right to correct or rectify any inaccurate personal data;
The right to restrict or oppose processing of personal data;
The right to erase your personal data; and
The right to personal data portability.

As described in this Policy, when Highre processes your data at the direction of a University Partner, we act as their Processor and comply with requests they send us under GDPR. As a Highre user:
We rely on your consent as a lawful basis for processing personal data to provide you with marketing or promotional communications.
We process personal data in order to provide you with services as requested by your University, or to perform our contract with you as described in this document, including:
     To enable the Service to function as expected; and
      To communicate with you in response to customer service inquiries and to deliver non-promotional, service-related emails.
Additionally, we process personal data based on our “legitimate interests” in providing you the Service as described in this document including:To provide you with job opportunities from employers; andTo administer surveys and questionnaires.

In some cases, Highre may process personal information pursuant to a legal obligation or to protect your vital interests or those of another person.

How may I exercise my individual rights?
Highre account holders may exercise their rights regarding their personal information as follows:
You can access your personal data through your account settings in the Highre platform or by contacting us to request a personal data report at privacy@highre.co.
You may withdraw your consent to receive cookies by adjusting your browser settings.
You may withdraw your consent to receive marketing or promotional communications at any time by clicking the “unsubscribe” link found within Highre email updates and changing your contact preferences. Please note, you will continue to receive essential account-related information, even if you unsubscribe from promotional emails.
You can request deletion of your data as described in the section “De-Activating Your Account or Deleting Your Personal Data.”

Users located within the EEA may contact us at privacy@highre.co with questions or requests regarding their personal information. Please note that Highre may request additional information from you to verify your identity before we disclose any personal or account information.


Contact us and accessing your information
If you have any questions about our privacy practices, or if you wish to remove any of your personal information from our records please contact us at privacy@highre.co