Privacy Policy

AArete, LLC and its subsidiaries and affiliates (referred to herein as “AArete,” “our,” “we”, or “us”) value your privacy and are committed to protecting your privacy. Personal Data may be collected from you in a variety of ways.  Users of the site, job applicants, clients, prospective clients, and others may be referred to as “you” or “your.”  Personal Data is collected in accordance with applicable law and the terms of this policy. This Privacy Policy may be referred to as a “Privacy Policy,” “Policy,” “Privacy Notice,” “Privacy Statement” or “Statement.”

It is important that you read the information contained herein to determine how and why your data may be collected and how it may be used. You understand that this policy may be amended and superseded at any time by AArete in its sole discretion. AArete will not use your data or information in violation of this Policy and applicable law and AArete will not sell your Personal Data.

When you access our site, we automatically capture certain technical information (like IP addresses and device types) to ensure basic site functionality. However, for analytical and tracking data, your choice on our CookieScript banner dictates the process: if you decline, your identifiable data is not recorded or exported to our long-term archives.

Who may have data collected, and what kind of data may be collected?

Website Users: 

What Data is Collected:

Cookies and Similar Technologies
Cookies are small text files that are placed on a user’s device when visiting a website. We use cookies and similar technologies to operate our website, enhance functionality, understand how visitors interact with the site, and—where permitted—support marketing and advertising activities. Some cookies are strictly necessary and are set automatically, while others are used only after a user provides consent through our cookie management platform.

Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly necessary cookies are required for the website to function properly and cannot be switched off. These cookies enable core functionality such as security, accessibility features, consent management, and session continuity. Without these cookies, the website may not operate as intended.

Performance Cookies
Performance cookies are used to collect aggregated and pseudonymous information about how visitors use the website, such as pages viewed, interactions with site content, and technical information (e.g., browser or device type). These cookies help us measure website performance and improve user experience. Performance cookies do not directly identify individual users and are activated only after a user provides consent.

Targeting Cookies
Targeting cookies are used to support advertising, remarketing, and campaign measurement activities. These cookies may track visitors across websites and are used to measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns or deliver relevant advertisements. Targeting cookies are set only after a user provides explicit consent and are not required for the website to function.

Functionality Cookies
Functionality cookies enable optional features that enhance the user experience, such as embedded content or remembering user preferences. These cookies are not strictly necessary and are used only when applicable based on-site features and user interaction.

Managing Cookie Preferences
Users may manage or withdraw their cookie consent at any time through the cookie settings available on our website. A current and detailed list of cookies and storage technologies in use, including their purpose and duration, is available in our cookie declaration, which is automatically updated.

How Website Data is Used:

AArete may utilize data and information collected from website users to provide you with information requested, to respond to your inquiries and questions, provide website support and maintenance, for general or targeted marketing and advertising purposes, personalizing your interaction with the site, perform website and user analyses, maintain and repair the functionality of the site, comply with applicable law and lawful data requests, and as you may otherwise agree with us. 

Who Do We Share Data With:

We share data with third parties such as Google, LinkedIn, HubSpot, CookieScript which functions as a consent management platform, Logical Media Group, Dalton, Conductor.

How is the Data Retained:

AArete retains Personal Data and information for as long as we reasonably require it for legal or business purposes and in accordance with any applicable law. In determining data retention periods, AArete takes into consideration local laws, contractual obligations, and the expectations and requirements of our Users. We will not retain data longer than is necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected or as required by applicable laws or regulations. When we no longer need Personal Data, we securely delete or destroy it. AArete reserves the right to delete information or any data at any time without notice or store such information indefinitely as may be necessary. By using this site, you waive any and all claims regarding the deletion of your data without notice.

Job Applicants:

Your use of the site to search for, view, and apply for employment positions or contractor positions with AArete is subject to the terms of this policy and applicable law. By accessing and using this site or submitting any information to us through any tool, form, submission, application process, or other submission to us on the website, any job posting forum or site, any third party application process or email to us regarding any employment positions, offers, application or other job related activity you agree that, and explicitly consent, that we may collect the information contained in this notice including, but not limited to the data identified below.

What Data is Collected: 

AArete may collect personal information such as full legal name, title, address, IP address, email address, phone number(s), account name(s), Racial or ethnic origin information; financial information, social security number, FEIN information, contact information, credit information, criminal history (unless otherwise prohibited by applicable law in accordance with applicable law), personal and professional reference information including names, address and contact information, Educational background and information which may further be defined as personally identifiable information that may not be publicly available and as further subject to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1232g as amended; 34 C.F.R. Part 99)all information contained in a Resume, application, professional networking sites, or and other personal information collected through the review or application process. We may collect the above information directly from you and your application provided directly to us. We may perform searches and collect information from sources publicly available.  We may also collect information on you from third party sources such as current or previous employers, references, prior clients or affiliated parties, and third-party background check and credit history verification resources.  We will also collect the information we also collect from users to our site as identified in this policy, including information automatically collected using technological means. 

How Application Data is Used:

AArete may utilize data and information collected from job applicants to provide you with information requested, in order to evaluate you for job vacancies with us or for roles with clients, for background checks, for evaluating requirements from clients or prospective clients, in order to comply with legal obligations and record keeping requirements, as necessary to support the process of evaluating applicants and candidates, in order to verify the accuracy and completeness of your application or any submissions to us, in accordance with future recruiting and employment activities, to respond to your inquiries and questions, provide support and maintenance for any site or information gathering tool or resource, for general or targeted marketing and advertising purposes, personalizing your interaction with the site or application, perform website and user analyses, maintain and repair the functionality of the site and any application resources or tools, and as you may otherwise agree with us.  AArete may utilize artificial intelligence, machine learning, or other similar technologies in support of efficiencies, in compliance with applicable federal and state law, in aggregating and processing applicant information and data.  AArete may utilize data and information to create de-identified data, masked data, and anonymized data to comply with legal requests, contractual requirements, audit requirements and statistical requirements.

Who Do We Share Data With:

AArete may share information regarding job applicants or those seeking employment opportunities with us to clients and prospective clients, third party platforms, forums and boards, or sites including, but not limited to, those sites or platforms hosting applications or employment opportunities or those used to facilitate the application for employment, which shall also be subject to such third party data collection and use policies.  AArete may also share your data with third parties with those entities performing legal and contractual background check, compliance check, and credit and security processing. 

How is the Data Retained:

AArete retains personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, including legal, regulatory, contractual, and business requirements. When information is no longer required, it is securely deleted.  AArete reserves the right to delete information or any data at any time without notice or store such information indefinitely as may be necessary. By using this site or by submitting any information to us in accordance with your application or submission, you waive any and all claims regarding the deletion of your data without notice.

California Residents (“California Rights”):

The contents of this section (“California Rights”) apply to identifiable residents who are natural persons of the State of California only and who are otherwise not exempt from or otherwise not excluded from any protections, rights, regulations, and requirements of the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended (“CCPA”).

In the event you are a natural person and lawful resident of California you have additional rights that residents of other states may not have which include the following specific additional privacy rights under the CCPA:

Right to Know: You have the right to know certain information and data that is collected and used as follows: Pursuant to the CCPA you can request that we disclose to you:

1. the categories and/or specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you.
2. the categories of sources for that personal information.
3. the purposes for which we use that information.
4. the categories of third parties with whom we have shared or disclosed the information or data about you; and
5. the categories of information that we sell or disclose to third parties.

You can make a request to know up to twice a year, free of charge, by contacting the office contained in this California Rights Notice. Upon receipt and confirmation that we have received a verifiable consumer request from you, we will disclose to you, in a reasonably portable and readily usable format, to the extent permitted by law the information identified as (1) through (5) above.

Right to Delete: You may request that we delete personal information we collected from you and inform service providers and third parties to do the same subject to the exceptions set forth by applicable law and the CCPA. There are many exceptions to the right to delete that allow us to retain your data and information.  Some examples of those exceptions include, but are not limited to, information that must be stored in order to comply with applicable law, in the event we are unable to verify you are entitled to rights pursuant to the CCPA, in the event the request is manifestly unfounded or excessive, the information is obtainable through public sources, certain information that must be stored pursuant to Consumer Reporting requirements or lawful court orders and processes, and as otherwise set forth pursuant to applicable law.  Following your request and if appropriate, we can delete your information and personal data once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request.

Right to opt-out of sale or sharing: You may request that we stop selling or sharing your personal information (“opt-out”), including via a user-enabled global privacy control. You may exercise your right to opt-out of sales or sharing only for the sale of your personal data or information or sharing of your personal data or information for cross-context behavioral advertising. We cannot sell or share your personal information after we receive your opt-out request unless you later authorize us to do so again. Additionally, online technologies tracking users may also be considered sales or sharing pursuant to the CCPA and applicable law and as such you may be entitled to opt-out of the use of tracking technologies by exercising your rights as set forth in the California Rights notice herein.  You may also be able to opt-out of sales or sharing via a user-enabled global privacy control, like the GPC. A GPC is a ‘stop selling or sharing my data switch’ that is available on some internet browsers, like Mozilla Firefox, Duck Duck Go, and Brave, or as a browser extension.

Right to Correct Inaccurate Information: In the event that we maintain inaccurate information regarding you, you may have the right to correct such information by submitting a request as set forth in this California Rights notice.

Right to Limit: You have the right to request that we only use your sensitive personal information (for example, your social security number, financial account information, your precise geolocation data, or your genetic data) for limited purposes, such as providing you with the services you requested, for verifying employment requirements, responding to employment applications. Upon a lawful request being received by us and subject to verification, we will limit our use of your sensitive personal information and will instruct our service providers and third parties to do the same.

Right to Non-Discrimination: We will not deny goods or services, charge you a different price, or provide a different level or quality of goods or services because you exercised your rights under the CCPA.  Be advised, however, that if you refuse to provide personal information or exercise your right to request deletion, we may not be able to offer you services or engage with the subject transaction if your personal data or information is necessary to the engagement or transaction. We are entitled at our sole discretion to offer you promotions, discounts, and other deals in exchange for collecting, keeping, or selling your personal data or information.  Nothing in this notice or pursuant to applicable law will require us to offer you any promotion, compensation, or other form of consideration. We will not discriminate against you in the Services or quality of Services you receive from us for exercising your rights.

How to Exercise Rights under the CCPA:

If you are a natural person and consumer and a lawful resident of California and you wish to exercise your CCPA rights, you must submit a lawful request through the methods set forth below:

Email: Email our privacy officer at privacy@AArete.com.  You must include your name, your specific request, and a preferred contact method (e.g., email or mail) for us to follow up with you, and you acknowledge that we may need more information from you in order to process your request.

Mail addressed to:
AArete, LLC
Privacy Officer
200 East Randolph, Suite 3010
Chicago, IL 60601

Authorized Agent: You may use an authorized agent to submit verifiable requests on your behalf. An authorized agent is a natural person or a business entity that you have authorized to act on your behalf. If you use an authorized agent, we may require written proof of the agency relationship and request proof of identity or require a lawful power of attorney that complies with applicable California law.

Response Following Request: In accordance with applicable law, we may charge you a reasonable fee to comply with your request but will comply with your right to be free from discrimination. In addition, our response times to each request will comply with applicable law, which is more detailed on https://oag.ca.gov/privacy/ccpa#sectionb

Citizens and Residents of India (“India Rights”)

AArete provides business to business services and is not involved in the collection of personal data except for such instances when you use our site or interact with us while applying for, searching for employment, or contracting positions with us.  This section specifically applies to individuals located in India and subject to the protections and laws of India.  By using our site, seeking any information, or submitting any information to us you consent to the conditions and terms of this notice and consents to the transfer of your data to servers located within the United States of America.

For individuals located and subject to the laws and protections of India we will comply with the Information Technology Act, 2000 and Information Technology (Reasonable security practices and procedures and sensitive personal data or information) Rules 2011 (“Information Technology Rules”). To the extent applicable, we will comply with the provisions of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act of 2023 (“DPDP”).

By using our site or providing personal data or information to us you understand, agree and consent that it will be transferred to the United States to be used in accordance with terms of this notice and in compliance with this India Rights notice. We will only process your personal data as necessary pursuant to the purpose in which your data was collected including but not limited to employment applications or contracting opportunities with us, and any use of our site.

AArete may utilize data and information collected from job applicants to provide you with information requested, in order to evaluate you for job vacancies with us or for roles with clients, for background checks, for evaluating requirements from clients or prospective clients, in order to comply with legal obligations and record keeping requirements, as necessary to support the process of evaluating applicants and candidates, in order to verify the accuracy and completeness of your application or any submissions to us, in accordance with future recruiting and employment activities, to respond to your inquiries and questions, provide support and maintenance for any site or information gathering tool or resource, for general or targeted marketing and advertising purposes, personalizing your interaction with the site or application, perform website and user analyses, maintain and repair the functionality of the site and any application resources or tools, and as you may otherwise agree with us.    

If you are subject to the laws and protections of India, you may exercise the following rights:

Right to Access: You have the right to request a summary of the personal data or information we have collected from you and the processing activities performed. You may request the right to know what third-parties have access to your personal data or information.

Right to Correction: You have the right to request the correction of any personal data or information we maintain or collected that is inaccurate, misleading, or incomplete.

Right to Deletion:  You have the right to request the deletion of any personal data and information which was previously consented unless such data or information must be retained by applicable law, including the laws of the State of Illinois and the United States of America.

Right to Withdraw Consent: You may withdraw your consent at any time after you have provided us with consent to collect or process your personal data and information.

Right to File a Complaint: You have the right to file a complaint or seek redress for any grievances exercisable under applicable law.

To exercise any of these rights you may make a request by:

Email: Email our privacy officer at privacy@AArete.com. You must include your name, your specific request, and a preferred contact method (e.g., email or mail) for us to follow up with you, and you acknowledge that we may need more information from you in order to process your request.

Mail addressed to:
AArete, LLC
Privacy Officer
200 East Randolph, Suite 3010
Chicago, IL 60601

All requests will be complied with, to the extent reasonably feasible in the time period set forth pursuant to applicable law.

AArete is committed to only processing personal data for certain legitimate uses such as:

Consent: Where you have given us consent to process your data, which is hereby given when you access this site or voluntarily provide information to us in relation to employment positions or contracting opportunities.

In accordance with applicable law: We will process and collect data required to be maintained by us pursuant to applicable law.

Employment or Engagement: We will collect and process personal data and information relating to your application or submission of information related to employment or your actual employment with us or an affiliate of ours.

How Long will Your Data be Retained?: Your personal data and information will only be retained for so long as we need to maintain your personal data or information in relation to the certain legitimate purposes set forth above or as otherwise required by applicable law or such earlier time in which you exercise your India Rights contained in this notice and available pursuant to applicable law, subject to all exemptions and restrictions and limitations on the exercise of those rights.