1. Who we are
(registration number ),
trading as Send My CV, is a Responsible Party as defined in the
Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 ("POPIA").
We operate a free WhatsApp-based CV-building service available to residents of South Africa.
This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it,
how we use and protect it, and what rights you have under South African law.
2. Information we collect
2.1 Information you give us directly
- Identity information: your full name
- Contact information: your WhatsApp phone number; your email address (optional)
- Location information: city or town of residence
- Education history: qualification level, field of study, institution name
- Employment history: job titles, employer names, employment cities, dates, duties, and achievements (up to three roles)
- Skills: professional and personal skills you select or describe
- Languages: languages you speak and your proficiency level in each
- Profile statement: a short personal description you write or that we generate with your approval
- Availability: when you can start a new job
2.2 Special personal information (optional)
With your explicit consent, and only if you choose to share it, we may collect:
- Race and gender for Employment Equity reporting on your CV
- Right-to-work status (e.g. South African citizen, permanent resident, work permit holder)
These fields are entirely optional. You may skip them at any time and they will not
appear on your CV if you do not provide them.
2.3 Information collected automatically
- Message timestamps and conversation state, used to manage your session and send reminder messages if you stop partway through
- Feedback you voluntarily submit about the service
- Contact form submissions sent via our website
3. How we collect your information
We collect information:
- Directly from you, through conversation on WhatsApp
- Through our website contact form at sendmycv.co.za/contact
We do not use cookies, tracking pixels, or behavioural advertising on our website.
4. Why we use your information
We process your personal information for the following purposes:
- CV generation: to build, format, and deliver your professional CV as a PDF via WhatsApp — the primary purpose of the service
- Session management: to save your progress so you can continue later and to allow you to update your CV
- Reminders: to send you a single follow-up WhatsApp message if you start but do not complete your CV within 23 hours
- Service improvement: we analyse aggregated, anonymised data (e.g. common skills across South Africa) to improve the service. No individual is identifiable in this analysis.
- Customer support: to respond to enquiries submitted via our contact form
- Legal compliance: to comply with applicable South African laws
If you opted in, we may also send you WhatsApp messages about new services we launch.
You can opt out at any time by sending RESTART to our WhatsApp number
and choosing to start fresh, or by contacting us directly.
5. Who we share your information with
We do not sell your personal information. We share it only with the following
Operators who process data on our behalf, under written data processing agreements:
-
Supabase Inc. (database and file storage) — your CV data and session
information is stored on Supabase servers. Data is encrypted at rest and in transit.
Supabase may host data in data centres outside South Africa.
-
Meta Platforms Ireland Limited (WhatsApp Cloud API) — all messages
you send and receive pass through Meta's WhatsApp Business Platform. Meta's
own privacy policy applies to WhatsApp messaging.
-
Google LLC (Gemini AI) — your CV content (work history, skills,
profile statement) is sent to Google's Gemini API solely to improve the quality
of your CV text. Google does not use this data to train its models under our
API agreement.
-
Groq Inc. — used in limited cases for real-time text processing
(e.g. spelling correction of job titles). Groq does not retain your data beyond
the processing request.
We may also disclose your information if required to do so by law or by a competent
South African court or authority.
6. International transfers
Some of our Operators (listed above) process data outside South Africa.
Where this occurs, we take steps to ensure that adequate protection is in place,
including contractual safeguards consistent with POPIA section 72.
By using our service, you acknowledge that your information may be transferred to
and processed in countries outside South Africa.
7. How long we keep your information
- CV data and session records: retained for years from your last interaction, or until you request deletion via the RESTART command
- Inactive accounts (no messages for more than months) are automatically deleted
- Special personal information (race, gender, right-to-work): deleted together with your session record
- Feedback submissions: retained for years
- Contact form submissions: retained for years
You can delete your data at any time by sending RESTART to our WhatsApp number.
This permanently erases your name, contact details, CV content, and session history.
8. Your rights under POPIA
As a data subject under POPIA, you have the right to:
- Access: request a copy of the personal information we hold about you
- Correction: request that inaccurate or incomplete information be corrected (you can also do this directly by sending EDIT via WhatsApp)
- Deletion: request that your personal information be deleted (send RESTART on WhatsApp for immediate deletion)
- Objection: object to the processing of your personal information on reasonable grounds
- Withdraw consent: withdraw your consent to processing at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal
- Lodge a complaint: complain to the Information Regulator if you believe your rights have been violated (see section 12)
To exercise any of the above rights, contact our Information Officer using the
details in section 13.
9. Security
We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your
personal information against unauthorised access, loss, or destruction. These include:
- Encryption of data in transit (TLS) and at rest
- Role-based access controls limiting who can access your data
- Separation of sensitive attributes (race, gender, right-to-work status) into a
separate database table with restricted access
- Use of service-role API keys that are never exposed to end users
No system is completely secure. If you become aware of a security concern, please
contact us immediately at .
10. Children
Our service is intended for persons aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect
personal information from children under 18. If you believe a child has submitted
information to us, please contact us and we will delete it promptly.
11. Changes to this policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The version number and effective
date at the top of this page will reflect any changes. We will notify active users of
material changes via WhatsApp before they take effect.
12. How to complain
If you are not satisfied with how we handle your personal information, you may
lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator:
We encourage you to contact us first so that we can attempt to resolve your concern
directly before escalating to the Regulator.
13. Contact us
For any privacy-related queries, requests, or complaints, contact our Information Officer: