Privacy Policy

1. Introduction and scope

1.1 PlacePeak Inc. (“PlacePeak,” “we,” “us” or “our”) is an employer-paid search and recruitment firm incorporated under the Business Corporations Act (Ontario). We assist organisations (“Clients”) in identifying professionals for roles in the technology, legal, financial and related sectors. This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, disclose, retain and protect personal information, and the rights and choices available to you.

1.2 This Privacy Policy applies to personal information concerning: (a) professionals who contact us, whom we contact concerning an opportunity, or whose professional information we review because it appears relevant to a role, including individuals who have not yet heard from us or visited our website (“Candidates”); (b) representatives of Clients and prospective Clients; (c) referees and other individuals whose details are provided to us by a Candidate or Client; (d) visitors to placepeak.co and related pages; and (e) representatives of our suppliers and partners, including licensed local recruitment partners.

1.3 This Privacy Policy does not govern the handling of personal information by a Client following an introduction, which is subject to the Client’s own privacy notice, nor the personal information of PlacePeak personnel. Where a particular role, activity or jurisdiction requires additional information to be provided, we will provide a supplementary notice before the relevant processing begins.

1.4 This Privacy Policy is a notice. It is not a contract requiring you to consent to each activity described. We rely on the consent or other legal basis required for the relevant purpose in the relevant jurisdiction, and we will request any specific choice separately where one is required. Capitalised terms not defined in this Privacy Policy have the meanings given in our Terms of Use.

2. Responsibility for your information and how to contact us

2.1 Responsible organisation. PlacePeak Inc. is responsible for, and where the term is used is the “controller” of, the personal information that it processes for its own sourcing, Candidate relationships, introductions, business development, administration and website. Where PlacePeak processes personal information solely on the documented instructions of a Client, the Client may be the controller and PlacePeak its processor or service provider in respect of that activity.

2.2 Contact. Questions, requests and complaints concerning this Privacy Policy or our handling of personal information may be sent to legal@placepeak.co or by post to PlacePeak Inc., 350 Bay Street, Suite 1300B, Toronto, Ontario M5H 2S6, Canada. Messages sent to that address are directed to the individual within PlacePeak who is accountable for our compliance with applicable privacy law.

2.3 Licensed partners. In jurisdictions in which we act through a licensed local recruitment partner, that partner is independently responsible for its own processing of personal information and will provide any notice required by local law. See Section 6.3.

2.4 Representatives. Where our activities become subject to a law that requires us to appoint a local representative, such as Article 27 of the EU General Data Protection Regulation or of the UK General Data Protection Regulation, we will make that appointment and publish the representative’s details in this Privacy Policy.

3. Personal information we collect

3.1 Information you provide. When you contact us, reply to us, speak with us or provide materials to us, we collect the information you choose to provide. This may include your name, email address, telephone number, messaging identifier, city and country of residence and professional profile links; your résumé or curriculum vitae, current and former roles and employers, practice areas, transaction or matter experience described at a non-confidential level, skills, certifications, bar or other professional admissions, publications, work or code samples, education and qualifications; your preferences as to roles, locations, availability, notice period and working arrangements; your compensation expectations for a new role; whether you are authorised to work in the relevant location and whether you will require sponsorship; the content of our correspondence and our notes of our conversations; your permissions for specific introductions and your communication preferences; details of any referee you choose to provide; and any accommodation you ask us to arrange. We do not ask about your current or former compensation where applicable law prohibits that inquiry.

3.2 Information from professional sources and data providers. To identify professionals who may be suited to a role, we review information that individuals and organisations have made available in a professional context, and information licensed to us by professional data providers. The categories of source include public professional networking and profile pages; employer, law firm and company websites, biographies and team pages; professional and regulatory registers and directories; publications, conference materials, patents, public code repositories and the professional press; and search and professional data providers that license business contact and career information. From these sources we typically collect your name, current and former titles and employers, city or region, education, skills and business contact details.

3.3 Use of those sources. We do not access private or restricted areas of any platform. The availability of information to the public does not give us unrestricted permission to use it, and we seek to limit what we collect to information relevant to our purposes. We use information obtained from professional data providers in accordance with the terms on which it is licensed to us, and we do not provide it to Clients as a background report.

3.4 Notice of indirect collection. Where we obtain your information from a source other than you, we will inform you of the category of source, and of how you may ask us to stop contacting you, when we first contact you or otherwise within the period required by the law applicable to you. You may ask us at any time what information we hold about you and from where it was obtained, subject to lawful limits protecting the rights of others.

3.5 Information we generate. In the course of our work we create records such as contact histories, indicators of relevance to a role, summaries, notes, records of permission and records used to prevent duplicate contact. These records constitute personal information. An inferred skill or indicator of relevance is not a verified fact.

3.6 Information from Clients, referees and partners. Clients provide us with information about their roles and about their personnel who deal with us, and following an introduction may inform us of interviews, feedback, offers and outcomes. With your agreement, we may obtain information from referees whom you have named. A colleague or partner may refer you to us, in which case we will tell you who referred you if you ask.

3.7 Website and technical information. When you visit our website, we and our service providers may collect information about your device and your use of the website, including your internet protocol address, the approximate location derived from it, your browser type, the pages you visit, the referring page and timestamps, using the technologies described in Section 12.

3.8 Business contact and transaction information. In respect of Client and supplier representatives, we collect business contact details, role and organisation, correspondence, contractual, billing and payment information and, in respect of completed placements, the information necessary to calculate agreed fees.

4. How we use personal information

4.1 Purposes. We use personal information to:

• (a) understand a Client’s role requirements and identify professionals whose background appears relevant to them;
• (b) contact you about opportunities, respond to your enquiries and discuss your interests;
• (c) assess, with human review, whether an opportunity may be suitable for you and whether to seek your permission for an introduction;
• (d) introduce you to a Client with your permission, arrange interviews and convey feedback, offers and related communications;
• (e) remain in contact with Candidates who wish to hear about future opportunities;
• (f) maintain a record of individuals who have asked not to be contacted, and prevent duplicate approaches;
• (g) manage our relationships with Clients and suppliers, invoice and collect agreed fees, and maintain records of introductions and the permissions given for them;
• (h) produce aggregated or de-identified information that does not identify any individual, and evaluate and improve our services;
• (i) monitor our processes for fairness;
• (j) operate, secure and improve our website and systems and prevent fraud and impersonation;
• (k) send optional business communications in accordance with your choices; and
• (l) comply with applicable law, regulation and licence conditions, respond to requests and complaints, and establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

4.2 Legal bases. Where applicable law, such as the EU or UK General Data Protection Regulation, requires a legal basis for processing, we rely, as appropriate to the activity, on our legitimate interests in identifying professionals for genuine roles, contacting them about relevant opportunities, responding to them and coordinating recruitment processes; on your permission or consent, including for introductions to a named Client where consent is required; on the performance of a contract; on compliance with legal obligations; and on our legitimate interests in operating, securing and improving our business and in establishing, exercising or defending legal claims. Where we rely on legitimate interests, we consider the nature of the information, your reasonable expectations and the safeguards available, and you may object as described in Section 11. Separate rules governing electronic communications may require consent irrespective of the legal basis for processing.

4.3 Canada and other jurisdictions. In Canada, we rely on your consent, which may be express or, where appropriate having regard to the sensitivity of the information and your reasonable expectations, implied, and on the exceptions permitted by law. In other jurisdictions, we rely on the consent or other legal basis required by local law. You may withdraw your consent at any time, subject to legal or contractual restrictions and reasonable notice; withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before it.

4.4 Sensitive information. We do not seek, and ask that you do not provide, information concerning health, disability, racial or ethnic origin, religion, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, genetic or biometric data, criminal records, government identification numbers or financial account details. Where you disclose an accommodation need, we use that information only to arrange the accommodation and share it with a Client only with your agreement. Where applicable law requires, we process sensitive information only with your explicit consent or on another applicable legal basis.

4.5 Practices in which we do not engage. We do not use age, date of birth or any other characteristic protected by anti-discrimination law, or any proxy for such a characteristic, in determining whom to contact, assess or introduce. We do not introduce any Candidate to a Client without the Candidate’s permission. We do not sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioural advertising, and we do not sell access to any candidate database. We do not obtain background, credit or criminal-record checks, and we do not contact a Candidate’s current employer without the Candidate’s separate permission. We do not charge Candidates any fee.

5. Technology, artificial intelligence and automated decision-making

5.1 Use of technology. We use software, including artificial-intelligence and machine-learning tools, to search the sources described in Section 3.2, to extract and organise professional information, to compare professional experience with the job-related requirements of a role, to prioritise the professionals whom our team should review, and to assist in preparing communications and summaries. This processing may influence whom we approach and in what order. Not every individual identified in initial research is individually reviewed or contacted, and the fact that you have not been contacted does not constitute an assessment of your suitability for employment. Gaps in source information and outdated information may affect results.

5.2 Human review. A member of our team reviews each Candidate before we seek permission for an introduction and decides whether to proceed.

5.3 No solely automated significant decisions. We do not make any decision that produces legal effects concerning you, or that similarly significantly affects you, based solely on automated processing, including profiling. Where a role involves an assessment tool that is subject to additional legal requirements, we will provide the information and safeguards that the law requires before the tool is used.

5.4 Your rights in relation to automation. Subject to applicable law, you may ask us whether and how technology was used in relation to you, request an explanation of the principal factors relevant to our handling of your information for a particular role, ask that a person reconsider any outcome, request correction of the information used and, where applicable law confers the right, opt out of the use of automated decision-making technology. Requests may be sent to legal@placepeak.co.

5.5 Service providers and Clients’ tools. Technology we use may be provided by third-party service providers, whose processing is subject to Section 6.1. A Client may use its own assessment tools following an introduction; the Client’s notice should describe those tools.

6. Disclosure of personal information

6.1 Service providers. We disclose personal information to service providers that process it on our behalf, such as providers of hosting and storage, communications, candidate management software, search and professional data services, artificial-intelligence and data-processing services, scheduling and video-conferencing services, website hosting and analytics, accounting, billing and payment services, and information technology and security services. We require our service providers to protect personal information and to use it only for the purposes for which we provide it.

6.2 Clients, with your permission. We disclose your identity and materials to a Client only after you have given permission for that Client and that role, as described in our Terms of Use. A general statement that you are open to opportunities does not constitute permission. Before you give permission, we may describe your background only in general terms that do not reasonably identify you. Following an introduction, the Client handles your information as an independent organisation under its own privacy notice, and we will, where required, communicate your requests for withdrawal, correction or deletion to the Client.

6.3 Licensed local recruitment partners. Where the laws of a jurisdiction require recruitment activities to be carried out by a locally licensed firm, we may, with your permission for the relevant introduction, disclose your information to a licensed partner so that it may carry out those activities. We will identify the partner before any such disclosure. Our partners are required to protect your information and are independently responsible for their own processing.

6.4 Legal, protective and corporate disclosures. We may disclose personal information: (a) where required or permitted by law, regulation, licence condition, court order or valid request of a public authority; (b) to our professional advisers, insurers and financial service providers, subject to duties of confidentiality; (c) to establish, exercise or defend legal claims or to protect the rights, safety or property of PlacePeak or others; and (d) to a prospective or actual acquirer, investor or successor in connection with any merger, financing, acquisition, reorganisation or sale of all or part of our business or assets, subject to confidentiality and only to the extent necessary, in which case the information will remain subject to protections consistent with this Privacy Policy.

6.5 No sale. We do not sell personal information and we do not share personal information for cross-context behavioural advertising. We do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of any person under sixteen years of age.

7. International transfers

7.1 PlacePeak operates from Canada, and our service providers, Clients and partners may be located in other countries, including the United States. Your information may therefore be stored, accessed or processed outside your province, state or country, under laws that differ from those of your place of residence and that may permit access by local courts, law-enforcement and national-security authorities.

7.2 Where the law of the jurisdiction from which personal information is transferred requires a transfer mechanism, an assessment or your consent, we will rely on the mechanism, carry out the assessment or obtain the consent that the law requires before the transfer is made. You may request information concerning the safeguards that apply to any transfer.

8. Retention

8.1 We retain personal information only for as long as is reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including to maintain an ongoing relationship with you where you wish us to do so, and for as long as is required or permitted by applicable law. In determining retention periods, we consider the nature and sensitivity of the information; whether we have been in contact with you and whether you have expressed interest in hearing about opportunities; the status of any search or introduction; our legal, regulatory, tax, accounting and licensing obligations; applicable limitation periods; and the need to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

8.2 If you ask us not to contact you, we will retain only the minimum information necessary to ensure that your request is respected. When personal information is no longer required, we delete it or de-identify it, subject to its continued existence in backup systems until overwritten in the ordinary course.

9. Security

9.1 We maintain administrative, technical and physical safeguards that are reasonable having regard to the sensitivity of the information concerned and are designed to protect it against loss, theft and unauthorised access, disclosure, copying, use and modification. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee the security of information transmitted to us.

9.2 If a security incident affects personal information, we will take reasonable steps to investigate and respond to it and will notify affected individuals and regulators where, and within the period, required by applicable law.

10. Your choices

10.1 Requests not to be contacted. Our communications concerning opportunities provide a means of asking us not to contact you again, and you may also send an email to legal@placepeak.co bearing the subject line “Do Not Contact.” We will give effect to your request within ten (10) business days.

10.2 Introductions. You may decline any introduction and may withdraw your permission at any time before an introduction is made.

10.3 Optional communications. You may unsubscribe from any optional communication by using the mechanism provided in it or by contacting us. Doing so does not prevent us from responding to your requests or sending administrative messages concerning an active process.

11. Your rights

11.1 Rights available. Depending on your place of residence and the law that applies, you may have the right to know whether we hold personal information about you, what it comprises, from where it was obtained, how it is used and to whom it has been disclosed; to obtain a copy, including in a portable format; to correct inaccurate or incomplete information; to have information deleted; to object to or restrict processing; to withdraw consent; to opt out of certain processing, including sale, targeted advertising, profiling or automated decision-making; not to be subjected to discrimination or retaliation for exercising your rights; to appeal our decision on a request; and to complain to a regulator.

11.2 Making a request. You may make a request by email to legal@placepeak.co bearing the subject line “Privacy Request,” or by post to the address in Section 2.2. You need not refer to any statute or use any particular form. We will respond within the period required by the law applicable to your request. We do not charge a fee except where applicable law permits a reasonable fee.

11.3 Verification and authorised agents. We may take reasonable steps to verify the identity of a person making a request before acting on it. An authorised agent may make a request on your behalf where permitted by applicable law, and we may require evidence of the agent’s authority and confirm your identity with you directly.

11.4 Limits. We may decline or limit a request where applicable law permits, including to protect the personal information of another person or the confidential information of a Client, to preserve legal privilege, to maintain security or to comply with a legal obligation to retain information. Where we do so, we will explain our reasons to the extent the law requires.

11.5 Appeals and complaints. If we decline your request, you may ask us to reconsider it by replying to our decision with the word “Appeal” in the subject line. You may also contact the privacy regulator in your jurisdiction at any time.

12. Cookies and similar technologies

12.1 Our website may use cookies and similar technologies that are necessary for it to function, to maintain security and to remember your preferences, and, subject to your choices where applicable law requires consent, analytics technologies that help us understand how the website is used. You may control cookies through your browser settings and, where provided, through our cookie preferences. Where applicable law requires us to do so, we will treat a recognised opt-out preference signal, such as Global Privacy Control, as a valid request to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information.

13. Additional information for particular jurisdictions

13.1 Application. The provisions of this Section 13 apply only to the extent that the law of the relevant jurisdiction applies to PlacePeak and to the personal information concerned. They supplement the remainder of this Privacy Policy. If you reside in a jurisdiction not addressed below, you may have rights under local law in addition to those described in this Privacy Policy, and we will respond to any request in accordance with the law that applies to it. Before we begin processing personal information in connection with opportunities in a jurisdiction whose law requires information or consents not described in this Privacy Policy, we will provide a supplementary notice or obtain those consents.

13.2 Canada

13.2.1 PlacePeak is subject to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act and, where applicable, to the private-sector privacy legislation of Québec, British Columbia and Alberta. You may request access to your personal information and an account of its use and disclosure, challenge its accuracy, withdraw consent subject to legal restrictions and challenge our compliance. You may contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada or, as applicable, the Commission d’accès à l’information du Québec, the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia or the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta.

13.2.2 Residents of Québec have the additional rights provided by the Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector, including the right to be informed where a decision is based exclusively on automated processing, of the personal information used and of the principal factors and parameters that led to the decision, and to submit observations to a person able to review the decision, and the rights of data portability and de-indexation in the circumstances provided by law.

13.2.3 Where Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation applies, we send commercial electronic messages only with consent or in reliance on an applicable exemption, identify ourselves in each message and include an unsubscribe mechanism.

13.3 United States

13.3.1 California. To the extent that the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended (the “CCPA”), applies, residents of California are informed that, in the preceding twelve months, we have collected the following categories of personal information, from the sources described in Section 3 and for the business purposes described in Section 4.1: identifiers; personal information described in California Civil Code section 1798.80(e); characteristics of protected classifications, only where volunteered; commercial information relating to placements; internet or other electronic network activity information; approximate geolocation; audio or electronic information, only with consent; professional or employment-related information; education information; and inferences concerning the relevance of professional experience to a role. We have disclosed those categories for business purposes to our service providers and, with the permission of the individual concerned, to Clients and licensed partners in connection with introductions. We do not sell or share personal information and have not done so in the preceding twelve months, and we do not use or disclose sensitive personal information for purposes that give rise to a right to limit its use. The criteria for retaining personal information are described in Section 8. California residents have the rights to know, delete and correct personal information, to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information, to limit the use of sensitive personal information, and not to be subjected to discrimination or retaliation for exercising those rights, together with any rights relating to automated decision-making technology that the CCPA and its regulations confer. Requests may be made as described in Section 11.2.

13.3.2 Other states. Residents of other states with comprehensive consumer privacy laws may have rights to confirm whether we process their personal data, to access, correct and delete it, to obtain a portable copy, to opt out of targeted advertising, sale and certain profiling, and to appeal our decision on a request. Laws governing employment, automated decision-making, biometric information and background checks may require separate notices, which we will provide where applicable.

13.4 European Economic Area, United Kingdom and Switzerland

13.4.1 Where the EU General Data Protection Regulation, the UK General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018, or the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection applies, PlacePeak is the controller, and you have the rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, data portability and objection, including an unconditional right to object to direct marketing; the right to withdraw consent; and rights in relation to decisions based solely on automated processing that produce legal or similarly significant effects. Where we obtain your information from another source, we will provide the information required by the applicable regulation within the period it prescribes. You may lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority of the place in which you reside or work or in which an alleged infringement occurred.

13.5 Other jurisdictions

13.5.1 Where the privacy laws of any other jurisdiction apply, including those of jurisdictions in the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East, you may have rights to be informed of the purposes of processing, to access and correct your personal information, to withdraw consent, to object to certain processing and to request deletion, and those laws may require your consent before your information is disclosed to a third party or transferred outside the jurisdiction. We will comply with those requirements, including by providing any required supplementary notice and obtaining any required consent before the relevant processing, disclosure or transfer takes place.

14. Children

14.1 Our website and services are directed to professionals aged eighteen (18) years or over, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from any person under eighteen (18) years of age. If we learn that we have done so, we will delete the information. This Section does not establish an age criterion for any role.

15. Changes to this Privacy Policy

15.1 We may amend this Privacy Policy to reflect changes in our practices or in applicable law. We will publish the amended version with a revised “Last Updated” date and, where an amendment is material, will take reasonable steps to notify affected individuals. Where applicable law requires your consent to an amendment, we will seek it before the affected processing begins.

16. Contact

16.1 Questions, requests and complaints may be directed to legal@placepeak.co or by post to PlacePeak Inc., 350 Bay Street, Suite 1300B, Toronto, Ontario M5H 2S6, Canada. We will acknowledge complaints, investigate them and inform you of the outcome.