Effective Date: August 25, 2026
Last Updated: August 25, 2026
This summary is provided for convenience. The full policy below governs.
Top Applicant LLC (“Top Applicant,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) operates a hiring platform that connects job applicants (“Applicants”) with employers and hiring organizations (“Employers”). This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, retain, and protect personal information when you:
By using the Services, you acknowledge that you have read this Privacy Policy. Your use of the Services is also governed by our Terms of Use.
Geographic scope. The Services are offered and directed only to users located in the United States. We do not offer the Services to individuals in the European Union, the United Kingdom, or other jurisdictions outside the United States, and we do not intend to collect personal information from individuals located outside the United States. If you are located outside the United States, please do not use the Services.
Age requirement. The Services are intended solely for individuals who are at least 18 years old. See Section 12.
Because Top Applicant is a two-sided platform, the information we handle differs depending on your role. Where a section applies to only one group, we say so.
| Role | Who this is | What we primarily handle |
| Applicants | Individuals creating a profile to find and apply for jobs and network with other individuals | Profile and career information, resumes, application activity, assessment results, messages |
| Employer users | Individuals acting on behalf of a business to post jobs and review candidates | Business and contact information, job postings, hiring preferences, billing information, candidate review activity and employee assessment services |
| Visitors | Anyone browsing topapplicant.com without an account | Technical and usage information only |
We use Stripe to process payments. Your full payment card number, expiration date, and security code are submitted directly to Stripe and are not stored on Top Applicant’s systems. We receive only limited information from Stripe, such as a payment token or identifier, the card brand, the last four digits, the transaction amount, and whether the transaction succeeded. Stripe’s handling of your payment information is governed by the Stripe Privacy Policy.
Note on free-form application questions. Employers can create their own application questions, and your answers are free-form. Please do not include information you do not want an Employer to see — including Social Security numbers, financial account numbers, government ID numbers, health or medical information, or information about your race, ethnicity, religion, disability status, sexual orientation, or other protected characteristics. Top Applicant does not request this information and does not maintain any structured field for it.
To be explicit, Top Applicant does not maintain any field, form, or database column for, and does not ask you to provide:
We do not conduct or facilitate background checks, credit checks, or drug screening, and we are not a consumer reporting agency under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
When you use the Services, we and our analytics provider automatically collect:
We do not purchase personal information from data brokers, and we do not use visitor identification or de-anonymization services.
We use personal information for the following purposes.
To provide and operate the Services
To process transactions
To communicate with you
To secure and protect the Services
To improve and develop the Services
To comply with law
Aggregated and de-identified information. We may create aggregated or de-identified information that cannot reasonably be used to identify you and use it for any lawful purpose, including research, benchmarking, and publishing labor market insights. We will not attempt to re-identify such information except to test the effectiveness of our de-identification.
Top Applicant currently uses two categories of cookies and similar technologies.
| Category | Purpose | Can you turn it off? |
| Strictly necessary | Authenticating your session, keeping you logged in, remembering your account state, load balancing, and security protections such as preventing cross-site request forgery | No. The Services will not function correctly without these. |
| Analytics | Understanding how visitors and users find and use the Services so we can improve them | Yes. See the opt-out options below. |
We do not currently use advertising, retargeting, or marketing cookies or pixels, and we do not use visitor identification or de-anonymization services on the Services.
Our only third-party analytics provider is Google Analytics, operated by Google LLC. Google Analytics sets cookies and collects information including your IP address, device and browser characteristics, pages and screens viewed, and interactions with the Services, and uses that information to provide us with aggregated reports about how the Services are used.
You can learn more from Google’s description of how it uses data from sites and apps that use its services and the Google Privacy Policy. You can opt out of Google Analytics across all websites by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.
An earlier version of this policy described the use of a third-party visitor identification service. That service is no longer in use. Top Applicant does not use any pixel or service to identify, de-anonymize, or obtain contact information about website visitors for marketing purposes.
This is the most important disclosure in this policy, so we want to be direct about it.
| When | What Employers can see |
| You apply to a job | Your profile information, your responses to that Employer’s application questions, and your résumé if you have uploaded one |
| Your profile visibility is enabled | Your profile information becomes discoverable by Employers using search, filters, and compatibility matching, which may include your name, location, current or most recent job title, experience, skills, education, salary expectations, values and rankings, profile photo, and Bruder Index results |
| You view an Employer’s job posting | That Employer may be able to see that you viewed the posting |
| An Employer invites you to apply | The Employer already had access to your visible profile in order to identify you |
Résumé downloads. Employers can download your résumé file when you have applied to their job or when your résumé is accessible through your visible profile. Employers cannot bulk-export your structured profile information from the Services, and we do not currently offer applicant tracking system (ATS) integrations or data export tools for Employers. However, once a résumé file has been downloaded, that copy is in the Employer’s possession and is handled under the Employer’s own privacy practices, not ours.
Controlling this. You control whether your profile is visible and whether you apply to any given job. You can adjust visibility in your profile settings at any time. Turning off visibility does not retract applications you have already submitted or résumés an Employer has already downloaded.
Employers’ own obligations. Employers are independently responsible for how they use candidate information they receive, including compliance with employment, anti-discrimination, and privacy laws. Our Terms of Use require Employers to use candidate information only for legitimate recruiting and hiring purposes.
Employer profiles, job postings, and the identity and role of the individual posting or managing a job may be visible to Applicants. This transparency is intentional and is part of how Top Applicant works.
We disclose personal information to vendors that perform services for us, under contracts that require them to protect the information and to use it only for the services they provide to us.
Provider | Category | What they handle |
SiteGround | Website hosting and infrastructure | Data transmitted to and stored on our website environment |
Google LLC (Google Analytics) | Analytics | Usage and device information described in Section 5 |
Stripe, Inc. | Payment processing | Payment and billing information described in Section 3.1 |
Mailgun Technologies, Inc. | Transactional and marketing email delivery | Email addresses, names, message content and delivery data |
Laravel Cloud | Application hosting and database | Account, profile, and message data |
Google LLC (Firebase Cloud Messaging) and Apple Inc. (Apple Push Notification service) | Push notification delivery | Device push tokens and notification content |
OpenAI, L.P. | AI processing for assessment scoring, job and skill classification, and content moderation | Profile and job posting text, assessment responses, and user-generated feed and message content submitted for moderation |
Amazon Web Services (Amazon S3) | Object storage | All uploaded files, including resumes, profile photos, employer logos, company media, and message and feed attachments |
Consistent with our platform obligations, we require that any third party to whom we disclose user data provide the same or equal protection of that data as described in this Privacy Policy.
| What you want to do | Where to go |
| Download all data Top Applicant holds about you | Settings → Your Data, on the web or in the App, at any time |
| Delete your account and associated data | Settings → Profile, on the web or in the App |
| Review and correct your information | Your profile and account settings |
| Control who can see your profile | Profile visibility settings |
| Manage email and notification preferences | Notification settings, or the unsubscribe link in any marketing email |
| Manage push notifications | Notification settings in the App, or your device’s system settings |
| Manage your subscription | Billing settings |
You can also submit any privacy request by emailing privacy@topapplicant.com or using our Data Request page.
When you delete your account through Settings → Profile on the web or in the App:
Deletion is permanent. We do not treat deactivation, disabling, or freezing an account as deletion.
What we may retain after deletion, and why
If you have an active paid subscription, cancel it in your billing settings before deleting your account, or your deletion request will prompt you to do so first. If you need help, email privacy@topapplicant.com.
Depending on your state of residence, you may have the rights below. We honor these rights for all Top Applicant users in all U.S. states, regardless of whether your state has enacted a comprehensive privacy law.
How we handle requests. Submit requests through the tools in Section 7.1 or by emailing privacy@topapplicant.com. We will verify your identity, generally by confirming control of the email address on your account and, for sensitive requests, by asking you to confirm information already in our records. We will respond within 45 days, and may extend once by an additional 45 days with notice to you. We do not charge a fee unless requests are excessive or repetitive, in which case we will tell you before proceeding.
Authorized agents. You may use an authorized agent to submit a request on your behalf. We will require written proof of the agent’s authority and may require you to verify your identity directly.
California “Shine the Light.” California residents may request information about personal information we disclosed to third parties for their own direct marketing purposes in the prior calendar year. We do not disclose personal information for that purpose.
The categories of personal information we collect, and the purposes for collection, are described in Sections 3 and 4. We collect the following statutory categories: identifiers; personal information listed in the California Customer Records statute; commercial information; internet or other electronic network activity information; approximate geolocation data derived from IP address; professional or employment-related information; education information; audio, electronic, or visual information in the form of uploaded profile photos and documents; and inferences drawn to generate compatibility results. We disclose these categories to the recipients described in Section 6 for the business purposes described in Section 4. We retain them as described in Section 9. We do not sell or share personal information, and we do not collect sensitive personal information.
Top Applicant is transparent about how matching works, because we think you deserve to know and because several states and cities require it.
We use automated processing to generate compatibility and matching results that suggest relevant jobs to Applicants and relevant candidates to Employers. This automated processing uses the following inputs, all of which come from information you and the Employer provide:
The following are reviewed manually, by human beings at the Employer, not scored or ranked by our automated systems:
Our matching does not use, and cannot use, protected characteristics such as race, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, religion, national origin, or sexual orientation, because we do not collect that information at all (see Section 3.2). We do not use ZIP code, or any other geographic unit, as a proxy for a protected characteristic. Location is used only to match stated geographic preferences to job locations.
You may:
To exercise any of these, email privacy@topapplicant.com.
Some jurisdictions impose specific requirements on the use of automated tools in hiring, where those requirements apply to Top Applicant or to Employers using our platform, additional information is available on our AI and Automated Decision-Making Notice page, including any applicable bias audit summaries and the name of the tool.
Top Applicant is a technology supplier. The employer using our system is solely responsible for making all hiring decisions for their company. Top Applicant is NOT an employment agency and does nothing more than compare applicant provided information to employer provided information for the benefit of the employer and the applicant both. There are no automated rejection or deletions of applicants by our system and independent human evaluation determines all hiring decisions by the employer. Employers are solely responsible for hiring decisions. Top Applicant shall not be liable for any hiring decisions or lack thereof made by employers. Top Applicant is merely a technology supplier and does not replace any decision making for roles for an employer.
Release of Liability: By utilizing Top Applicant, as a condition required in order to utilize Top Applicant, the employer explicitly agrees to release Top Applicant from any and all liability regarding NYC LL 144 Law & requirements, state of Illinois Law & requirements and state of Colorado Law & requirements regarding employment and hiring practices. Employers are solely responsible for hiring decisions and Top Applicant does not provide any automated decision making for any employer.
Employers using Top Applicant are responsible for their own compliance obligations as employers. We provide the disclosures on this page and on our AI Notice page to support that compliance and Top Applicant is NOT an employment agency. Top Applicant will be undergoing an AEDT analysis and, if necessary after the AEDT analysis, a potential bias audit to officially confirm that Top Applicant’s matching system may eliminate its categorization as an “automated employment decision tool”. We believe at this time it is not an automated employment decision tool as defined by NYC Local Law 144.
We keep personal information only as long as necessary for the purposes described in this policy, unless a longer period is required by law.
| Information | Retention |
| Account, profile, résumé, and assessment data | For as long as your account is active, and then per Section 7.2 after deletion |
| Application and hiring activity records | For as long as your account is active, or 1 year after the application closes, whichever is longer |
| Messages | For as long as your account is active, subject to deletion under Section 7.2 |
| Job postings and Employer content | For as long as the Employer account is active, plus 1 year for records purposes |
| Payment, billing, and tax records | 7 years, as required for tax and accounting purposes |
| Security, audit, and access logs | 3 years |
| Google Analytics data | 1year |
| Support correspondence | 3 years from resolution |
| Records of AI-related notices and disclosures | 4 years, where required by applicable law |
| Encrypted backups | Overwritten in the ordinary course within 30 days |
| Aggregated or de-identified information | Indefinitely, as it is no longer associated with you |
Where we cannot state a fixed period, we determine retention based on the amount and sensitivity of the information, the purposes for which we process it, our ability to achieve those purposes by other means, and applicable legal requirements.
We maintain administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect personal information against unauthorized access, use, alteration, disclosure, and loss. These include:
No system is perfectly secure. While we work to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security, and you use the Services at your own risk. Please use a strong, unique password, keep it confidential, and notify us immediately at privacy@topapplicant.com if you believe your account has been compromised.
Breach notification. If we determine that a security incident has compromised your personal information, we will notify you and any applicable regulators as required by, and within the timeframes set by, applicable state law.
Top Applicant is based in the United States, and we store and process personal information in the United States. Our service providers may process information in the United States or, in limited cases, in other countries where they operate infrastructure. The Services are intended only for users in the United States.
The Services are intended solely for individuals who are at least 18 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you are under 18, do not create an account, submit an application, or provide any information to us.
If we learn that we have collected personal information from someone under 18, we will delete the account and the associated information promptly. If you believe a person under 18 has provided us information, contact us at privacy@topapplicant.com.
The Services contain links to third-party websites and resources, including Employer websites and career pages. This Privacy Policy does not apply to those third parties. Once you leave the Services or provide information directly to a third party, that third party’s own privacy policy and practices govern. We encourage you to review the privacy policy of any website or service you visit.
If you use Top Applicant on behalf of an organization, you are responsible for ensuring that your use of candidate information complies with applicable employment, anti-discrimination, and privacy laws. Information you download from the Services, including résumé files, becomes subject to your organization’s own privacy obligations. Additional terms governing your handling of candidate information are set out in our Terms of Use.
We may update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes to our practices, the Services, or applicable law. When we do, we will revise the “Last Updated” date at the top of this page.
If we make a material change — for example, collecting a new category of personal information, using information for a materially different purpose, or disclosing information to a new category of recipient — we will provide prominent notice before the change takes effect, such as by email to the address associated with your account, an in-app notice, or a banner on the website. Where required by law, we will obtain your consent.
We maintain prior versions of this policy and can provide an earlier version on request.
Top Applicant LLC
4201 Greystone Drive
St. Joseph, MO 64505
United States
Privacy inquiries and requests: privacy@topapplicant.com
Data access, correction, and deletion requests: Data Request page or Settings → Your Data / Settings → Profile
General support: support@topapplicant.com
We aim to respond to privacy inquiries within 10 business days and to formal privacy rights requests within 45 days.