This is a translation. The German version is the legally binding one: German version

Legal

Privacy notice · STARTKLAR Beruf

Last updated: 26.09.2026

This notice applies to STARTKLAR Beruf at app.startklar-beruf.de. The application compares how working people like to work with what the work in a specific job looks like – before anyone writes an application.

Nobody needs an account or a password. Employers reach each job through a management link and – if they have several jobs – all of them together through a link to an overview; working people reach their result through a personal link. Anyone who has one of these links can see the related details – please treat it like a key.

No artificial intelligence, no automated decision. The comparison is produced by fixed, traceable calculation rules on our own server. The percentage is a sorting aid for the employer. The employer decides whom to contact; you decide whether the employer learns your name and contact details. There is no decision based solely on automated processing within the meaning of Article 22 GDPR.

1. Controller

Mathias Köster – Lotswerk
Siebenbergensweg 27, 27580 Bremerhaven
Phone: 0152 2929 7719 · Email: hallo@startklar-beruf.de

Prof. Dr. Jörg Martens is responsible for the content of the questionnaire and the method. Where he has access to the administration for this purpose, he acts on the instructions of the controller and is bound to confidentiality (Article 29 GDPR); he does not use the data for his own purposes.

2. What details we collect from employers

The details of the job (title, occupational field, postcode of the place of work, full-time or part-time, working hours, contract, start, salary range, required certificates, wishes regarding qualification, German and work experience, the description of the work, six details on team and development, two selected situations, the first step offered) as well as the company name, address, contact person, email address, phone number, website and the threshold for notifications. We need the address for every job so that an invoice can be issued in full at any time.

If an employer enters another job via the management link of a job, we assign both to the same employer so that they can see them together. They are assigned only via this link, never via an email address. The overview shows figures, link and QR code for each job, but no details about individuals.

Partners such as agencies, staffing service providers or associations also enter jobs for their clients or members. In that case, we store the client's name, contact person and email address with the job; the billing address, quota and invoices belong to the partner.

If an employer buys a job package, we also store a separate email address for invoices and – optionally – the VAT identification number, the package with its term and the invoices. Invoices are issued by Mathias Köster – Lotswerk.

3. What details we collect from working people

• Postcode and the longest commute you want – only to calculate the approximate distance. The employer does not see the postcode.
• earliest start, qualification in the field and whether it was obtained abroad and is recognised, German for work, work experience in the field (in levels, capped at “more than 3 years”)
• which of the certificates required for this job you have – we only ask about these
• whether you want full-time or part-time work, whether the working hours of this job suit you, optionally a minimum salary
• optionally up to three conditions that are especially important to you in a new job
• your answers about your way of working and two short answers on situations from everyday working life
• optionally up to two points of the comparison that would be a reason for you not to take the job
• your choice of what the employer may see – and only if the employer may see something: name, email address and/or phone number, best time to reach you
• optionally an email address, even if the employer may not see anything: only for your personal link and the reminder before deletion – the employer never receives it
• if you take part in “Staying on course”: the details listed in section 10
• the language in which you do the check – only so that the result and emails come in the same language. The employer does not find out which language it is.

Deliberately not collected: age or date of birth, gender, marital status or children, nationality, native language, photo, health or disability, religion, gaps in your CV, CV, job references and school reports. Please do not give such details in the free-text fields either.

Log without content: We record when a check was completed, a sharing setting was changed, a request was answered and a profile was deleted – only the type of event and the time, no answers and no contact details.

4. What the employer sees

• “Just the result for me”: nothing – the employer does not even find out that your comparison exists.
• “Without your name”: a code, how well your way of working fits, the point-by-point comparison, your two answers on the situations, earliest start and level of experience, as well as notes on full-time or part-time, working hours, qualification, German and experience. For salary, only whether your expectation fits their range; for the commute, only whether it is longer than you want – never the figures. Name and contact details only if you agree to a request.
• “With contact details”: in addition, name, email address and/or phone number and the best time to reach you.

Anyone who does not have a certificate that the job requires does not appear in the employer's list; the employer only sees how many people this applies to.

As long as you do not agree, the employer only sees your comparison under a code (e.g. “Person B4”). The link to your name and your contact details is held exclusively by STARTKLAR Beruf (pseudonymisation within the meaning of Article 4(5) GDPR). We only pass on your contact details if you accept a request.

5. Purposes and legal bases

• Check and result for you: Article 6(1)(b) GDPR – steps taken before a possible employment relationship, at your request.
• Sharing with the employer (without your name or with contact details): Article 6(1)(a) GDPR – your consent. You can withdraw it at any time via your personal link; your contact details are then deleted, and open requests count as declined.
• Details from employers: Article 6(1)(b) GDPR; for the contact details of the contact person, Article 6(1)(f) GDPR (handling of participation).
• Invoices and accounting for job packages: Article 6(1)(b) GDPR (contract) and Article 6(1)(c) GDPR (retention obligations).
• Emails with links, requests and reminders: Article 6(1)(b) or (f) GDPR.
• Log without content: Article 6(1)(c) in conjunction with Article 7(1) and Article 5(2) GDPR – proof of consent and deletions.

6. Recipients

Details from working people go exclusively to the employer of the job in question – and only to the extent you have shared them (section 4). If a partner entered the job for the employer – such as an agency, a staffing service provider or an association – this partner also sees the comparison to the same extent; the check names the partner before you share anything. There is no job board, no pool and no sharing with other employers. No data is transferred to countries outside the EU.

7. Hosting, sending emails, QR codes

The application is hosted by netcup GmbH, Daimlerstraße 25, 76185 Karlsruhe; the server is located in Nuremberg, Germany. We have a data processing agreement with netcup in accordance with Article 28 GDPR. When pages are accessed, the host collects technical access data (including IP address, date and time, page accessed, browser) for secure operation (Article 6(1)(f) GDPR).

We send emails via the mail server of our own domain at the same host; no email service provider is involved. QR codes are generated on our own server, without any external service.

The application does not set any cookies for employers or working people. A technically necessary session cookie is only created on the login page of the administration: it protects the login form and keeps administrators logged in. It is deleted as soon as the browser is closed or the user logs out.

8. Storage period

• We delete profiles of working people 12 months after the check is completed. If an email address has been provided, we send a reminder 30 days beforehand; you can then extend by one year or delete immediately.
• You can delete everything immediately at any time via your personal link – including at the employer's end.
• If a job is deleted, all related profiles and requests are deleted with it.
• We store details of a job for as long as the job exists, and the assignment to an employer for as long as the employer still has a job; on request, we delete both at any time.
• We keep invoices and the details on them for eight years, as required by commercial and tax law (§ 147 AO, § 14b UStG – German Fiscal Code and German VAT Act) – even if the jobs were deleted long ago.
• Log entries without content (section 3) are kept as proof; after deletion, they can no longer be linked to any person.

9. Your rights

You have the right of access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, data portability and objection. You can withdraw consent at any time with effect for the future. Working people can change what they share and delete their data directly themselves via their personal link; for everything else, a message to the controller (section 1) is sufficient.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority. In line with the controller's registered office in Bremerhaven, the competent authority is the supervisory authority of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen: Der Landesbeauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit (State Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information), Georgstraße 122–124, 27570 Bremerhaven.

10. Staying on course – support after you have been hired

If an employer has hired you, they can offer you “Staying on course”: three short check-ins after 4 weeks, 12 weeks and 5 months, each followed by your own report. This is only possible if the employer already sees your name and contact details. Taking part is voluntary; declining or ending it has no consequences.

• What details: your first working day (provided by the employer), your private email address, your answers in the check-ins (twelve statements; after 12 weeks, also the description of the work from your point of view; after 5 months, whether the employer's promises were kept), optionally a short text, and for each check-in your decision whether the employer receives feedback. In addition, the employer's answers in their own check-in – only about what they provide, never about you.
• What the employer sees: whether you have accepted and whether you have done a check-in. Only if you share it at a check-in: one colour each for Initial training, Feedback, Team, Work and Conditions with a conversation prompt, the names of the points where the work is different from how it was described, and the names of the promises that were not kept or only partly kept. Never: your individual answers, figures, your answers on whether you want to stay and how well the job suits you overall, your text, and the language in which you do the check-ins.
• Legal basis: Article 6(1)(a) and Article 7 GDPR – your consent, given when you accept. You give permission for sharing with the employer separately for each check-in and can withdraw it at any time. If you end “Staying on course”, we immediately delete all answers and reports, including what the employer was allowed to see so far.
• Emails: the invitation and one email per check-in, with at most one reminder for each of these emails – to you, and to the employer for their own check-in and when you share feedback. The emails contain links, not results.
• Storage period: If the invitation remains unanswered for 30 days, we delete the email address. 30 days after the support ends, we delete all answers, texts and the email address; only the colours you had shared remain, until your profile is deleted (section 8). If you delete your profile, the support is deleted as well.