Privacy Policy

01.Introduction

CareerWise (“we”, “our”, or “us”) operates an AI-assisted career intelligence platform designed to help job seekers, professionals, and students analyze their resumes, identify technical skill gaps, simulate mock interview scenarios, generate role-aligned cover letters, and build personalized skill roadmaps.

This Privacy Policy explains transparently how we collect, store, process, and handle your information when you access our web application. We believe in candid disclosure: we describe our actual system design rather than making vague, inflated marketing assertions.

02.Information We Collect

We collect information that you directly provide to us and data required to authenticate and deliver our career services:

• Authentication & Profile Information: Handled securely via our identity provider (Clerk). This includes your email address, full name, profile picture (if provided), and unique account identifier.
• Resume Data: PDF documents you upload for diagnostic scanning, along with extracted textual data including work experience, education history, contact links, and listed technical competencies.
• Career & Target Preferences: Industry selection, target job titles, years of experience, and personal professional skills.
• Application Activity & Exercises: Answers submitted during mock interview quizzes, generated interview scores, feedback reviews, cover letter input parameters, and generated career roadmaps.

03.How We Use Information

We process your data strictly to execute the core features you request:

• Generating automated ATS compatibility scoring and section-by-section resume feedback.
• Curating tailored interview questions matching your chosen industry and calculating objective quiz performance scores.
• Drafting structured cover letter markdown tailored to job descriptions you specify.
• Generating role-specific technical learning roadmaps and skill milestones.
• Preventing unauthorized cross-user data access through strict account authorization barriers.

04.Resume and Career Data Lifecycle

CareerWise operates on a single active resume model per user account:

All uploads are subject to pre-flight security constraints: files must be genuine PDFs under 4 Megabytes (4MB) verified via binary magic bytes (%PDF-). Non-PDF files and disguised executables are blocked and rejected before processing.

05.AI-Powered Features & Third-Party Processing

To deliver resume diagnostics, quiz evaluation, and personalized career roadmaps, CareerWise interacts with external machine learning APIs:

• Google Gemini API: Uploaded resume PDFs, extracted resume information, target role descriptions, and prompt instructions are transmitted via encrypted HTTPS to Google's Gemini API endpoints for inference.
• Zero Model Training on Personal Data: Data handling by the AI provider depends on the API service, account tier, and settings configured by the operator. Review the provider terms before uploading sensitive information.
• Structured Output Validation: All AI outputs are returned as structured JSON schemas and sanitized on our application server prior to database persistence.

06.Data Storage and Access Controls

Your career records and profile data are stored in a managed PostgreSQL database configured with strict relational foreign keys:

• Multi-Tenant Isolation: Every database query for resumes, assessments, cover letters, and roadmaps is explicitly bound to the verified Clerk userId. One user cannot view, alter, or delete another user's records.
• Encryption in Transit: All communications between your browser, our application servers, database instances, and external APIs are encrypted using modern Transport Layer Security (TLS/HTTPS).
• Server-Side Quiz Calculation: Interview assessment questions, answer keys, and scoring logic are calculated on our backend. Correct answers are never sent down to the client before submission, preventing client-side answer tampering.

07.Third-Party Subprocessors

We partner only with established infrastructure providers to operate the platform:

08.Cookies and Local Storage

CareerWise keeps client storage minimal and functional:

• Essential Session Cookies: Created and managed by Clerk to keep you securely signed in across page requests.
• Theme Preference: Stored in browser localStorage to remember your selected light or dark mode theme between visits.
• Zero Ad Trackers: We do not employ third-party advertising tracking pixels, cross-site behavior trackers, or data broker scripts.

09.Data Retention

We retain your active profile, current resume, interview assessments, and generated cover letters for as long as your CareerWise account exists. Interview assessments remain associated with your account; generated cover letters can also be deleted individually. Deleting your Clerk account triggers removal of the associated CareerWise records through a verified account-deletion webhook.

10.Your Choices and Rights

You maintain direct control over your career information:

• Resume Replacement: You can upload a new resume at any time from your dashboard or onboarding workflow.
• Profile Updates: You can modify your target industry and skills in your account profile.
• Account Deletion: You can request complete removal of your profile and associated database records by managing your Clerk account or contacting support.

11.Children's Privacy

CareerWise is intended for working adults, university students, and career seekers. We do not knowingly collect personal information from individuals under the age of 13. If you believe a minor has created an account, please reach out to us for prompt account removal.

12.Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy as new capabilities, tools, or security practices are added to the application. Any revisions will be reflected on this page with an updated “Last Updated” date at the top.

13.Contact Us

If you have any questions or privacy inquiries regarding your information on CareerWise, please contact us at: