Privacy Policy

In the course of our recruitment activities, we obtain the following personal information about you. This information may be obtained directly from you, provided by an employee of the Company with permission from you (so-called “referral” applications), or provided by an agent such as a recruitment agency.

• Information contained in resumes, curriculum vitae, and other documents submitted for the selection (name, age, address, gender, date of birth, telephone number, e-mail address, educational background, work experience, qualifications held, current annual salary, desired annual salary, etc.)
• Any and all information obtained through communication (whether through interviews, emails, or any other method) during the recruitment process.
• Any information related to the selection process obtained through background checks, reference checks, or other verification procedures conducted with your consent.
• All information related to application history and selection results.

Information obtained by us may include race, ethnicity, criminal record, health status, nationality, and other information(“Sensitive Information”). Such information will be obtained only when permitted by applicable law or when voluntarily submitted, and will be handled within the scope of applicable law. Such sensitive information will be used only for the purpose of obtaining work visas for each country, implementing special health considerations, and improving the diversity of our company, and will not be used for any purpose unrelated to recruitment activities.

We will use your personal information only for the following purposes related to our recruitment activities:

• to evaluate your eligibility for the position (including background checks, reference checks, and other verification procedures);
• to communicate with you regarding recruitment activities;
• to provide support for procedures leading up to employment (including, but not limited to visa acquisition and special health considerations);
• to provide you with information about the employment opportunities, events, etc.;
• to improve our recruitment processes, plans, etc.; and
• to manage information in accordance with laws and regulations.

We shall obtain your consent separately when handling your personal information beyond the scope necessary to achieve those purposes of use.

We will not provide personal information to a third party without your consent, except in the following:

• cases based on laws and regulations;
• cases in which there is a need to protect the life, body or property of an individual, and when it is difficult to obtain your consent; and
• cases in which there is a special need to enhance public hygiene, and when it is difficult to obtain your consent.

we may outsource all or part of the handling of personal information to a service provider within the scope necessary to achieve the purpose of use described above. Such service providers shall be limited to those that meet our criteria for selection of service providers, and we shall be responsible for supervising their handling of personal information.

In accordance with applicable law, you may have the right to:

• obtain access to or a copy of your personal information with accompanying details;
• receive an electronic copy of personal information that you have provided to us, or ask us to send that information to another company (the “right of data portability”);
• change or update your personal information;
• withdraw your consent to process your personal information;
• request that we restrict or limit our use of your personal information;
• request erasure of personal information held about you by SmartNews; and
• object to our processing of your personal information.

If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact us as set forth below..
We will process such requests in accordance with applicable laws. However, personal information related to the selection process and evaluation is not subject to disclosure. To protect your privacy, SmartNews will take steps to verify your identity before fulfilling your request.

We store the personal information we collect as described in this Privacy Policy for as long as necessary to fulfill the purpose(s) for which it was collected, resolve disputes, establish legal defenses, pursue legitimate business purposes, enforce our agreements, and comply with applicable laws.

We take reasonable measures to protect the information that we collect from or about you from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. We have established uniform rules and manuals for the handling of personal information which clarify the policies and specific handling methods that must be observed according to the lifecycle of personal information. These are shared among all of our group companies involved in the recruitment activities, and regular training is conducted as well as regular audits by a specialized department.

Please be aware, however, that no method of transmitting information over the Internet or storing information is completely secure. Accordingly, we cannot guarantee the absolute security of any information.

By providing personal information to us, you agree that we may communicate with you electronically regarding security, privacy, and administrative issues relating to our handling of your personal information. If we learn of a security system’s breach, we may attempt to notify you electronically by posting a notice on this website, by sending an email to you, or through other means.

We may use cookies, pixel tags, and other similar technologies, such as Google Analytics, for the sole purpose of analyzing usage on this website and improving your experience. Cookies are small text files placed in device browsers that store preferences and facilitate and enhance your experience. However, no information that identifies a specific individual, such as the applicant’s name, address, or date of birth, is obtained, and the site does not track specific individual users. Cookies on this site are not used for advertising purposes in any way. If you do not wish to use cookies, you can disable their use in your browser settings.

This Supplemental Notice for California Residents only applies to our processing of personal information that is subject to the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”). The CCPA provides California residents with the right to know what categories of personal information SmartNews has collected about them and whether SmartNews disclosed that personal information for a business purpose (e.g., to a service provider) in the preceding 12 months. California residents can find this information below:

The categories of sources from which we collect personal information and our business and commercial purposes for using personal information are set forth above.

If your personal information is subject to the EU General Data Protection Regulation or other related legislation, our processing of your personal information is supported by the following lawful bases:

Our Services are not directed to children under 18 and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 18. If we learn that we have collected personal information of a child under 13 we will take steps to delete such information from our files as soon as possible.

Please contact us at privacy@smartnews.com if you have any questions about our Privacy Policy.
If you have a question about the SmartNews App, please contact us via inApp SmartNews Help Center.