Legal

Privacy policy

Effective June 10, 2026

SearchOps ("SearchOps," "we," "us," or "our") is a brand of CareerDean, Inc., a search and recruiting firm serving the skilled trades industries. We operate the website located at www.searchopsgroup.com (the "Site") and provide recruiting and placement services (together with the Site, the "Services").

This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, how we use and share it, how long we keep it, and the choices and rights available to you. By using the Site or engaging with our Services, you agree to the practices described here.

Who this policy covers

This policy applies to three groups of people:

  • Candidates — individuals we consider, contact, represent, or place for employment opportunities, whether or not you applied to us directly.
  • Client and prospective client contacts — hiring managers, executives, and other business contacts at companies that engage us or that we contact regarding our Services.
  • Site visitors — anyone who visits www.searchopsgroup.com.

Definitions

  • Personal Information — information that identifies, relates to, or could reasonably be linked to an identifiable individual.
  • Usage Data — information collected automatically through your use of the Site or generated by our Site infrastructure, such as the duration of a page visit.
  • Cookies — small text files stored on your device by a website you visit.
  • Service Provider — a third-party company or individual that processes personal information on our behalf and under our instructions.

Information we collect

Information you provide directly

When you contact us, submit a form on the Site, subscribe to our communications, or engage with us as a candidate or client, we may collect:

  • First and last name
  • Email address
  • Phone number
  • Mailing address, city, state or province, and ZIP or postal code
  • Company name and job title
  • Any other information you choose to include in a message, form field, or attachment

Candidate information

Because recruiting is our core business, we collect additional information about candidates. Depending on the engagement, this may include:

  • Resume or CV, employment history, and current or prior employers
  • Education, trade certifications, licenses, and professional credentials
  • Skills, technical qualifications, and areas of specialization
  • Current and desired compensation, benefits expectations, and availability
  • Geographic preferences and willingness to relocate or travel
  • References and the information those references provide about you
  • Work authorization status and eligibility to work in the United States
  • Notes recorded by our recruiters from interviews, calls, and correspondence
  • Interview feedback and hiring decisions communicated to us by our clients

Where a client requires it and where you have separately consented, we may also facilitate or receive the results of background checks, drug screenings, employment verifications, or reference checks conducted by a third-party provider. We do not conduct these checks ourselves without your prior authorization, and any consumer report obtained for employment purposes is handled in accordance with applicable law, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

We do not seek out sensitive personal information such as Social Security numbers, government-issued identification numbers, financial account information, or health information as part of our candidate evaluation process, and we ask that you not include it in a resume or unsolicited message. Where a client's onboarding process requires such information, it is provided by you directly to that employer or its designated provider rather than to us.

Information we collect from third parties

Recruiting frequently involves identifying qualified professionals who have not contacted us first. We may therefore collect information about you from sources other than you, including:

  • Professional networking sites and public online profiles
  • Job boards, applicant tracking systems, and resume databases
  • Business contact data and sales intelligence providers
  • Company websites, press releases, industry directories, and trade publications
  • Referrals from colleagues, former co-workers, and other professionals in your field
  • Our clients, in the course of a search engagement

Information obtained this way is generally limited to professional details: name, employer, job title, work history, credentials, and business contact information. If we contact you and you would prefer that we not retain your information, you may tell us and we will delete it, subject to the limited exceptions described under "Retention of Information."

Usage data

We may automatically collect information about how the Site is accessed and used, including your Internet Protocol (IP) address, browser type and version, the pages you visit, the date and time of your visit, the time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers, and other diagnostic data.

How we use information

We use the information we collect to:

  • Provide, operate, and maintain the Site and our Services
  • Identify, evaluate, and contact candidates regarding employment opportunities
  • Present candidates to our clients and manage the search, interview, offer, and placement process
  • Communicate with clients regarding open searches, candidate submissions, and our engagement
  • Respond to inquiries and provide customer support
  • Send administrative and transactional communications, including scheduling, onboarding, and assignment-related messages
  • Send newsletters, market updates, and information about our Services, where you have not opted out
  • Analyze and improve the Site and our Services, and monitor usage
  • Detect, prevent, and address technical issues, fraud, and misuse
  • Comply with legal obligations and enforce our agreements

You may opt out of marketing communications at any time by using the unsubscribe link in any email we send or by contacting us using the details below. Opting out of marketing does not stop communications directly related to an active search, placement, or assignment.

How we share information

We do not sell your personal information. We share it in the following circumstances:

With client employers

This is the most significant way we share candidate information, and it is central to how our Services work. When we represent you for an opportunity, we share your candidate information — which may include your resume, employment history, credentials, compensation expectations, contact details, and our recruiter notes — with the prospective employer and its hiring team.

We seek your permission before submitting you to a specific client, and we will identify the client to you before doing so. Once your information has been shared with a client, that client acts as an independent controller of that information and its handling is governed by that client's own privacy practices, not this policy. We encourage you to review the privacy policy of any employer you are submitted to.

With candidates

In the course of a search, we share the names, titles, and business contact information of client hiring managers and interviewers with candidates being considered for a role.

With service providers

We use third-party companies to help us operate our business. These providers have access to personal information only to perform tasks on our behalf and are obligated not to disclose or use it for any other purpose. Categories include:

  • Applicant tracking and recruiting software — to store and manage candidate and client records
  • Customer relationship management and sales intelligence tools — to manage business contacts and outreach
  • Email, calendar, and file storage providers — to communicate and store documents
  • SMS and messaging platforms — to send text communications where you have consented
  • Website hosting and infrastructure providers — to operate the Site
  • Analytics providers — to understand how the Site is used
  • Background screening providers — where applicable and authorized by you

For legal reasons

We may disclose personal information if we believe in good faith that doing so is necessary to:

  • Comply with a legal obligation, court order, subpoena, or valid request by a public authority
  • Protect and defend the rights or property of SearchOps or CareerDean, Inc.
  • Prevent or investigate possible wrongdoing in connection with the Services
  • Protect the personal safety of users of the Services or the public
  • Protect against legal liability

Business transfers

If CareerDean, Inc. is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, or sale of all or part of its assets, personal information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will provide notice before your information is transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

SMS and text message communications

SearchOps may use your mobile phone number to send SMS text messages regarding employment opportunities, candidate submissions, interview scheduling, onboarding, assignment details, and other recruiting- and work-related communications. We do not send marketing or promotional text messages.

We obtain your consent to receive text messages before sending them — for example, through a checkbox on a form on our Site, through a written intake or application form, or through your express agreement during a call or written exchange with one of our recruiters. Consent to receive text messages is not a condition of being considered for any position or of receiving any of our Services.

Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.

You may opt out of receiving SMS messages at any time by replying STOP to any message. Reply HELP for assistance, or contact us using the details at the end of this policy.

No mobile information will be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. All of the above categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties.

Cookies and tracking technologies

Cookies are small pieces of text sent to your browser by a website you visit and stored on your device. They allow the Site, or a third party, to recognize you and make your next visit easier. We also use similar technologies such as beacons, tags, and scripts.

We use both session cookies, which expire when you close your browser, and persistent cookies, which remain until they expire or you delete them. The cookies we use fall into these categories:

  • Essential cookies — required for the Site to function properly and to secure it against misuse.
  • Preference cookies — used to remember your settings and preferences.
  • Analytics cookies — used to understand how visitors use the Site so we can improve it.

We do not use cookies to serve advertising on the Site.

You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to notify you when a cookie is being sent, using your browser's settings. If you refuse cookies, some portions of the Site may not function properly.

Analytics

We use Google Analytics, a web analytics service offered by Google, to track and report Site traffic. Google may use the data collected to contextualize and personalize the advertising of its own network. You can opt out of having your Site activity made available to Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on, available from Google. For more information on Google's privacy practices, see the Google Privacy & Terms page at https://policies.google.com/privacy.

"Do Not Track" and Global Privacy Control

Some browsers offer a "Do Not Track" ("DNT") setting. There is currently no accepted industry standard for how websites should respond to DNT signals, and we do not respond to them.

Separately, some browsers and extensions send a Global Privacy Control ("GPC") signal, which certain state privacy laws treat as a valid opt-out request. Because we do not sell or share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising, there is currently no such opt-out for us to apply. If our practices change, we will update this policy and honor GPC signals where the law requires it.

Retention of information

  • Candidate records — we retain candidate information indefinitely. Recruiting relationships are long-term by nature: a candidate who is not the right fit for a role today may be the right fit for one several years from now, and retaining our records allows us to contact you about future opportunities rather than starting from scratch. We do not delete candidate information on a fixed schedule.
  • Client and business contact records — retained for the duration of our relationship and afterward for legal, accounting, and business continuity purposes.
  • Usage Data — generally retained for a shorter period, except where used to strengthen security or improve the Site, or where we are legally required to retain it longer.

You may ask us to delete your information at any time, and we will honor that request. The only exceptions are records we are required to keep in order to comply with our legal, tax, or recordkeeping obligations, to resolve disputes, or to enforce our agreements. Where you ask us to stop contacting you, we retain the minimum information necessary to make sure we do not contact you again.

Where we store and process information

SearchOps is based in the United States and our Services are directed at the United States market. Your information, including personal information, is processed and stored in the United States, where data protection laws may differ from those in your jurisdiction. If you are located outside the United States and choose to provide information to us, you consent to that transfer and processing.

We take steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your information is treated securely and in accordance with this policy.

Security of information

The security of your information matters to us, and we use commercially reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect it. However, no method of transmission over the Internet and no method of electronic storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Your rights and choices

Regardless of where you live, we extend the following rights to anyone whose personal information we hold:

  • Access — to request confirmation of whether we hold information about you and to receive a copy of it.
  • Correction — to request that we correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
  • Deletion — to request that we delete the information we hold about you.
  • Portability — to receive a copy of the information you provided to us in a commonly used electronic format.
  • Opt out of marketing — to stop receiving newsletters and promotional communications at any time.
  • Withdraw consent — to withdraw consent you previously gave, including consent to receive text messages, without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.
  • Object to processing — to object to our processing of your information, including our contacting you about employment opportunities.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the details below. We may ask you to verify your identity before we respond. We will respond within the timeframe required by applicable law, and in any event within 45 days.

We do not discriminate against anyone for exercising these rights, and we do not use your information to make decisions about you that produce legal or similarly significant effects without human involvement.

The Site may contain links to sites we do not operate. If you click a third-party link, you will be directed to that third party's site. We have no control over, and assume no responsibility for, the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third-party site or service. We encourage you to review the privacy policy of every site you visit.

Age restriction

The Site and our Services are intended for adults seeking or offering professional employment. They are not directed to individuals under the age of 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will take steps to delete it from our systems.

Changes to this privacy policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will post the revised policy on this page and update the effective date at the top. If we make material changes, we will provide additional notice, such as by email or a prominent notice on the Site, before the changes take effect.

We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Changes are effective when posted on this page unless stated otherwise.

Contact us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, or wish to exercise any of the rights described above, contact us: