StepStone General terms of use

General terms of use for applicants

Valid from 27th April 2022

By using our website and Services, you accept our following Terms of Use.

StepStone is your lifelong career companion and offers a range of career Services via its various platforms. If your life plan changes, you develop further or strive for new goals, StepStone offers the right support for your career. Our goal is to build a long-term relationship and create a product and service that is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so that you can take your life and future into your own hands.

General; Scope
1. These Terms of Use of StepStone Deutschland GmbH, Völklinger Straße 1, 40219 Düsseldorf (“StepStone” or “we”) apply to the contractual agreement ((hereinafter referred to as the “Agreement”) between StepStone on the one hand and the User (also referred to as “Users” or “you”) on the other hand, who is interested in or uses any career service that is offered at www.stepstone.de, its other websites, or any website of the StepStone Corporation that display these Terms of Use, as well as our mobile applications (“Apps”), (collectively referred to as “Service” hereinafter). The websites and Apps are collectively referred to as “StepStone Platforms” hereinafter. If you wish to publish a job offer (“Recruiter”), these Terms of Use will not apply, but our Terms and Conditions for Recruiters. For certain Services additional terms may apply, which we will inform you of separately. Please read these Terms of Use carefully. If you do not accept our Terms of Use, you cannot use our Services and should cease any further use.
2. The Services under these Terms of Use are intended only for the individual job search by natural persons as an Employee or as a freelancer. Otherwise, it is not permitted to use the Services offered by us in a commercial way, e.g. to promote the Services of a company.
Object of the agreement and scope of the Services
1. The StepStone-Platforms contain a considerable amount of information and Services on career and profession for Candidates and Users of the StepStone-Platforms. The Services include making published job advertisements of recruiters accessible for you, providing technical tools for the application process, as well as information on their proper use.
2. By registering for the StepStone Services parts of your CV and Profile information will be visible on the Platform to Recruiters and StepStone may suggest your Profile to Recruiters. For further information on the User profile, please proceed to section 2.9.
3. In order to balance the interests of Users and StepStone-Customers and to ensure the usability of the platform, it is particularly imperative to prepare and present the available information for Candidates and Users. To this end, Candidates and Users who agree to these Terms of Use and provide their contact information will receive regular notifications with published job advertisements. You can edit the frequency and means of the various types of notifications in your account settings, depending on your current need. Sending Notifications to the User on the correct use of the Platform will however remain part of this contractual agreement.
4. You can use some Services without registration. A registration enables you to use additional functions and Services, which cannot be used without registration. StepStone is not obliged to provide you with these Services without registration.
5. Notifications on suitable Job Offers and Services
  1. You may subscribe to frequent notifications through the StepStone-Platforms that will alert you about Job Offers or other Services (“Notifications”) that StepStone believes may be of interest or relevant for you. The assessment is based on information from your User Account, on settings you have made yourself for notifications and/or on your search and your usage behavior on the StepStone-Platforms. You can set up multiple notifications and means of communication for different job-searches and Services. Means of communication for all notifications are, for example emails, SMS, Instant Messaging Services, or by notifications displayed in the browser (according to your browser settings). Please note that if you no longer wish to receive notifications, you must unsubscribe from all notifications you have set up individually, in order to avoid deleting those notifications that you wish to continue to receive.
  2. If a registered User uses the platforms again after some time of inactivity, the User will start, according to StepStone’s assessment, a new “Search Cycle”. In order to further ensure the usability of the StepStone-Platforms, StepStone will continue to send the User regular email notifications, which, according StepStone’s estimation, could be of interest to the User or could be relevant for the User.
  3. Based on empirical values and in-depth analysis of the careers of Employees in their companies, StepStone can identify an “Employee Life Cycle” for almost any User. The Employee Life Cycle describes the career path of a Candidate within one or more companies, or his or her professional life. In order to optimize a Candidate’s career planning, StepStone may send relevant information on career development to registered Users, that have not been active on the platforms in a while, by email or through their User Account.
  4. In order to ensure your authentication, i.e. to avoid unauthorised notification subscriptions on behalf of third parties, we will send you a confirmation email after your first registration, in which we ask you to confirm your registration again by clicking a link in the email. The authentication process is not required if you are logged in as a registered User and set up notifications for suitable Job Offers or Services. Authentication by entering a password can in some cases also be skipped, if you click on the link provided in a notification to you (“soft-login”) and gives you the option of limited access to your account without prior login.
  5. Upon your registration you create a User Account for Candidates (“user account”) and you will automatically receive notifications related to your searches or Services that you are using. Settings such as frequency, accuracy, or disabling all or some of your subscribed notifications can be adjusted in your account settings.
6. Newsletter
  You can subscribe to various newsletters we offer on different subjects. We may also send you email-newsletters regarding StepStone Services which are similar to StepStone Services that you already use, if you have not objected to such newsletters. You may at any time object to all of StepStone’s newsletters free of charge. We will inform you about your right of objection when we collect your email address and in the respective newsletter. Should you no longer wish to receive our email messages, please click the unsubscribe link located within each message and/or contact us at info@stepstone.de. Additionally, you can view and change settings in your User Account, if you have registered for an User Account.
7. User account
  Certain Services are only available for registered Users with a User Account. How to register for a User Account is described in section 3.
8. Saved Job Offers
  You can save Job Offers that you have viewed by clicking on the button provided for this purpose in the job offer. You can then access entries saved in this way in your User Account. StepStone can analyse your stored entries and, based on this analysis, can optimise and customise the Services offered to you. StepStone can remind you of your saved Job Offers by email.
9. User profile
  Within your User Account, you can create a personal profile (“User Profile” or “Profile”) which will consist of information that you provide to us, such as CV related pieces of information as well as attachments provided by you. Once you add a CV to your profile, parts of your profile will become visible to recruiters. If you upload attachments or create a CV with StepStone’s CV Generator to complete your profile, we analyse their content and structure in an automated process and use this analysis to improve the Services we provide to you. If you enter information in an application form during an application process that is not already included in your User Profile, we will enrich your User Profile with this information. We also use the data you provide us with to recommend jobs on our platforms based on your profile data and tailored to your needs or to send you notifications as described in section 2.3. We may also use your profile data to automatically fill out forms for other Services and that we offer on our platforms and which may be linked to the User profile, if you wish to use these Services. Additionally, we use information stored in your profile to improve your search experience and make the application process more efficient. We also store analytical data about you and your User behaviour, together with a pseudonymous User ID, in a statistical database, whereby you are not identifiable.
  
  You can choose between two Profile settings: Your Profile can be visible, or not visible. Your Profile will be visible by default, but you may change this setting at any time in your Profile settings. If your Profile is “visible”, you will make parts of your Profile accessible to Recruiters. Also, StepStone may suggest your Profile to Recruiters, if your Profile matches the content of their job advertisement.
10. Applications for Users with a User Account
  You can use your profile to apply for jobs offered on the StepStone-websites or in the apps, provided that the StepStone customer has chosen to allow applications via the platform for the respective job offer. We use your available data to automatically fill in certain fields of the application form and you may upload additional files. Once you have clicked on the respective button, we will either, depending on the StepStone customer’s choice, i) store the data you entered in the application form on the StepStone platform so that the respective StepStone customer can access it there, or ii) transmit your application directly to the StepStone customer’s application management system. If we store your application on our platform (i)), the StepStone customer to whom you have applied will also have access to your profile and will be able to view the information you have entered in your profile. If your application is sent directly to the StepStone customer’s system ((ii), please also note section 2.13. Since StepStone customers from all over the world can post Job Offers on our platforms, it is possible that the respective StepStone customer is based outside the EU or the European Economic Area (“EEA”), and therefore access and disclosure may also take place from and transfer to such third countries.
11. Applications for Users without an User Account
  You can apply for some jobs, which are published on the StepStone websites or in the apps without creating a User Account. To do this, enter the required data in the fields of the application form and upload any additional files that may be required. Once you have clicked on the respective button, we will either, depending on the StepStone customer’s choice, i) store the data you entered in the application form on the StepStone platform so that the respective the StepStone customer can access it there, or ii) transmit your application directly to the StepStone customer application management system. Since the StepStone customers from all over the world can post Job Offers on our platforms, it is possible that the respective the StepStone customer is based outside the EU or the European Economic Area (“EEA”), and it is therefore access and disclosure may also take place from and transfer to such third countries.
12. Application to box number job advertisements
  A box number job ad is a job advertisement that does not disclose the recruiting company. If you reply to a job with a box number, we will forward your application including covering letter and all data included therein to the customer of that box number. We do not check the content of your message on a regular basis. However, we are entitled to do so. We will not forward your covering letter if its content violates these terms of use. We will accept lock flags for particular companies if you have given us the detailed and correct name (name and legal form of the company) and address. However, due to the time-consuming research involved we do not accept lock flags for a whole group of companies.
13. Information about the application status
  StepStone will inform you about the status of your submitted application for a job offer published on the Websites, provided that StepStone has status information. Status information is information about the status of your application that you have submitted to a StepStone-Customer and includes the receipt, processing, or rejection of your application at the StepStone customer. Status information can only be displayed to registered Users and only if the StepStone-Customer provides StepStone with this information. Status information can be provided via the channels described in section 2.5.1.
14. Storage of CV data in your profile
  In the event that the StepStone customer does not use its own applicant management system to process your application, but instead uses the StepStone-Platform, your application, including the respective attachments, will be stored within your User Account in a history that you can access at any time.
  Information from your applications or information that you provide in order to use StepStone Services is automatically used to complete your own profile with information, if information is missing.
  If you have not uploaded a CV to your profile or created a CV with the CV Generator before your first application, the CV from your first application will automatically be added to your profile, if the recipient of your application uses the StepStone platform to process your application.
  You may object to the transfer of a CV to your profile before submitting an application. You may also change or delete information that has been automatically added to your Profile at any time.
  Depending on the service, you have the option of either adding additional CVs to your Profile that you have attached to other applications or replacing the existing CV. You will be informed of this possibility while applying and can add or replace a CV by clicking the corresponding button. When you upload or create a new CV for an application, the new CV will be added to your Profile.
15. Modification and discontinuation of Services
  In order to balance the interests of Users and StepStone customers, to ensure the usability of the platform and to adapt it to the conditions of the market, it is essential to continuously develop the StepStone platforms. It is therefore possible that Services may be modified or discontinued. The User has no legal claim to the continuation of a service, a display or the functionality of the platform. If you do not agree with a modification or discontinuation, your only remedy is to terminate this agreement according to section 9 of this agreement and to refrain from using the StepStone platforms.
Registration for a User Account
1. If you want to register for and create a User Account, you must provide a valid email address and a password to us, which we will store.
2. After we received your application to create a User Account, we confirm the receipt of such application with a message to the email address provided by you. The agreement for your User Account between you and us comes into effect when we activate your User Account. The completion of the registration by you only constitutes an offer to enter into a contract. StepStone reserves the right to accept or decline the conclusion of the contract in its own discretion. There is no right to claim a conclusion of a contract.
3. You must provide the requested information and data completely and truthfully. You are responsible to keep your contact data (especially your email address) up to date and to secure that you can be contacted under the address provided and that the email address is not transferred to another person. Should any of the provided data change, you must adjust and correct the data. In the event of false information provided by you, StepStone shall have the right, to block your account and the access to our platform temporarily or permanently and/or terminate in accordance with section 9 herein.
4. Each User can only create one account. The account is not transferrable.
5. Once the User creates a User Account it is permanently available for the User. It will neither be deleted after a search cycle nor automatically after a certain amount of time. However, the User can terminate this contract anytime and delete his account via the account setting or by messaging StepStone.
Obligations and responsibilities of the User
1. Users are fully responsible to provide the hardware and internet connection themselves which is necessary to use StepStone Services.
2. Please ensure that the Services under the User Account are only used by you. You shall keep access data and passwords in strict confidence. You are responsible for any and all use of access data and passwords and all actions, which occur in context with the use of your User Account. If any unauthorized third party had actual or hypothetical access to your login details (email address in combination with the password), you shall immediately inform StepStone and change any relevant password as soon as possible.
3. You shall not act illegally in the context of using our Services and/or violate applicable law, particularly you shall not:
  1. Provide us with any content, that
    - is harassing, offensive, liable to corrupt the young or in other ways illegal;
    - violates the rights of third parties, especially copyright laws, personality rights or other property laws;
    - is confidential, e.g. includes business secrets;
  2. impersonate as another person, e.g. as a public official, a representative of us, or pretend a relationship to such persons that does not exist, fake User names or manipulate distinctive marks in other ways and/or disguise the origin of content, that is transmitted in context with the Service;
  3. save, publish and/or transmit advertising-, junk-, or mass-emails, chain letters, snow ball systems or other commercial communication;
  4. use scraping or similar techniques, to collect content to use it for another purpose, to publish it again or use it in a different way than what the Services are intended for;
  5. use techniques or automated other Services that aim to show or result in showing Users activity incorrectly, e.g. by using bots, bot nets, scripts, apps, plugins, extensions or other automated instruments to register accounts, to play content, tosend messages, to post comments or different acts;
  6. to harass, threaten, insult, defame a natural person or a company, disparage or discriminate because of gender, race, religion or beliefs, or state or spread untrue facts about a natural or legal person;
  7. collect, save or transmit personal data of another User, insofar as the affected person has not agreed;
  8. post links to content of third parties, that violates the regulations of these terms of use or other regulations.
4. Any information contained in your User Account and any other information or content you provide to us (“content”) must be true. That means that you are not allowed to create User Account for third persons without their consent or for non-existing persons, and that any Profile picture that you transmit must show you.
5. Any Content you provide to us must not contain viruses, worms or any other harmful code.
6. Personal data, that you send or provide to StepStone, should not include, and you warrant and guarantee that it does not include any of the following:
  - racial or ethnic origin,
  - political opinions,
  - religious or philosophical beliefs,
  - membership in trade union,
  - genetic data or biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person,
  - data concerning health
  - data concerning a natural person’s sex life or sexual orientation
7. If you transmit personal data to other Users or Recruiters, then such transmission takes place at your own risk. StepStone cannot control the actual use of your personal data by the recipients. Therefore, please check the identity of the recipients of your data before sending it. For example, you should not send your personal data to a private email-address. We further advise not to send certain sensitive data to Recruiters, even if they request it. Such sensitive data are for example passport number, the social security number or bank details.
8. StepStone may give the User the opportunity to create content through certain Services and to send this content to StepStone which then can be published on the websites.
  1. The User undertakes not to create any content that violates applicable law or is contrary to public policy or to accepted principles of morality. In particular, the User undertakes not to create any content whose publication constitutes a criminal offence or a misdemeanour that violates copyright, trademark or competition law, which have offensive, racist, discriminatory or pornographic content or contains advertising.
  2. By sending the created content, the User grants StepStone an unlimited, irrevocable as well as exclusive and transferable right of use of the transmitted content. StepStone is entitled to any use and exploitation of the content.
  3. The User fully indemnifies StepStone from all claims of third parties that arise from violating its obligations under these terms of use, i.e. by asserting the third party for violating their rights through the content created by the User.
  4. StepStone reserves the right not to publish submitted content. There is no legal claim to publish the content.
  5. The created content represents personal statements of the Users and do not represent the opinion of StepStone.
9. If the User breaches the provisions of these general terms of use or breaches applicable laws and regulations, StepStone may temporarily or indefinitely ban the User from the platform and/or his or her User Account. The extend and length of such banishment depends on the gravity and frequency of the breach and is up to StepStone’s discretion.
License in and to User’s Content
1. You may use our Services and may transmit Content to us in accordance with these terms of use. We do not examine such content and do not claim ownership of it. By providing the content to StepStone, you commission us to save, host and – if applicable – make the content available to the public. We use your content in accordance with the agreement between you and us under these terms of use. By providing your content to StepStone, you grant a non-exclusive, territorially unrestricted license for the term of the agreement, to use the content for purpose of the provision of the Services under your agreement with us, which includes the right to save, reproduce, format, reformat, technically edit, transmit, make available, to analyse the content to let it be analysed, evaluate statistically and/or let it be evaluated statistically on our own or by third parties.
2. You warrant and guarantee that you own all rights that are or a license in and to the Content that is necessary to grant the rights as per this section 5 a to StepStone, and that the Content and the use of it by StepStone under the agreement with you doesn’t violate our terms of use or applicable legal regulations and doesn’t infringe intellectual property rights or other rights of third parties.
Fees
The Services of StepStone under these terms of use are free of charge.
No warranty; backup copies
1. We do not warrant the currency, accuracy, completeness, usability, suitability for a certain purpose of content on our platforms. We also do not warrant for the conclusion of an employment contract between Users of our Platforms as applicants and an employer.
2. StepStone does not warrant that the Services offered by us are available at certain times or permanently. Disturbances, interruptions or possible downtimes of the (online) Service cannot be excluded. Because of technical or operational reasons, a temporally limitation of the availability is possible. This is especially possible with regard to the capacity limits, the security or integrity of the data processing systems or the implementation of technical measures, which are necessary for a regular or improved performance.
3. StepStone’s servers are backed up regularly and carefully. Nevertheless, data losses are not excluded. Insofar as you transmit or upload data – regardless of the form – we advise you to make backup copies. This also applies to the event that you terminate your contract with us, because we don’t retain a copy of your data after the deletion, subject only to statutory storage obligations.
4. For various Services you may be able to specify certain selection- or exclusion-criteria (“Criteria”) in order to personalise or adjust a service to your needs. This especially applies to but is not limited to search results or the (non-)visibility of your profile for certain employers and/or recruiters. StepStone does not guarantee or warrant that all of your entered criteria may be taken into account, especially not variations of an entered criteria.
5. We do not guarantee or warrant any minimum storage capacity for your User Account. We reserve the right to limit the data volume for data uploads temporarily or permanently, especially if this is necessary for technical or User-friendliness reasons, for example to maintain or optimise the service.
Liability
1. StepStone shall be liable according to statutory law for damages,
  - resulting from an injury of life, body or health being based on a breach of duty by StepStone, a legal representative or a vicarious agent (“Erfüllungsgehilfe”) of StepStone,
  - resulting from the lack of a condition guaranteed by StepStone,
  - caused by intent or gross negligence, also by our statutory representatives and vicarious agents (“Erfüllungsgehilfen”), as well as
  - caused by malicious conduct of StepStone.
2. In the event of a material damage or pecuniary loss caused by a slightly negligent conduct of StepStone, a legal representative or a vicarious agent (“Erfüllungsgehilfe”) of Stepstone, StepStone shall be only liable in the event of a material breach of a contractual core duty, but only to the amount of the typical damage foreseeable in the event of the conclusion of the contract. Contractual core duties are such duties whose accomplishment enables proper fulfillment of an agreement and whose observance the contracting parties may regularly rely on
3. A possible liability pursuant to the product liability law (“Produkthaftungsgesetz”) remains unaffected.
4. Any further liability of StepStone shall be excluded.
5. StepStone shall not be liable because of statutory provisions in the event of slight negligence.
6. Insofar as the liability of StepStone is excluded or restricted, this also applies to the personal liability of the legal representatives, executives and vicarious agents of StepStone.
Term and Termination
1. The agreement with you regarding the User Account and the Services provided under it as well as notifications regarding Services under this agreement is made for an unlimited period of time. Either party may terminate this agreement with immediate effect and without cause.
2. 6.2 If the agreement on the User Account or notifications of Services ends, we will delete your personal data that we have stored or store your data in anonymous form for analytical purposes, unless processing is required by law and for another purpose.
Intellectual property rights in and to our platforms
1. Our platforms and all connected software, databases, graphics, User interfaces, designs and additional content, names and trademarks are protected by the copyright law, the trademark law and additional property rights. As between you and StepStone, StepStone shall be deemed the sole holder of all intellectual property rights.
2. Under the condition that you comply with these terms of use and any other applicable provisions, StepStone grants a non-exclusive and non-transferrable right to use the platforms and the service. You shall not (i.) use the platforms or the service for the development of other Services; (ii.) activate or use functionalities of the platforms or the service for which you have no right of use; change, translate, reproduce, decompile the source code, to examine its functions, except where legally mandatorily permissible.
Confidentiality and data protection
1. StepStone treats your personal data confidentially at any time. We only use or publish it, when necessary under these terms of use. Each collection and processing of User’s personal data occurs considering applicable data protection law. You can obtain further information about the use of personal data on our Platforms in our privacy policy.
2. In order to provide you with the specific Services for which you have registered or to calculate runtimes, StepStone saves the date of your last activity on the StepStone platforms (“date of last activity”), including the date of your registration and use of StepStone Services. These include e.g. logging into your User Account, clicking on links in the StepStone newsletter, notifications in accordance with section 2.4., using a StepStone profile or any other activity that indicates that you are interested in using the Services.
Amendment of these Terms of Use
1. Amendments of Terms of Use of Services requiring a registration
  1. StepStone reserves the right to amend these terms of use for Services requiring a registration at any time, provided that this is deemed reasonable for the Users. In the event of such a change in the terms of use, we will inform you at least four weeks in advance either i.) on your next login by means of an appropriate screen mask or ii.) by e-mail. If you log in again or do not object within this four-week period, the amended terms of use shall become effective for the future and shall become part of the agreement as of the date on which they become effective. StepStone will inform you of the effect of the silence and the meaning of the four-week period in a notice on the amended terms.
  2. Changes with regard to the subject matter of the contract and essential obligations are excluded from the authority to make changes pursuant to section 12.1.1. In such cases StepStone will inform you about the intended changes and offer you the continuation of the contractual relationship with changed conditions.
2. Amendments of terms of use of Services not requiring a registration
  For Services that are available without registration, these terms of use apply in their current form as published on the platform at the time you use the Services, and StepStone may amend these terms of use at any time.
Applicable law, place of jurisdiction and other provisions
1. This agreement and its interpretation shall be governed by German law. However, if you are a consumer within the meaning of article 6 (2) of regulation (EC) no 593/2008, this choice of law may not deprive you of the protection granted by mandatory provisions under the law that would have been applicable (in the absence of a choice of law).
2. If any provision of these terms of use is found to be invalid or unenforceable in whole or in part, such provision shall be deemed severable from these terms of use and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any other provision of these terms of use. In such event, the invalid or unenforceable provision shall be replaced by a valid and enforceable provision.
3. Dispute resolution notices: StepStone is not be obligated and willing to participate in dispute resolution proceedings by any consumer dispute resolution body. The European online dispute resolution platform http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/ provides information on alternative dispute resolution (Please note: we are not participating in this program).

Last Updated 27.04.2022

Go to the actual terms of use