This notice provides Smart Hires Corporation’s (the Department) security & privacy policy regarding the nature, purpose, use, and sharing of any Personally Identifiable Information (PII) collected via this website. Our security and privacy policy explains our information practices when you provide PII to us, whether collected online or offline, or when you visit us online to browse, obtain information, or conduct a transaction. PII may include: your name, email, mailing and/or home address, phone numbers, or other information that identifies you personally

The PII you provide on Smart Hires Talent Network website will be used only for its intended purpose. We will protect your information consistent with the principles of the Privacy Act of 1974 (https://www.justice.gov/opcl/privacy-act-1974).

Personally Identifiable Information

As a general rule, Smart Hires does not collect PII about you when you visit our website, unless you choose to create an account by registering and providing such information to us. Submitting PII through our website is voluntary. By doing so, you are giving Smart Hires your permission to use the information for the stated purpose. However, not providing certain information may result in Smart Hires’s inability to provide you with the service you desire.

If you choose to provide us with PII on Smart Hires website, through such methods as completing a web form or sending us an email, we will use that information to help us provide you the information or service you have requested or to respond to your message. The information we may receive from you varies based on what you do when visiting our site.

Generally, the information requested by Smart Hires will be used to respond to your inquiry or to provide you with the service you request. When this information is requested, the reasons for collecting it, a description of Smart Hires’s intended use of the information, how to grant consent to use mandatorily provided information, and how to grant consent for other than statutorily mandated uses will be fully described in the User Agreement (https://www.smarthires.com/useragreement.htm).

Email

Many of our programs and websites allow you to send us an email. We will use the information you provide to respond to your inquiry. We will only send you general information via email. You should be reminded that email may not necessarily be secure against interception. Therefore, we suggest that you do not send sensitive personal data (such as your Social Security number) to us via email.

Electronic mail messages that meet the definition of records in the Federal Records Act (44 U.S.C. 3101 et seq.) are covered under the same disposition schedule. This means that emails you send us will be preserved and maintained for varying periods of time if those emails meet the definition of Federal records. Electronic messages that are not records are deleted when no longer needed.

Categories of information Smart Hires collects on its websites are further described below.

Automatically Collected Information

We collect and temporarily store certain information about your visit for use in site management and security purposes only. We collect and analyze this information because it helps us to better design our website to suit your needs. We may also automatically collect information about the web content you view in the event of a known security or virus threat. This information includes:

• The Internet domain from which you access our website (for example, “xcompany.com” if you use a private Internet access account, or “yourschool.edu” if you connect from an educational domain);
• The Internet Protocol (IP) address (a unique number for each computer connected to the Internet) from which you access our website;
• The type of browser (e.g., Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome) used to access our site;
• The operating system (e.g., Windows, Mac OS, Unix) used to access our site;
• The date and time you access our site;
• The Universal Resource Locators (URLs), or addresses, of the pages you visit;
• Your username, if it was used to log in to the website; and
• If you visited this website from another website, the URL of the forwarding site.

We may share the above information with our employees or representatives with a “need-toknow” in the performance of their official duties, or other named representatives as needed, process your request or transaction. This information is only used to help us make our site more useful for you. Raw data logs are retained temporarily as required for security and site management purposes only.

Third-Party Websites and Applications

Smart Hires uses social media websites and other kinds of third-party websites. Smart Hires uses social media websites to interact with foreign constituencies and engage in public diplomacy worldwide. Social media websites are used to publicize embassy and Department events, and engage with members of the public in foreign countries. Smart Hires also uses web measurement and customization technologies to measure the number of visitors to our websites and their various sections and to help make our websites more useful to visitors. In such cases, the thirdparty application may request an email address, username, password, and geographic location (e.g., State, region, or ZIP code) for account registration purposes. Smart Hires does not use third-party websites to solicit and collect PII from individuals. Any PII passively collected (i.e., not solicited) by the third-party website will not be transmitted or stored by Smart Hires; no PII will be disclosed, sold or transferred to any other entity outside Smart Hires, unless required for law enforcement purposes or by statute.

Information Collected for Tracking and Customization (Cookies)

A cookie is a small file that a website transfers to your computer to allow it to remember specific information about your session while you are connected. Your computer will only share the information in the cookie with the website that provided it, and no other website can request it. There are two types of cookies:

• Session: Session cookies last only as long as your web browser is open. Once you close your browser, the cookie is deleted. Websites may use session cookies for technical purposes such as to enable better navigation through the site, or to allow you to customize your preferences for interacting with the site.
• Persistent: Persistent cookies are saved on a user’s hard drive in order to determine which users are new to the site or are returning, and for repeat visitors, to block recurring invitations. If you do not wish to have session or persistent cookies stored on your machine, you can turn cookies off in your browser. You will still have access to all information and resources at Department websites. However, turning off cookies may affect the functioning of some Department websites. Be aware that disabling cookies in your browser will affect cookie usage at all other websites you visit as well.

Security

Smart Hires takes the security of all PII very seriously. We take precautions to maintain the security, confidentiality, and integrity of the information we collect at this site. Such measures include access controls designed to limit access to the information to the extent necessary to accomplish our mission. We also employ various security technologies to protect the information stored on our systems. We routinely test our security measures to ensure that they remain operational and effective.

We take the following steps to secure the information we collect:

• Employ internal access controls to ensure that only personnel who have access to your information are those with a need to do so to perform their official duties.
• Train appropriate personnel on our privacy and security policies and compliance requirements
• Perform regular backups of the information we collect online to ensure against loss.
• Use technical controls to secure the information we collect online including, but not limited to:
  • Secure Socket Layer (SSL)
  • Encryption
  • Firewalls
  • Password protections
• Periodically test our security procedures to ensure personnel and technical compliance.
• Employ external access safeguards to identify and prevent unauthorized access by outsiders that attempt to “hack” into, or cause harm to, the information contained in our systems.

We hold our contractors and other third-party providers to the same high standards that we use to ensure the security, confidentiality, and integrity of personal information they may have access to in the course of their work completed on behalf of Smart Hires.

In Addition to these Safeguardss, Smart Hires will never:

• Send an unsolicited email asking you to respond with your personal account information (e.g., username, password, or Social Security number).
• Ask for your web password in an email or request your personal information over the phone or by U.S.mail. We may ask for personal information if you’ve contacted us to report you’re having trouble logging on to your Smart Hires account(s).

When you call Smart Hires

• We’ll take steps to ensure we’ve verified your identity before discussing personal information with you over the phone. We’ll ask you to verify personal information, which may include questions you selected as part of the web registration process.
• We’ll never call you and ask for your password or logon credentials, your Social Security number, or a security code you’ve received via text or automated call. You should never disclose this information to anyone over the phone. If you suspect someone has gained access to this information contact support@smarthires.com or (877) 689-6233 immediately.