Privacy Policy

What this is

This Privacy Policy explains what data Top Candidate collects when you use our website and tools, why we collect it, how we store it, and who we share it with. It supplements our Terms & Conditions.

What we collect

You give us the following directly:

• Identifiers: your name and email address
• Career data: work history, education, skills, brain dumps, target roles, job descriptions you paste, optional LinkedIn URL
• Files: any resumes, documents, or photographs you upload
• Payment metadata: not your card number — see below

We also collect automatically:

• Session activity: which steps you completed, when you visited, basic browser/device info
• Cookies and similar storage as set by our hosting + analytics providers (see "Cookies" below)

What we do with it

Your data is used to:

• Generate the deliverables you requested (your resume, etc.)
• Email you the deliverables and related communications
• Process payments and issue receipts
• Operate the website (hosting, caching, security)
• Diagnose problems if you report one
• Improve the Service over time

We do not sell your data, and we do not use it for behavioural advertising.

Payments

Payments are processed by Stripe, a PCI-compliant third-party payment processor. Your card information is transmitted directly from your browser to Stripe — it does not touch our servers, and nobody at Top Candidateever sees it. We receive only a confirmation that payment succeeded plus the line items you purchased. Stripe's own privacy practices are available at stripe.com/privacy.

Third parties we share with

We use third-party providers to operate the Service. We share the minimum data needed for each provider to perform its function. Current providers include:

• Vercel — hosting and serving the website
• Anthropic — AI generation (your inputs are sent to generate your resume)
• Stripe — payment processing
• Google Workspace — Gmail (transactional email), Drive (file storage), Sheets / Apps Script (session data)
• Sanity — content management for blog content
• GitHub — code hosting (no user data)

We may add or change providers from time to time. By using the Service, you consent to the sharing described above and in our Terms & Conditions.

Cookies

We use a small number of cookies and similar browser storage mechanisms for essential site functionality (such as keeping your wizard progress saved across page reloads) and for basic analytics. You can clear cookies at any time via your browser settings.

Abuse prevention (visitor fingerprint)

To protect the free service from automated abuse (e.g. someone generating endless free resumes via a script), we collect a set of standard browser signals when you use the resume builder: IP address, user-agent, screen size, timezone, language, hardware hints (CPU cores, device memory class), touch support, and stable rendering fingerprints (a hash of how your browser draws to a hidden canvas and processes audio). Each signal is a normal browser API surface that any modern site can read. We combine a subset into a SHA-256 hash that acts as a stable per-device identifier.

What we do with it: store it alongside your session so we can identify suspicious patterns (e.g. many sessions from one device) and potentially limit the free tier if needed. What we don't do with it: sell or share it with advertisers, link it to a public profile, or track you across other websites.

Retention

We retain your session data and any files you upload for as long as reasonably needed to operate the Service. You may request deletion of your data at any time by emailing hello@topcandidate.cc with the email address you used to create the session.

Security

We use industry-standard measures to protect data in transit (HTTPS / TLS) and at rest (encryption-at-rest provided by our hosting and storage providers). No system is perfectly secure; we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or restrict processing of your personal data, and to data portability. To exercise any of these rights, email us at hello@topcandidate.cc.

Children

The Service is not directed to children under 16. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us so we can delete it.

Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date above will reflect the most recent change. Continued use of the Service after a change constitutes acceptance of the updated Policy.

Contact

For any privacy-related questions or requests, email hello@topcandidate.cc.