Privacy Policy

EarlyBird (earlybirdhq.com and app.earlybirdhq.com) is a product of Cress Digital Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 11901755), registered address 25 Parsonage Lane, Bristol, BS40 8DG. We are the “controller” of your personal data, which means we decide how it's used. We also run the job alerts for Best Apprenticeships (bestapprenticeships.com), another Cress Digital Ltd website, and this policy covers them too.

When you create an account:

• your email address and password (we only ever store a scrambled version of your password)
• your first and last name

When you set up your profile (all used to show you relevant opportunities):

• whether you're a student or job-seeker, a parent or guardian, or a teacher or careers adviser
• your education level
• the kinds of roles you're looking for (for example apprenticeships or graduate schemes), and the areas and sectors that interest you
• places you'd like to work and how far you'd travel
• your answers to questions in your feed about what you'd like to see (for example, more engineering roles or a wider search area)
• how you heard about EarlyBird, if you tell us
• how you arrived when you signed up: the EarlyBird page you signed up from, any campaign tag in the link you followed (for example from one of our Instagram posts) and the name of the website that sent you. If you accepted analytics cookies, also the first page of that visit

When you use EarlyBird:

• jobs you save, employers you follow, schemes you track and searches you ask us to watch, and jobs, employers, guides and articles you remove from your feed
• competitions you enter, and your answers to the occasional question from us in your feed
• where you've told us you are with each saved job (for example applied, assessments or offer), so the Saved tab can track your applications. We use it to stop deadline reminders once you've applied, and only in aggregate, never by name, to understand how EarlyBird helps people apply
• your email preferences, and a record of when you agreed to (or stopped) marketing emails
• which alert emails we've sent you, so we never send the same thing twice
• when you last used the app, so we can see, only in aggregate, how many people come back
• basic technical information such as your IP address and browser type, which our hosting provider logs to keep the site secure and working
• if you accept analytics cookies, how you use the site (see section 7)

If you claim an employer profile: your name, job title, company and work email. We use them to check you work there and to reply to you, and keep them in our email inbox.

If you sign up for job alerts on Best Apprenticeships: your email address, the companies you asked for alerts about, the page you signed up on, the wording the form showed you, and when you signed up and confirmed. You don't need an EarlyBird account for these alerts. To stop the sign-up form being misused, we also keep a scrambled version of your IP address for one day; it can't be turned back into the address.

For everyone we email: if an email to you bounces permanently or is reported as spam, we record that so we stop emailing that address.

We don't ask for sensitive information such as health, ethnicity or religion, and you shouldn't add it anywhere on EarlyBird. We don't collect CVs or applications: when you apply for a role, you do that on the employer's own website.

• To run your account and personalise EarlyBird, for example ranking roles near you and in areas you've picked. Legal basis: providing the service you signed up for (contract).
• To send alerts: new roles that fit the preferences you gave us, saved jobs closing soon, new roles at employers you follow, schemes you track opening, and new matches for your searches. Legal basis: contract. You can switch each type off at any time.
• To send alerts you asked for on Best Apprenticeships: an email from EarlyBird when the companies you picked post new apprenticeships, only after you've confirmed your email address. Legal basis: providing the service you asked for (contract). Unsubscribe with the link in any alert.
• To stop emailing addresses that bounce or report spam, so we don't send unwanted email. Legal basis: legitimate interests.
• To send marketing emails, only the types you've switched on (see section 6). Legal basis: your consent.
• To understand how EarlyBird is used through analytics, only if you accept analytics cookies. Legal basis: your consent.
• To handle employer profile claims: checking the person works for the company and replying. Legal basis: legitimate interests.
• To keep EarlyBird secure, fix problems and prevent misuse, using technical logs. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in running a safe, working service.
• To improve EarlyBird using totals and trends (for example how many people sign up each day, how people heard about us, or which pages and posts bring people to sign up), not to make decisions about you. Legal basis: legitimate interests.
• To meet legal obligations, such as keeping records of consent. Legal basis: legal obligation.

We use your interests and location to decide which roles to show you first. That's the only automated decision-making we do, and it has no legal or similarly significant effect on you.

We never sell your data, and we never give your details to employers, universities or other partners.

We use these service providers (“processors”) to run EarlyBird. They can only use your data to provide their service to us:

• Supabase: stores our database and handles logins. Data is stored in Frankfurt, Germany (European Union), which UK law recognises as protecting personal data to the same standard as the UK.
• Cloudflare: hosts the website and protects it from attacks; keeps short-lived technical logs.
• Resend: sends our emails (account emails, alerts including Best Apprenticeships alerts, and marketing), and tells us when one bounces or is reported as spam.
• GitHub: runs the scheduled job that prepares and sends alert emails.
• Google: Google Analytics, only if you accept analytics cookies. Our emails also load fonts from Google, which sees your IP address when you open one.

Some of these providers are based in, or use servers in, the United States. Where your data leaves the UK, we rely on the protections UK law requires, such as the UK–US data bridge or the UK's International Data Transfer Agreement or Addendum.

We may also share information if the law requires it, to protect people's safety, or with a buyer if EarlyBird is ever sold (in which case this policy would continue to apply).

Applying for jobs: when you click “Apply”, you leave EarlyBird for the employer's site. Whatever you share there is covered by that employer's privacy policy, not ours.

EarlyBird is for people aged 13 and over, and many of our users are under 18. We take extra care with their data:

• all marketing emails are switched off unless you turn them on yourself
• analytics only runs if you accept it
• we never pass your details to employers or partners
• we only collect what we need to show you relevant opportunities

If you're under 18, it's a good idea to tell a parent, guardian or teacher that you're using EarlyBird. If you think a child under 13 has created an account, email us at hello@earlybirdhq.com and we'll delete it.

• Account emails (confirming your email address, resetting your password). These are needed to run your account.
• Alerts about things you've saved, followed, tracked or searched for. At most one email a day, only when there's something new. Switch them off in Profile → Email preferences, or with the link in any alert.
• Alerts you signed up for on Best Apprenticeships (bestapprenticeships.com), sent by EarlyBird: one email to confirm your address, then an email on days the companies you picked post new apprenticeships. Every alert has an unsubscribe link.
• New roles for you: new roles that fit your job types, locations and interests, in the same daily email. On when you join; switch it off in Profile → Email preferences.
• Marketing, only the types you choose: tips, guides and career advice from EarlyBird; EarlyBird news, events and competitions; and messages about opportunities from employers, universities and colleges, or training providers and other organisations. Partner messages are sent by us; partners never receive your email address. Every marketing email has a one-click unsubscribe link.

• Essential: cookies that keep you logged in, one that tells this site you have an account so it can open the EarlyBird app instead, and one that remembers your cookie choice. EarlyBird can't work without them, so we don't ask first.
• Analytics (Google Analytics): cookies such as _ga that help us see which pages and features are used. We only set them if you click “Accept” on our cookie banner, and we never send your name or email address to Google. Accepting also sets our own eb_first_touch cookie for 90 days, which remembers the first page of your visit and the website that sent you, so that if you sign up we know how you found us.
• On your device: the app remembers a few things in your browser's storage (which jobs you've already seen, whether you've closed the welcome card, and a job you asked to save before signing up). This never leaves your device.

To change your cookie choice, clear the cookies for earlybirdhq.com in your browser and you'll be asked again.

• Your account and everything linked to it: until you delete your account.
• When you delete your account, we delete your data straight away. Copies may stay in our providers' backups for up to 30 days before they're overwritten.
• Best Apprenticeships alerts: until you unsubscribe, then deleted after 30 days. If you never confirm your email address, we delete your sign-up after 7 days.
• Addresses that bounced or reported spam: for as long as we send email, so we never email them again.
• Technical logs: a short time only (usually days), as set by our hosting provider.
• Analytics data: up to 14 months, then Google deletes it.

Under UK data protection law you can:

• get a copy of the personal data we hold about you
• ask us to correct anything that's wrong (you can edit most of it yourself in your profile)
• delete your account and data: Profile → Delete my account, or email us
• object to, or ask us to restrict, how we use your data
• get your data in a format you can take elsewhere
• withdraw consent at any time, for marketing or analytics, without affecting anything before you did

To use any of these rights, email hello@earlybirdhq.com. We'll reply within one month. It's free.

If you're unhappy with how we've handled your data, please tell us first so we can put it right. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or on 0303 123 1113.

We use secure connections (HTTPS), store passwords scrambled, limit who can access data, and protect our database so that each person can only see their own account information.

If we make important changes we'll tell you by email or on EarlyBird before they take effect. The date at the top shows when this policy last changed.

Questions about your data or this policy: email hello@earlybirdhq.com.