About this policy
This policy explains how HarKing Vertical (“HKV”, “we”, “us”) collects, uses, shares and protects personal information when you visit hkvpro.com, fill in our contact form, email or call us, or apply to work with us.
We are a consultancy based in Canada. We handle personal information in line with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), Alberta’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) and, for commercial email, Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL).
This policy does not cover personal information we handle for our clients while delivering a project. Our contract with each client governs that information.
Information we collect
We collect only what we need, and most of it comes straight from you.
Contact form: your name and email address and, if you choose to share them, your company, phone number, the topic you pick and your message. We also record whether you ticked the box for email updates.
Email and phone: whatever you include when you write or call, such as your name, contact details, job title and the details of your enquiry.
Job applications: your resume and anything else you send us about your experience.
Technical information: when you visit the site, the servers that host it record standard information such as your IP address, browser type, the pages you request, and the date and time. This is how the site delivers pages and stays secure.
Our website and services are for businesses, and we don’t knowingly collect information from children. Please don’t send us sensitive personal information, such as health or financial details, through the website or by email.
How we use it
We use your information to reply to your enquiry and follow up on it, to discuss and deliver services you ask about, and to review job applications for current and future roles.
We also use it to send email updates if you opted in, to run and protect the website, and to meet our legal obligations.
We won’t use your information for a new purpose that is unrelated to the reason you gave it to us without asking you first.
Your consent
When you contact us, you consent to us using your information to respond and to follow up on your request. We ask for your express consent before we add you to email updates.
You can withdraw your consent at any time by emailing info@hkvpro.com, subject to legal or contractual limits. If withdrawing consent means we can’t help with something, we’ll explain what that means for you.
Email updates and Canada’s anti-spam law (CASL)
We send news, insights and event invitations only to people who have agreed to receive them, for example by ticking the email updates box on our contact form, or where CASL otherwise permits it. That box is never ticked for you.
Every update identifies HarKing Vertical, includes our contact information and has an unsubscribe link. We act on unsubscribe requests within the 10 business days CASL allows.
Replying to your own enquiry is not a marketing message, so we will answer you whether or not you tick the box.
Who we share it with
We don’t sell or rent personal information. We share it only when we need to, and only with the following people and organizations.
Our team: HKV people who need the information to respond to you or to deliver work you’ve asked for. Some of them work outside Canada (see “Cross-border processing” below).
Service providers: companies that host our website and provide our email and business software. They may use your information only to provide their services to us, and they must protect it.
Legal and business reasons: when the law requires it, to protect our rights or the safety of others, or as part of a merger, sale or similar business transaction under confidentiality terms.
Cross-border processing
HKV is based in Canada and has a presence in India, the United Kingdom, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, South Africa, Australia, Saudi Arabia and Singapore. Our service providers may also store or process information outside Canada, including in the United States.
Your information may therefore be accessed, stored or processed in those countries for the purposes set out in this policy, such as answering your enquiry, reviewing an application or supporting our systems. While it is there, local laws apply, and courts, law enforcement or national security authorities in that country may be able to access it.
We use contracts and other safeguards to protect information wherever we handle it. To ask about how we work with service providers outside Canada, email info@hkvpro.com.
How long we keep it
We keep personal information only as long as we need it for the purpose we collected it for, or as long as the law requires.
Enquiries: as long as we need them to respond and to manage any work that follows.
Job applications: as long as we need them for recruitment, which can include roles that open later. You can ask us to delete your resume at any time.
Email updates: until you unsubscribe. We keep a record of your consent and of your unsubscribe request so we can show we respected your choice.
When we no longer need information, we delete it or make it anonymous.
How we protect it
We use safeguards that suit the sensitivity of the information. The website runs over an encrypted (HTTPS) connection, we limit access to the people who need it, and we choose service providers that protect the data they hold for us.
No method of sending or storing information is completely secure, and ordinary email is not encrypted end to end. Please keep confidential details out of your first message, and we can agree a safer way to share them.
If a breach of our safeguards creates a real risk of significant harm to you, we will notify you and the relevant privacy commissioner as the law requires.
Cookies and analytics
This site does not use advertising cookies, and it does not track you across other websites.
Some pages may store small preferences in your browser so the site works the way you expect. Those preferences stay on your device.
Some images on this site load from a third-party image service. As with any website, that service receives standard technical information, such as your IP address and browser type, so it can deliver the image to you.
We don’t currently use analytics. If we add them, we will choose a privacy-friendly tool, update this policy first, and ask for your consent where the law requires it.
Access and correction
You can ask to see the personal information we hold about you, ask how we have used and shared it, and ask us to correct anything that is wrong or incomplete.
To make a request, email info@hkvpro.com with “Privacy request” in the subject line. We may need to confirm your identity first. We will respond within the time the law allows, normally 30 days, and tell you if we need longer.
In some cases the law allows or requires us to refuse a request, for example where giving access would reveal someone else’s personal information. If that happens, we’ll explain why.
Links to other websites
Our site may link to other websites, such as our clients’ sites or professional networks. Those sites have their own privacy policies, and this policy does not apply to them.
Changes to this policy
We will update this policy when our practices or the law change. The date at the top of the page shows the latest version. If we make a significant change, we will say so on this page.
Contact us
For questions, requests or concerns about privacy, email info@hkvpro.com with “Privacy” in the subject line. We will pass your message to the person responsible for privacy at HarKing Vertical.
If you are not satisfied with our response, you can contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (priv.gc.ca (opens in a new tab)) or the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta (oipc.ab.ca (opens in a new tab)).