Privacy policy

Last updated: 1 July 2026

1. Who we are

The Careers Consultant is a coaching, consultancy and training business operated by Hazel Edwards, based in Gloucestershire, United Kingdom.

For the purposes of UK data protection law, we are the data controller of the personal information described in this policy.

Contact: info@thecareersconsultant.co.uk

2. What information we collect

When you get in touch, we may collect and process the following information:

• Your name
• Your email address
• Your telephone number (if you provide it)
• Your organisation (if you provide it)
• The type of enquiry you select
• Any information you include in your message, including optional fields such as “What would success look like?”
• Technical information relating to your enquiry, such as the date and time it was sent

We do not ask you to provide special category data (such as health information) through the contact form. Please only include information that is relevant to your enquiry.

3. How we collect information

We collect contact information when you:

• Submit the enquiry form on our contact page
• Email us directly at info@thecareersconsultant.co.uk
• Contact us by phone or through professional networking platforms, where you choose to share your details with us

If you use the website contact form, your message is sent securely to our business email inbox via our website hosting provider (IONOS). We use the details you provide only to respond to your enquiry.

4. Lawful basis for processing

We process your contact information on the following lawful bases under UK GDPR:

• Legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)) — to respond to enquiries, manage communications, assess whether we can help, and operate our business effectively. We have considered that this processing is necessary and does not override your rights.
• Steps prior to entering a contract (Article 6(1)(b)) — where you contact us about potential coaching, consultancy or training services, we may process your information to take steps at your request before a contract is agreed.

We do not use your contact information for marketing unless you have clearly asked us to do so.

5. How we use your information

We use the information you provide to:

• Read and respond to your enquiry
• Arrange a discovery conversation, where requested
• Understand your needs and whether our services may be suitable
• Provide quotes, proposals or follow-up information where relevant
• Keep a record of our communication with you
• Meet legal, regulatory or insurance requirements where applicable

6. Who we share information with

We do not sell your personal information. We may share it only where necessary with trusted service providers who help us operate our business, including:

• IONOS — our website and email hosting provider, which processes contact form submissions and delivers them to our business inbox.
• Email and IT providers — to send, receive and store business email and related communications.
• Professional advisers — such as accountants, insurers or legal advisers, only where necessary and on a confidential basis.

We may also disclose information if required by law or to protect our legal rights.

7. How long we keep information

We keep contact information only for as long as necessary for the purposes set out in this policy:

• General enquiries — typically up to 12 months from our last meaningful contact, unless a longer period is needed.
• Enquiries that proceed to a client relationship — for the duration of the engagement and for up to 6 years afterwards where needed for contractual, legal, tax or insurance purposes.
• Enquiries that do not proceed — usually deleted or anonymised within 12 months, unless we need to retain limited details for legitimate business reasons.

We may keep information for longer where we are required to do so by law.

8. How we protect information

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your information against unauthorised access, loss or misuse. These include secure email practices, password protection, and limiting access to personal data to those who need it for legitimate business purposes.

No method of transmission over the internet is completely secure. While we work to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

9. Your rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the right to:

• Access — request a copy of the personal information we hold about you
• Rectification — ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information
• Erasure — ask us to delete your information in certain circumstances
• Restriction — ask us to restrict processing in certain circumstances
• Object — object to processing based on legitimate interests
• Data portability — receive certain information in a structured, commonly used format, where applicable
• Withdraw consent — where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at info@thecareersconsultant.co.uk. We will respond within one month, unless the request is complex, in which case we may extend this by up to two further months and will let you know.

We may need to verify your identity before responding to a request.

10. Complaints

If you have concerns about how we handle your personal information, please contact us first so we can try to resolve the matter.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection:

ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint

11. Cookies and analytics

This website is largely static and does not use cookies for marketing or behavioural tracking. Fonts are loaded from Google Fonts, which may involve a connection to Google's servers when you visit the site. If we add analytics or other tools in future that use cookies or similar technologies, we will update this policy and, where required, provide appropriate consent mechanisms.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. The “Last updated” date at the top of this page shows when it was last revised. We encourage you to review this page periodically.

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