Welcome to Handshake, a career services platform that connects students and employers to democratize the job finding experience, in university 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 data privacy is important to you so we want to make clear the very basic privacy principles that guide our data handling practices:
You should read our full Privacy Notice to understand what data we collect, how we use it, and the limited circumstances where we may share it.
In this Notice we refer to the European Union as ‘EU’ (which for the purposes of this Notice includes the European Economic Area (EEA)) and the United Kingdom as ‘UK.”
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We are a career services platform that connects students, education institutions, and employers to democratise the job finding experience at university and beyond.
This Privacy Notice applies to all users (including students and alumni, careers services and employers) of the joinhandshake.co.uk platform and the Handshake Service (collectively “the Handshake Service” or “the Service”), as well as your relationship with Stryder Corp. (“Handshake”). In the event of a conflict between an existing contract in place with Handshake or its subsidiaries and these Terms, the Terms of that contract shall supersede the terms in this document.
This Notice is part of Handshake’s Terms of Service. By using the Service, you agree to both our Terms of Service and this Privacy Notice; if you do not agree, please do not use the Service.
Accounts and data stored on our US service (on the joinhandshake.com domain) are independent from the UK/EEA platform (currently limited to users on the joinhandshake.co.uk domain). If you have an account on our US based service, the data associated with that account is protected by the Privacy Notice dedicated to that service. This Privacy Notice only covers data associated with the UK/EEA Platform.
Data Controller and Data Protection Officer
For personal data transferred from your University to Handshake, your University is the Data Controller and Handshake processes your data at your University’s direction. You should contact your University directly for requests regarding that data.
For personal data you share through the Handshake platform, Stryder Corp. (“Handshake”) is the Controller. You should contact Handshake directly for requests regarding that data. Handshake’s Data Protection Officer can be reached by sending an email to privacy@joinhandshake.com with the Subject: EU Data Privacy Officer or by addressing a letter to our mailing address (please add "Attn: Data Protection Officer”).
Stryder Corp - Handshake
Attn: Privacy
P.O. Box 40770
San Francisco, CA 94140
VeraSafe has been appointed as Handshakes's representative in the EU for data protection matters, pursuant to Article 27 of the General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union. If you are unable to reach Handshake at privacy@joinhandshake.com, VeraSafe can be contacted on matters related to the processing of personal data under GDPR. To make such an inquiry, please contact VeraSafe using this contact form.
Alternatively, VeraSafe can be contacted at:
VeraSafe Czech Republic s.r.o
Klimentská 46
Prague 1, 11002
Czech Republic
VeraSafe Ireland Ltd
Unit 3D North Point House
North Point Business Park
New Mallow Road
Cork T23AT2P
Ireland
Data Storage and Transfers:
Personal data collected through our Service will be stored and processed in the EU or UK wherever possible. In some instances data stored on the UK/EEA platform may be accessed by Handshake employees outside the EU or UK.
Handshake may process personal data outside of the UK and the EU. Where this is the case, Handshake takes all measures to ensure that data subjects continue to have a level of protection essentially equivalent to that under the UK data protection regime, as further discussed below under Transferral of Data outside of the UK/EEA, and will only do so in full compliance with Handshake’s legal obligations.
In providing the Services, Handshake may but does not necessarily use sub-processors that store personal data outside of the UK/EU. Details of these sub-processors can be found here. If data is transferred outside of the UK/EU region, every attempt will be made to limit the scope of data transferred. See also Transferral of Data outside of the UK/EEA below.
Changes to the Privacy Notice
This Privacy Notice may change over time. If we make minor changes to it without materially changing your rights, we will post the modified Notice on our website. We will notify you by email, through the Handshake Service, or by presenting you with a new Privacy Notice to accept if we make a modification that materially changes your rights. When you use the Handshake Service after a modification is posted, you are telling us that you accept the modified terms.
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.
In order to deliver a more personalised and inclusive service, Handshake may ask students to self-report their gender, race and ethnicity on the platform if they wish to do so. Students are under no obligation to do so, and may enjoy Handshake’s services without doing so. This Personal Data includes categories of data classed as ‘special categories’. Handshake provides extra protection and precautions in relation to all data on gender and race, in accordance with its legal obligations. We will never collect this data without the student’s explicit consent, and data is anonymised and aggregated before being shared with employers. Handshake does not process this information for any purpose other than to provide the Service to you.
You need to have an account to use Handshake. You can create an account on Handshake 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 centre or institution employee, or as an invited mentor, ambassador or prospect.
We collect data as follows:
How we process your personal data and our legal basis for processing your data
We use, process and store your Personal Data to provide the Handshake Service and to maximise opportunities to connect you with potential employers. This legal basis for processing your data and the purpose for processing is as follows:
To fulfil our contract with you: By joining Handshake, we will be required to collect, store, use and otherwise process information about you for any purposes deemed necessary for your use of the Service and for the performance of your agreement with Handshake including:
For our legitimate interests: Processing of your personal data may also be necessary for the pursuit of our legitimate interests or by a third party’s legitimate interests - but only where the processing is not unwarranted and will not cause a prejudicial effect on your rights and freedoms, or legitimate interests. Examples are:
When we may share your personal data
We will only share your personal data with third parties under the following circumstances:
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:
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
We only send marketing communications to users located in the EEA with your prior consent. To stop receiving notifications or promotions, please click the unsubscribe link found at the bottom of each email or update your account preferences.
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 Handshake. 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.
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 Handshake delete information about you, however we may be obligated as a Processor or Controller 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 as their Data Processor unless they request we delete it. You can request deactivation or deletion by sending a message to privacy@joinhandshake.com or by contacting your University to ask them to delete your information.
Third party links
The Services may contain links to and from third party websites of our Employer and University Partners or other Handshake 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 Notice. 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 here and we will take reasonable measures to remove that information from our systems.
Payments
Handshake provides the ability for employers to pay partner institutions for collateral expenses, such as hosting a booth at a career fair, through the use of a third party payment processor. Handshake 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. Handshake claims no responsibility or liability for payment transactions.
Exercising your Rights
You have certain rights in respect of your personal information:
When Handshake processes your data at the direction of your University, we act as their Processor and comply with requests they send us. On the other hand, you become a Handshake user by agreeing to this Handshake European Union Privacy Notice and Terms of Service which describes that the personal data Handshake collects as a Controller of your data.
You may exercise your rights regarding your personal information as follows:
You may contact us at privacy@joinhandshake.com with questions or requests regarding your personal information. Please note that Handshake may request additional information from you to verify your identity before we disclose any personal or account information.
For Employers
Prospective employers who create a Handshake Employer Account must only process Personal Data a student chooses to make available for the purposes of any job enquiry or application a student may make in the course of using the service and must process such data strictly in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018. Such data may not be shared, transferred, retained or otherwise used in any manner to which a student has not given express and informed consent.
Transferral of Data outside the EU
Handshake makes every effort to store and process data within the United Kingdom or European Economic Area. We encourage you to review the list of sub-processors linked below for details on transfers.
Handshake and Handshake’s sub-processors may but do not necessarily process personal data outside the UK and the EU in order to deliver services to you. We may need to share data:
• with our offices or other companies within our group located outside the UK/EU;
• with your and our service providers located outside the UK[/EU;
• if you are based outside the UK/EU;
Under data protection law, we can only transfer your personal data to a country or international organisation outside the UK/EU where:
• the UK government or, where the EU GDPR applies, the European Commission has decided the particular country or international organisation ensures an adequate level of protection of personal data (known as an ‘adequacy decision’);
• there are appropriate safeguards in place, together with enforceable rights and effective legal remedies for data subjects.
These are explained below.
Adequacy decision
We may transfer your personal data to certain countries, on the basis of an adequacy decision. These include:
• all European Union countries, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway (collectively known as the ‘EEA’);
• Gibraltar; and
• Andorra, Argentina, Canada, Faroe Islands, Guernsey, Israel, Isle of Man, Japan, Jersey, New Zealand, Switzerland and Uruguay.
The list of countries that benefit from adequacy decisions will change from time to time. We will always seek to rely on an adequacy decision, where one exists.
Other countries we are likely to transfer personal data to do not have the benefit of an adequacy decision. This does not necessarily mean they provide poor protection for personal data, but we must look at alternative grounds for transferring the personal data, such as ensuring appropriate safeguards are in place or relying on an exception, as explained below.
Transfers with appropriate safeguards
Where there is no adequacy decision, we may transfer your personal data to another country if we are satisfied the transfer complies with data protection law, appropriate safeguards are in place, and enforceable rights and effective legal remedies are available for data subjects.
The safeguards will usually include using legally-approved standard data protection contract clauses.
To obtain a copy of the standard data protection contract clauses and further information about relevant safeguards, please contact us (see above).