Privacy statement

This privacy statement is about the information we collect when you use careers.govt.nz, how we use this information and what your rights are.

Who we are

‘We’ means the Tertiary Education Commission Te Amorangi Mātauranga Matua (TEC).

We are the New Zealand Government agency that owns and runs careers.govt.nz.

When you use careers.govt.nz we collect personal and statistical information.

Personal information

Personal information is information about you.

What kind of personal information we may collect

We may collect:

  • your name, email address and phone number
  • if and how you would like us to contact you
  • your birth date, ethnicity, gender, iwi and whether you’re a school student, tertiary student, employed or unemployed.

Why we collect personal information

We collect information so we can:

  • check you have permission to use careers.govt.nz if you’re under 13 years of age
  • make sure we only contact you if you want us to
  • identify you and keep your records separate from other people’s
  • add information to your CV for you if you use CV builder
  • save your CV and your results from our other tools
  • answer your questions
  • improve this website and develop new products
  • make sure we’re supporting Māori and Pacific people and providing the right information to everyone in New Zealand
  • give you information about services you use (such as updates and announcements)
  • see if our marketing is effective
  • enforce our rights under our terms of use
  • do anything else you may authorise, or that we told you about when we collected the information.

When we collect personal information

We collect information when you:

  • create and use a careers.govt.nz account
  • use CV builder and our other tools
  • fill out forms for surveys and give feedback
  • contact us by phone, email, webmail or web chat.

How we collect personal information

  • We collect personal information by asking you for it directly, for example, by asking for your name and contact email when you create an account.
  • We don't usually collect personal information about you from other agencies, but we may do this if you’re applying for Pacific Work Connect or if you applied for Work Connect.
  • If you contact us by phone, email or web chat, we record your contact details and the communications we had with you.

How we protect the information we collect from you

We may save your information in online systems. We do this according to Government standards.

To protect your information we take the following reasonable steps:

  • strong security at our offices
  • controlling who can access your information
  • reviewing our use of personal information
  • training our staff on their Privacy Act responsibilities.

However, there is always a risk when sharing information online. 

How we may share your personal information

We only share your information with other agencies if you give us permission to, or if:

  • we can share it without identifying you, for example, we record your answers to survey questions anonymously with other answers
  • we have to share the information to protect you or someone else from harm
  • we have to share the information by law.

How to access your personal information

If you create a careers.govt.nz account, you can change your personal information at any time by editing your profile.

For any other personal information we hold you have the right to ask us:

  • to give you any information we hold about you
  • to correct any information we hold about you.

Statistical information

Statistical information is information about how you use careers.govt.nz.

What kind of statistical information we collect

We collect information such as:

  • the pages and tools you visit on careers.govt.nz
  • the links you click and terms you search for
  • which website you came to careers.govt.nz from
  • your device and its operating system
  • your age group and gender.

Why we collect statistical information

We collect this information so we know:

  • how often people use our tools and other parts of the website
  • how to improve careers.govt.nz.

When we collect statistical information

We collect this information each time you visit careers.govt.nz.

How we collect statistical information

We collect information with tools like cookies and Google Analytics. You can choose to turn off cookies by changing the settings on your browser but this can affect how well some careers.govt.nz features may work. 

How we use Pacific Work Connect and Work Connect programme information

This is how we manage your personal information when you apply to the Pacific Work Connect programme. It also applies to information you supplied for Work Connect when it was operating.

  • We will collect, hold, disclose and use your personal information.
  • You can access the information we hold about you.
  • You can ask us to correct this information.

Your career consultant can answer questions or explain anything you’re unsure of.

Why we collect information for Pacific Work Connect

We collect information from you so we can:

  • see if you are eligible for the programme
  • register you on the programme
  • assess the programme
  • support you into employment.

What information we collect for Pacific Work Connect

The information we collect includes:

  • registration information
  • details for assessing your eligibility
  • surveys evaluating the programme.

How we collect your information for Pacific Work Connect

We only collect personal information about you if you:

  • give it to us
  • let us collect it from another agency.

Who we share your Pacific Work Connect information with

We may need to share your information with other agencies or people that help us with the programme.

We may also disclose your information if:

  • we need to protect your safety or the safety of others
  • we need to help an agency responsible for law enforcement.

How we store your Pacific Work Connect information

Your information is stored securely by the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) in accordance with the Public Records Act 2005 and the Privacy Act 2020. 

Once we no longer need it, we will delete or destroy it.

However, there is always a risk when sharing information online.

How to access or correct your Pacific Work Connect information

You can access any personal information we hold about you, and ask us to correct it. To do this, or if you have concerns about your privacy, see the section below.

Contact us with your privacy questions or concerns

We're happy to answer your questions or concerns about privacy and how we look after your information.

Contact us 

Email: privacy@tec.govt.nz
Phone: 0800 601 301
Post: The Privacy Officer, Tertiary Education Commission, PO Box 27048, Wellington 6141

Contact the Privacy Commissioner

If you're not happy with our answers to your privacy questions or concerns, you can contact the Privacy Commissioner.

Email: enquiries@privacy.org.nz
Phone: 0800 803 909 (NZ) or +64 4 474 7590 (international)
Post: Office of the Privacy Commissioner, PO Box 10094, Wellington 6143

We will update this page with any significant changes to our privacy policy.

Updated 21 Aug 2023