Data Retention Policy

1. Overview

JobSphere is committed to protecting your privacy while maintaining the operational integrity, security, and legal compliance of our platform. We only retain personal data for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, unless a longer retention period is required by law or legitimate business interests.

Note: If you delete your account, certain data may still be retained temporarily for security, fraud prevention, or legal obligations. This policy outlines exactly what we keep, for how long, and why.

Our data retention practices comply with GDPR, CCPA, and applicable labor and financial regulations across the jurisdictions where we operate.

2. Data Retention Schedule

The following table summarizes the categories of data we process, their primary purposes, and their standard retention periods.

d>90 days after account deletion

Data Category	Purpose	Retention Period	Deletion Method
Candidate Profile	Account management, job matching, communications	Until account deletion + 30 days	Secure erase & anonymization
Employer Company Profile	Job posting, recruiter dashboard, billing	Until subscription cancellation + 30 days	Secure erase & anonymization
Job Applications	Application tracking, interview scheduling, ATS integration	12 months after application status closes	Archived then deleted
Payment & Billing	Invoice generation, tax compliance, dispute resolution	7 years (legal requirement)	Pseudonymized storage
Communication Logs	Support tickets, in-app messaging, notifications	24 months from last activity	Auto-deletion via cron
System & Analytics Logs	Security monitoring, performance optimization, debugging	6 months	Aggregated & anonymized
Resume & Documents	Application review, background checks, employer access	Cryptographic deletion

Extending retention periods may apply if data is involved in an active investigation, legal dispute, or regulatory audit.

3. Legal Basis for Retention

We retain personal data based on the following legal grounds:

Contractual Necessity: To fulfill our service agreement, process payments, and maintain job application workflows.
Legal Compliance: Financial records, tax documents, and employment compliance data retained as required by local, state, and federal laws.
Legitimate Interests: Fraud prevention, platform security, service improvement, and dispute resolution.
Consent: Where explicitly provided (e.g., marketing preferences, optional profile sharing).

If the legal basis changes or expires, we will promptly delete or anonymize the affected data unless another valid basis applies.

4. Your Rights & How to Exercise Them

Depending on your location, you may have the right to:

Access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Rectification: Correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
Erasure (Right to be Forgotten): Request deletion of your data, subject to legal retention obligations.
Portability: Receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
Restriction/Objection: Limit processing or opt out of specific uses.

To exercise any of these rights, use the Data Controls section in your account dashboard, or contact our Data Protection Officer (DPO) directly. We will respond to verified requests within 30 days.

5. Deletion & Anonymization Processes

When data reaches the end of its retention period, it is processed through our automated lifecycle management system:

Active Deletion: Immediate removal from production databases and active backup systems.
Archival Purging: Scheduled purging of cold storage and disaster recovery backups within 14 days of primary deletion.
Anonymization: Where data must be retained for analytics or legal purposes, personally identifiable fields are irreversibly hashed or replaced with synthetic values.
Audit Trail: Deletion events are logged for compliance verification without storing the original data.

Important: Deleting your account does not instantly erase all associated data from our infrastructure. It initiates a secure, multi-stage deletion process that complies with our retention schedule and legal obligations.

6. Contact & Data Requests

If you have questions about our data retention practices, need to submit a data request, or wish to speak with our compliance team, please reach out:

Need Help With Your Data?

Our Data Protection team is here to assist you with access, correction, or deletion requests.

privacy@jobsphere.io

For urgent security concerns or data breach reports, please contact security@jobsphere.io immediately.