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Privacy Policy

HeyVar is operated by Folksnest UG (haftungsbeschränkt). This policy explains how we process personal data when you visit the HeyVar website, create or use a HeyVar account, use our career profile and assessment features, contact us, or otherwise interact with HeyVar.

HeyVar is currently being developed and tested. Some features described here may not yet be available to all users. Where a feature is not yet active, we will only process personal data for that purpose once it has launched and the appropriate information and choices have been provided.

1. Who is responsible for your data?

The controller responsible for processing your personal data is Folksnest UG (haftungsbeschränkt), Landsberger Str. 303, 80687 München, Germany, represented by Alicia Dick Wahlberg, Managing Director (info@folksnest.com). HeyVar is the brand under which Folksnest UG (haftungsbeschränkt) operates the HeyVar website and platform.

2. What personal data do we process?

If you create an account, we may process your first and last name, email address, password and authentication information, information provided through Google, Apple or LinkedIn when you use one of those services to sign in, profile information you choose to provide, and pronouns, where you choose to provide them (optional).

For your career profile, we may process resume/CV information, previous roles and job titles, employment history, education, skills, professional experience, languages, career goals and interests, preferred work environments and working patterns, availability, salary expectations, housing or relocation preferences, and locations where you live or would like to work. You decide what information you provide.

Assessment information. HeyVar may allow you to voluntarily provide reports or results from third-party assessments (e.g. strengths, personality or career assessments). You are not required to complete or upload an assessment unless a feature expressly states otherwise — please only upload information you are comfortable sharing and that is relevant to your career profile.

If you contact us through a website form, we may process your name, email address, company, telephone number (if provided), the topic you select, and the contents of your message.

3. Third-party sign-in services

Where available, you may use Google, Apple or LinkedIn to create or access your HeyVar account. The provider may share certain account information with us, such as your name and email address, depending on the service and applicable permissions. We use this information to authenticate you, create or maintain your account, and provide the requested service — we do not request more than is reasonably necessary. These providers process your information independently under their own privacy policies and terms.

4. How we use your information

Providing HeyVar — creating and maintaining your account, providing your profile, allowing you to use the platform, and maintaining platform security.

Building your career profile — depending on the information you provide, HeyVar may help organize your resume, identify potential skills, generate professional summaries, and explore your strengths and preferences to support career exploration and self-reflection.

Work environment insights — where you provide preferred work environment information, HeyVar may show you how your stated preferences compare with a team’s, to help you understand potential workplaces. These insights are not intended to judge your worth, personality or employability.

Job matching — where available, HeyVar may compare your profile with hospitality roles and work environments to identify potentially relevant opportunities. A match is a suggestion, not a determination of your qualification or suitability — HeyVar does not make employment decisions on behalf of employers.

Profile visibility — HeyVar is designed to give you control over how your profile may be used for matching. At the current testing stage, candidate profiles and data are not made available to hiring companies through HeyVar. If employer discovery is introduced, we will provide appropriate information and controls first.

Communications — we may use your contact information to respond to requests, provide account or service communications, provide support, and send newsletters or marketing where you’ve subscribed or as otherwise legally permitted. You can unsubscribe at any time.

5. Artificial intelligence

HeyVar uses AI to assist with certain career profile features — reading and organizing resume information, suggesting potential skills, generating summaries, highlighting profile information, and combining profile and optional assessment information into career insights. HeyVar currently uses the Google Gemini API for these functions. AI-generated content may contain errors or be incomplete; you remain responsible for reviewing and correcting your profile. HeyVar does not use AI to make final employment decisions about you, and does not use AI to determine that a person should or should not be hired.

For production use, HeyVar intends to use Google’s paid Gemini API service. Google’s current documentation states that content submitted through paid Gemini API services is not used to improve Google’s products, subject to its terms and configuration. HeyVar will configure its Gemini environment so candidate information is not voluntarily contributed to Google’s model training. We only send information to Gemini that is necessary for the relevant feature.

6. Profiling and automated processing

Some HeyVar functionality involves automated processing to identify patterns, preferences, potential skills, work environment similarities and potential job matches — this may constitute profiling under the GDPR. HeyVar does not currently make decisions based solely on automated processing that produce legal or similarly significant effects on you. A job match is a recommendation, not an automated hiring decision. You have the right to object to certain forms of profiling under applicable law.

7. Location information

HeyVar may ask where you currently live or are based, where you would like to work, and countries or regions you’re interested in — provided voluntarily as part of your career profile. HeyVar may use Google Maps to help standardize locations and support location-based matching, without needing your device’s precise GPS location.

8. Optional and sensitive information

Certain profile information, including pronouns and optional assessment results, is optional. HeyVar does not ask users to provide information about race or ethnic origin, religion, sexual orientation or disability as part of the standard profile. If a document you voluntarily upload contains information not relevant to your career profile, please consider removing it before uploading.

9. Legal bases for processing

Depending on the circumstances, we process personal data under Article 6 GDPR on the basis of performance of a contract (providing the services you request), legitimate interests (operating and improving HeyVar, security, preventing misuse, communicating with users), consent (certain marketing, optional features, cookies — withdrawable at any time), and legal obligations applicable to Folksnest UG (haftungsbeschränkt).

10. Cookies and similar technologies

HeyVar uses cookies and similar technologies. Some are necessary for operation, security and functionality; others, such as analytics or marketing, may require your consent under Section 25 TDDDG. Where consent is required, we ask for it through our consent management mechanism before activating the relevant technology, and you can change or withdraw your preferences at any time.

11–17. Third-party services we may use

Depending on the functionality active at a given time, HeyVar may use Google Analytics to understand site usage (activated only after required consent); HubSpot for CRM, contact forms, and newsletter/marketing communications; Calendly to let you schedule calls with us; Google Maps for location selection and matching; and embedded YouTube and Spotify content, loaded with privacy-conscious or consent-gated embedding. Each provider processes personal data under its own privacy policy and terms, and any cookies they use are only activated in line with applicable consent requirements.

16–17. Hosting and authentication

HeyVar is hosted using infrastructure provided by IONOS, which may process technical information (IP addresses, access times, browser and device information, server logs) necessary to provide and secure the website and platform. Where you choose Google, Apple or LinkedIn sign-in, the relevant provider processes your authentication information independently under its own privacy policy.

18. Recipients and service providers

We may disclose personal data to service providers where necessary to operate HeyVar — including hosting, cloud infrastructure, authentication, AI, CRM, email/newsletter, scheduling, analytics, mapping, embedded media, and security services — under appropriate contractual and data protection arrangements. Where a provider acts as an independent controller, its own privacy policy also applies.

19. International data transfers

Some of our service providers may process personal data outside the European Economic Area (EEA). Where this occurs, we rely on an applicable legal mechanism under the GDPR, such as an adequacy decision or Standard Contractual Clauses.

20. How long we keep your data

We retain personal data only as long as necessary for the purpose it was collected for. Account and profile information is generally kept until you delete your account. Optional assessment information is kept while part of your profile. When application and employer-matching functionality launches, inactive application records are currently expected to be deleted after around six months unless a longer period is legally required. Technical logs are retained for shorter periods where appropriate.

21. Deleting your account

You may request deletion of your account and associated personal information at any time. We will delete or anonymize your information unless legally required or permitted to retain particular data — for example to comply with legal obligations, prevent fraud, or maintain security. Deletion from HeyVar does not automatically delete information held independently by third-party service providers; where appropriate we will request deletion from them.

22. Your rights under the GDPR

  • Right of access — request confirmation and a copy of the personal data we process
  • Right to rectification — request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data
  • Right to erasure — request deletion of your personal data in certain circumstances
  • Right to restriction — request that processing be restricted in certain circumstances
  • Right to data portability — request your data in a structured, machine-readable format
  • Right to object — including to processing based on legitimate interests and certain profiling
  • Right to withdraw consent — at any time, without affecting prior lawful processing

To exercise your rights, contact info@folksnest.com. We may need to verify your identity before fulfilling certain requests.

23. Right to complain to a supervisory authority

As Folksnest UG (haftungsbeschränkt) is registered in Bavaria, the competent supervisory authority is generally the Bayerisches Landesamt für Datenschutzaufsicht (BayLDA), Promenade 18, 91522 Ansbach, Germany — poststelle@lda.bayern.de, +49 981 180093-0. You may also contact another supervisory authority where permitted, particularly where you live or work.

24. Children and minimum age

HeyVar is intended for users who are at least 15 years old. We do not knowingly permit children under 15 to create accounts, and will take appropriate steps to delete data collected from a person under the minimum age without an appropriate legal basis.

25. Data security

We use appropriate technical and organizational measures — access controls, authentication, encryption where appropriate, secure hosting, backups and monitoring — designed to protect personal data against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, or unauthorized disclosure or access. No internet-based service can guarantee absolute security.

26. Information we don’t ask for

HeyVar does not currently ask users to provide information about race or ethnic origin, religion or philosophical beliefs, sexual orientation, or disability or health conditions as part of the standard profile. Pronouns are optional. If a document you upload contains information not relevant to your career profile, please consider removing it first.

27. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy as HeyVar develops, our services change, or legal requirements change. If we make material changes, we will take appropriate steps to inform users where required. The “Last updated” date above shows when the policy was most recently revised.

28. Contact

Folksnest UG (haftungsbeschränkt) · Landsberger Str. 303, 80687 München, Germany · info@folksnest.com