Privacy Policy

How Efficius GmbH collects, uses and protects personal data in connection with the CircularHire platform.

Last updated: 22 September 2026

1. Controller

The controller responsible for the processing of your personal data under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is:
Efficius GmbH
Liebenwalder Str. 33
c/o PulsRaum
13347 Berlin, Germany
Email: wirken@efficius.de
Phone: +49 (0) 30 6444 3128

2. Scope of This Policy

This Privacy Policy explains what personal data we collect when you visit circularhire.de, create an account, post a job, apply for a job, contact us or otherwise interact with the platform, and how that data is used, stored and shared.

3. Data We Collect

We process the following categories of personal data:

  • Account data: name, email address, password (stored hashed), account type (candidate or employer), confirmation status.
  • Profile data: professional headline, biography, education, work experience, skills, languages, location, links to external profiles.
  • Candidate CV data: the documents and information you upload or paste into your CV or profile.
  • Employer data: company name, company description, logo, website, address, contact details, VAT/tax IDs where provided, billing details.
  • Job posting data: job titles, descriptions, requirements, location, work arrangement, employment type, circular contribution tags, application instructions.
  • Application data: cover letters, answers to employer questions and any additional files you submit to an employer.
  • Usage data: IP address, browser type and version, operating system, referrer, pages visited, time of access, approximate country/city derived from IP.
  • Communication data: content of messages you send through the platform or directly to us, and our responses.
  • Payment data: invoices, billing address, transaction references. Payment card data is handled by our payment processor and is not stored on our servers.

4. How We Use Your Data

We process personal data for the following purposes:

  • To create and maintain your account.
  • To publish your profile, CV or job postings on the platform as you have configured.
  • To match candidates with relevant vacancies and enable applications.
  • To send transactional messages such as confirmations, security alerts, application notifications and platform updates.
  • To provide customer support and respond to enquiries.
  • To detect and prevent fraud, abuse, security incidents and violations of our Terms of Use.
  • To produce aggregated, non-identifying statistics about the platform.
  • To comply with legal obligations and respond to lawful requests by public authorities.

5. Legal Bases (GDPR)

We rely on the following legal bases under Article 6 GDPR:

  • Contract (Art. 6(1)(b)): to provide the service you have signed up for and to process applications.
  • Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)): to operate, secure and improve the platform, prevent misuse and run aggregated analytics.
  • Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)): for optional features such as marketing emails, certain cookies and public profile visibility beyond what is necessary.
  • Legal obligation (Art. 6(1)(c)): to keep records required by commercial, tax and anti-money laundering law.

6. Cookies and Similar Technologies

We use a small number of cookies and similar technologies:

  • Strictly necessary cookies: for session management, login state and security. These are required for the platform to work and do not require consent.
  • Preference cookies: to remember language and display choices.
  • Analytics cookies (optional): only with your consent, to understand aggregated usage patterns.

You can manage your cookie preferences through your browser settings. Disabling certain cookies may affect how the platform works.

7. Sharing of Personal Data

We do not sell personal data. We share data only as described below:

  • Other users: candidate profiles and CVs are visible to employers according to the candidate's visibility settings. Employer information is visible to candidates browsing job postings.
  • Application recipients: when you apply for a job, your profile and submitted application data are shared with that employer.
  • Service providers: hosting, email delivery, payment processing, error monitoring and customer support vendors that act on our behalf under data processing agreements.
  • Legal: where required by law, court order or to protect our legal rights and the safety of our users.
  • Business transfers: in connection with a merger, acquisition or sale of assets, with appropriate confidentiality undertakings.

8. International Transfers

We primarily store data within the European Economic Area. Where data is transferred to a country outside the EEA that has not been recognised by the European Commission as providing an adequate level of protection, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses.

9. Retention

We keep personal data for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide the service. When you delete your account, we remove or anonymise your personal data within thirty (30) days, except where retention is required for legal, tax or legitimate business purposes (for example, invoicing records, fraud prevention logs).

10. Your Rights

Subject to applicable law, you have the right to:

  • Access the personal data we hold about you.
  • Correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
  • Request deletion of your data ("right to be forgotten").
  • Restrict or object to certain processing activities.
  • Receive your data in a portable, machine-readable format.
  • Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.
  • Lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

To exercise these rights, write to wirken@efficius.de. We will respond within one month, as required by GDPR.

11. Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data, including encrypted transport (TLS), hashed passwords, restricted internal access, and regular review of our security practices. No method of transmission or storage is, however, completely secure.

12. Children

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

13. Automated Decision-Making

We may surface job recommendations and candidate matches based on the information you provide and your activity on the platform. These recommendations do not produce legal effects or otherwise significantly affect you; no automated decisions with legal consequences are made about you based solely on automated processing.

14. Links to Third-Party Sites

Job postings and company profiles may link to external websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites. Please review their policies before submitting personal data.

15. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page reflects when the current version came into force. Material changes will be communicated through the platform or by email where appropriate.

16. Contact and Data Protection Enquiries

For any privacy-related enquiry, please contact:
Efficius GmbH
Liebenwalder Str. 33
c/o PulsRaum
13347 Berlin, Germany
Email: wirken@efficius.de
Phone: +49 (0) 30 6444 3128

If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Berliner Beauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit, Friedrichstraße 219, 10969 Berlin, Germany.