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START Canada

Privacy Policy

Last updated: June 11, 2026

1. Introduction

START Group Consulting Inc. ("START Canada," "we," "us," or "our") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our mobile application ("App") and website ("Service").

2. Information We Collect

We collect information that identifies, relates to, describes, references, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with you ("Personal Information").

A. Information You Provide to Us

  • Account Data: Name, email address, phone number (optional), and password when you register.
  • Employment & Education Data: Information about your work history, education level, and career goals (optional) to improve job matching and employability analysis.
  • Assessment Data: Your responses to quizzes, self-assessments, and employability tests. This data is linked to your account to generate your Employability Score and provide personalized career insights.
  • Profile Package Assets: Employer-facing assets you choose to upload or manage, such as resumes, cover letters, reference letters, recommendations, education credentials, certifications, publications, articles, white papers, and self-introduction videos. These files are treated as private account data and are used only for product features you enable or sharing actions you take.
  • AI Privacy Preferences: Your consent choices for AI data processing, AI recommendations, and AI document and credential analysis.
  • User Content: Feedback, support queries, or other communications you send to us.
  • Priority Access Data: Name, email, audience type, platform preference, and consent choices when you join the product access waitlist or request launch notifications.

B. Information Collected Automatically

  • Usage Data: Details of your visits to our Service, such as traffic data, logs, and interaction data (e.g., which quizzes you take and completion times).
  • Device Data: Information about your mobile device and internet connection, including the device's unique device identifier (e.g., IDFA, GAID), operating system, and mobile network information.

C. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

  • Cookies: We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on our Service and hold certain information. You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent.
  • Web Beacons: Pages of our Service and our emails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) that permit us, for example, to count users who have visited those pages.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

  • Provide the Service: To manage your account, calculate your scores, and display your progress history.
  • Profile Package Management: To store, organize, preview, download, and delete Profile Package assets, and to generate private employer share links when you choose to share employer-visible assets.
  • Personalization & Recommendations: To analyze your assessment results and provide personalized job, course, or mentor recommendations when enabled.
  • AI-Powered Features (Consent-Based): To provide AI recommendations from your profile and test results, and AI document and credential analysis of eligible assets you select for AI use, only when the required consents are enabled.
  • Advertising: To show you advertisements that may be relevant to your interests (see "Advertising Partners" below).
  • Improve Our Platform: To analyze usage trends and improve the accuracy of our assessment algorithms.
  • Communication: To send you updates, security alerts, and support messages.
  • Priority Access Invitations: To consider applicants for staged product access invitations and notify opted-in applicants about product launch availability.

4. AI Features, Consent, and Controls

We use explicit user controls for AI-related processing. AI features are optional and are separated into distinct consent categories.

  • AI Data Processing Consent: Master consent required for any AI feature that processes your personal data.
  • AI Recommendations Consent: Controls AI recommendations generated from profile and assessment/test data.
  • AI Document and Credential Analysis Consent: Controls whether eligible uploaded documents and credentials may be processed for AI career guidance.
  • Eligible Assets: Supported AI asset types may include resumes, cover letters, education credentials, certifications, publications, articles, and white papers when the asset is selected for AI use.
  • Assets Not Used by AI Tools: Reference letters, recommendations, and self-introduction videos are stored and shared only through non-AI Profile Package features and are not used by current AI document and credential analysis tools.
  • Separate Document Consent Moment: Before first document and credential analysis use, users are asked to choose whether AI document and credential analysis is allowed.
  • Opt-Out and Revocation: You can change these choices in app settings at any time. Declining AI consents does not block core non-AI app features.

5. Advertising and Third-Party Tracking

We may share your information with third-party advertising partners to deliver interest-based advertisements.

  • Ad Partners: We may share Device Identifiers (such as Apple's IDFA or Google's Advertising ID) and Usage Data with third-party advertising networks (e.g., Google AdMob, Facebook Audience Network).
  • Purpose: This allows our partners to display ads that are more relevant to you and to measure the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns.
  • Your Choices (Opt-Out): You can control the collection of this data via your device settings:
    • iOS: Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking and disable "Allow Apps to Request to Track".
    • Android: Go to Settings > Privacy > Ads and select "Delete advertising ID" or "Opt out of Ads Personalization".

6. Sharing Your Information

We do not sell your personal information. We may share your information with:

  • Service Providers: Contractors and third parties we use to support our business (e.g., Amazon Web Services for cloud hosting, Google Analytics for performance tracking) who are bound by contractual obligations to keep personal information confidential.
  • AI Service Providers: If you enable relevant AI features, selected providers may process profile, assessment, and/or eligible document and credential content on our behalf to generate requested AI outputs.
  • Employer Share Links: When you create or share a private Profile Package link, people with an active link may view the assets you marked employer-visible until the link expires or is revoked.
  • Institution or Program Administrators: If your account is associated with an institution, program, or organization that uses START Canada, authorized administrators may review relevant learner profile information and Profile Package assets for program administration, support, and learner progress review. Administrators cannot edit your Profile Package assets through this review access.
  • Recommendation Partners: Educational institutions or employers (only with your explicit consent/opt-in) to facilitate job or course matching.
  • Legal Requirements: If required to do so by law or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with legal processes.

7. Data Retention and Deletion

We retain your personal information only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy.

  • Profile Asset Retention: Uploaded Profile Package assets remain associated with your account until removed by you or deleted as part of account deletion.
  • Share Link Changes: Revoking or rotating a Profile Package share link stops future access through that link, but it does not automatically delete the assets from your account.
  • AI Consent Changes: Disabling AI consents stops future AI processing based on those settings. Existing account and Profile Package asset storage is not automatically deleted unless you remove files or delete your account.

Your Right to Delete Your Account

In compliance with App Store guidelines, you have the right to request the deletion of your account and associated data.

  • In-App Deletion: You can request account deletion directly within the App settings under "Profile" > "Delete Account".
  • Manual Request: You may also contact us at info@startnew.ca with the subject line "Delete My Account".

Note: Deleting your account is permanent. All your assessment history and scores will be erased and cannot be recovered.

8. Security

We use administrative, technical, and physical security measures to help protect your personal information, including encryption of data in transit and at rest.

9. Children's Privacy

Our Service is intended for general audiences and is not directed to children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you become aware that a child has provided us with Personal Information, please contact us.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy alone. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Last updated" date.

11. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at info@startnew.ca or visit our Contact page.