Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy explains how CareerHiKe ("we", "us") collects, uses, shares and protects your personal data when you use the CareerHiKe mobile application and related services (the "Service"). We act as the Data Fiduciary for the personal data you provide, and we handle it in line with India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (the "DPDP Act") and applicable data-protection principles.
Data we collect
We collect only what we need to provide the Service:
- Account data: your email address, the password you set (stored only as a salted hash by our authentication provider — we never see or store the password itself), the first name you give when you register and the last name if you choose to add one, and the profile details you add later (target role, optional profile photo and professional links).
- Interview Planner data: the interviews you schedule — company, role, round, date and time, mode, location or meeting link, the interviewer and recruiter contact details you choose to enter, and the outcome you record afterwards (attended, missed, cancelled or rescheduled), together with any notes and reflections you write.
- Content you provide: the resumes and job descriptions you upload, the answers you give during mock interviews, and the goals and preferences you enter for career planning.
- Usage and learning data: which features you use, lessons and interviews you complete, scores, streaks and progress — used to power your dashboard and to improve the Service (see "Analytics").
- Technical diagnostics: app version, device type/OS, and crash and error reports, so we can keep the app stable and secure. Crash reports from the app are processed by Google Firebase Crashlytics, and errors on our servers by Sentry, our error-monitoring provider.
What we do NOT collect
We do not collect your precise location or GPS data. We do not automatically collect your age or date of birth. We do not sell your personal data, and we do not use it for third-party advertising.
How we use your data
We use your data solely to operate and improve the Service:
- To generate interview plans, score your answers and produce coaching feedback.
- To show your progress, achievements and career-readiness insights.
- To keep your data synchronised across your devices.
- To understand aggregate, anonymised usage, retention and engagement so we can improve the product.
- To detect, prevent and fix errors, abuse and security issues.
Analytics
We use Google Firebase Analytics to understand how the app is used in aggregate — for example, which features are opened, learning events completed, and overall retention and engagement. Analytics are used to improve the Service and are not used to profile you for advertising. We do not track your location, and we do not collect your age automatically. Where analytics can be tied to your account, it is subject to the same protections and rights described here.
AI processing
To generate analysis, interview plans, scores and coaching, the relevant text from your resume, job descriptions and interview answers is processed by trusted AI service providers acting on our instructions. Only the content needed for the specific request is processed, and providers are bound to use it solely to deliver the result to you.
The AI voice coaches work differently from the features above. Each one is a live voice conversation about one report you already have — your resume analysis, a job-description analysis, a resume-to-job match report, or your career plan — so audio, not only text, is sent to our AI provider while a session is running. See Microphone and speech for exactly what is sent and what we keep.
Microphone and speech
Three features can use your microphone, and only while you are actively using them:
- Mock interviews: your spoken answer is converted to text on your device and it is the TEXT that is sent for scoring. The audio recording is never uploaded and never stored by us.
- Interview Companion: speech recognition runs on your device to detect which topic you are discussing. Nothing you say is uploaded or stored.
- AI voice coaches: these are different, because each is a live spoken conversation with an AI. While a session is running, your microphone audio is sent to Google, our AI provider for this feature, and Google transcribes the conversation so the coach can follow it. We also send a summary of the report the session is about — your resume analysis, a job-description analysis, a resume-to-job match report, or your career plan — and that summary can include excerpts drawn from the material it was built from, including any pay-related guidance in a career plan. We do not keep the audio and we do not keep a transcript; we keep a record that the session ran, how long it lasted and the Coach Credits it used. Under the paid terms we use, Google does not use this content to improve its products and acts as our data processor. Google's abuse-monitoring policy states that it retains prompts, contextual information and outputs for up to 55 days to detect misuse. Content flagged by its systems may be reviewed by authorised Google staff. We show you this before your first session, and the microphone does not open until you agree.
- The microphone is never accessed in the background, and you can decline or revoke the permission at any time in your device settings — the rest of the app continues to work.
Camera and photos
If you choose to set a profile picture, we access your camera or photo library only at that moment and only for the image you pick. We do not browse, scan or upload anything else.
Notifications and your device
To deliver notifications and keep your account secure we store:
- A push token for each device you have signed in on, so we can send the notifications you enabled. Deleting the app or your account removes it.
- A device identifier provided by the operating system, used to recognise the device your account is signed in on, to keep one active session per account, and to alert you if a new device signs in. It is not used for advertising or tracking across other apps.
Interview reminders
Reminders for a scheduled interview work differently from the notifications above, and the difference is in your favour:
- They are scheduled ON YOUR DEVICE by the operating system — two hours, one hour, thirty minutes, ten minutes and five minutes before the interview, plus one at the scheduled time. Your interview times are not sent to a server to produce them, and they arrive with no internet connection.
- We ask for notification permission when you schedule your first interview, because that is when it is first needed. If you decline, the rest of the Planner works exactly as before and only the reminders are absent; you can allow them later in Settings.
- Recording an outcome — attended, missed or cancelled — stops that interview's remaining reminders. Rescheduling replaces them with a new sequence for the new time.
Backups
We keep encrypted backups so your data can be recovered after a failure. When you delete your account we remove your data from active systems promptly; residual copies inside existing backups are overwritten as those backups age out on their normal retention cycle, and are never used to restore a deleted account.
Consent and legal basis
We process your personal data on the basis of the consent you give when you create an account and use the Service, and to perform the service you have asked for. You may withdraw your consent at any time by deleting your account (see "Your rights"); withdrawing consent does not affect processing already carried out.
Your rights
Under the DPDP Act you have the right to:
- Access a summary of the personal data we process about you and how it is used — email us at support@careerhikeai.com from your registered address and we will send it to you.
- Correct or update inaccurate or incomplete personal data (you can edit your profile in the app).
- Erase your personal data by deleting your account, which permanently removes your profile, files and interview history.
- Withdraw consent to processing at any time.
- Nominate another individual to exercise your rights in the event of death or incapacity.
- Raise a grievance and, if unresolved, escalate to the Data Protection Board of India.
Data sharing
We do not sell your personal data. We share it only with service providers who process it on our behalf to run the Service (for example, cloud hosting, authentication, AI processing, analytics and crash reporting), under contractual confidentiality and security obligations, and only as needed to deliver the Service to you. We may disclose data where required by law.
If you choose to share a resume or a certificate using your device’s share option, it is sent to the app you pick. That transfer is yours, not ours, and what happens to the file afterwards is governed by that app.
Data retention
We keep your personal data for as long as your account is active. When you delete your account, we permanently delete your personal data from active systems promptly, retaining only what we are legally required to keep or what is necessary to resolve disputes and enforce our agreements.
Security
We protect your data with encryption in transit, access controls, and per-user isolation. CareerHiKe has no social, community or messaging features: your resumes, job descriptions, interview practice and results are visible only to you, and there is no surface on which one user can see another's data. No system is perfectly secure, but we take reasonable safeguards seriously and review them regularly.
Children
CareerHiKe is intended for use by adults and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has provided us data, contact us and we will delete it.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as the Service evolves. Material changes will be reflected here with a new version date, and where required we will seek your fresh consent.
Grievance officer & contact
For any privacy question, request or grievance, contact our Grievance Officer at support@careerhikeai.com. We will acknowledge and respond within the timelines required by applicable law.