Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Squad Institute ("we", "us", "our") operates a marketplace of startups for work experience for grads, post-grads, and career switchers in Australia. This policy explains how we handle personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).

2. What we collect

We collect information you give us directly, including:

• Application details — your name, email, phone number, location, career stage, skill areas, and links you choose to share (portfolio, GitHub, LinkedIn).
• Eligibility information — your work-rights or visa status, collected so we can check program fit with you before you commit to anything.
• Program records — if you join a cohort: squad membership, project contributions, mentoring notes and progress records.
• Correspondence — messages you send us via email or the contact form.

We also collect limited technical information automatically when you use this website (such as browser type and pages visited) through standard analytics, where enabled.

3. Why we collect it

We collect and use your personal information to:

• assess your application and check program eligibility, including visa work and study conditions;
• match you to a squad and run the program, including mentoring and career support;
• communicate with you about your application, your cohort, and program updates;
• meet our legal obligations; and
• improve the program and this website.

We do not sell your personal information. We do not use your visa status for any purpose other than checking eligibility with you.

4. Who we share it with

We may share relevant information with:

• Mentors and squad members — limited profile information needed to run your squad;
• Service providers — such as hosting, email and analytics providers who process data on our behalf under appropriate protections;
• Finance partners — only if you apply for a financing arrangement, and only as set out in the separate agreement and disclosures you receive at that time;
• Regulators or law enforcement — where required by law.

5. Storage and security

We store personal information on access-controlled systems hosted in Australia or with reputable cloud providers. We take reasonable steps to protect it from misuse, interference, loss, and unauthorised access or disclosure, and we retain it only as long as needed for the purposes above or as required by law.

6. Access and correction

You can ask us at any time to access the personal information we hold about you, or to correct it if it's inaccurate, out of date or incomplete. Email contact@thesquadinstitute.com and we'll respond within a reasonable period, usually 30 days.

7. Cookies and analytics

This website may use cookies and similar technologies for basic functionality and anonymous usage analytics. You can disable cookies in your browser settings; the site will still work.

8. Complaints

If you believe we've mishandled your personal information, contact us first at contact@thesquadinstitute.com — we take it seriously and will investigate and respond. If you're not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at oaic.gov.au.

9. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The current version will always be published on this page with its "last updated" date.

10. Contact

Privacy questions or requests:

• Email: contact@thesquadinstitute.com