Privacy Policy · Effective September 22, 2026

Privacy, in plain language.

This policy explains what ReverseRef handles, why it is needed, and the choices available to candidates, reference participants, and website visitors.

1. Who is responsible for the service

ReverseRef is an early-stage independent project and service operated under the name “ReverseRef.” A separate legal entity has not yet been formed, and this policy does not represent that ReverseRef is a corporation, limited liability company, or other incorporated entity. In this policy, “ReverseRef,” “we,” and “us” refer to the operator of the ReverseRef service.

Questions and privacy requests can be sent to hello@reverseref.com. We may update this policy, including to identify a newly formed entity, before expanding the service.

2. Information we collect

Website visitors

We use Vercel Web Analytics to understand basic traffic, such as pages viewed, approximate geography, referrer, browser, device type, and time of visit. Vercel Web Analytics is configured without third-party tracking cookies. We remove query strings and fragments before analytics events are sent and exclude routes intended for requests, email confirmation, case work, intake, or reports. We also record anonymous funnel events when the request form is viewed or started, when a request is successfully delivered, and when an email update subscription is confirmed. These events do not contain names, email addresses, manager names, company names, form answers, or case details. When a visitor arrives through a recognized launch or referral link, we may reduce the source to a fixed campaign label and keep that label for the current browser session so we can understand whether the visit leads to a request or confirmed update subscription. We do not store the full query string or accept arbitrary campaign text for this purpose.

Reference invitation responses

We use an embedded form provided by Tally to collect responses to reference invitations. If you submit the form, ReverseRef receives the response option you select, any optional comment you provide, and an opaque outreach identifier included in your invitation link. The identifier lets us connect the response to the correct invitation without asking you to re-enter your name or email address. Tally processes the form submission and technical information needed to provide and protect the embedded form under its own terms and privacy notice.

Candidates and requesters

The website request form sends the information you provide to ReverseRef through our email delivery provider, Resend. This may include your name, email, LinkedIn profile, prospective manager, company, role, country of the role, public job posting or ATS link, interview stage, deadline, context, and whether you may be open to a future participant invitation. The website does not place this form submission in a public or customer-facing database. ReverseRef and Resend process the submission so we can receive it and send you a receipt. If secure delivery fails, you may choose to send the same details from your own email application instead. During a case, we may also receive correspondence, payment and transaction details, evidence you choose to provide about an active interview process, and other materials you choose to provide.

Email updates

If you ask for product updates, we send a confirmation message before subscribing you. Until you confirm, your address remains unsubscribed. After confirmation, Resend stores your email address and subscription status so ReverseRef can send occasional updates and honor unsubscribe requests. The confirmation link contains an encrypted, time-limited token rather than your email address. You can unsubscribe from any update.

Reference participants

We may collect professional contact information, public professional-profile information, employment dates and roles, reporting-relationship information, correspondence, scheduling information, interview notes, and the workplace experiences and opinions you choose to share. When public information is insufficient, we may request redacted proof of employment, such as an employment verification letter, pay statement, tax form, or similar record. We ask that compensation, tax and national identification numbers, home address, birth date, banking details, and unrelated information be hidden. We do not use video or facial recognition to verify a participant. Current interviews are live and audio-only. The requesting candidate does not attend, cameras stay off, and ReverseRef does not make an audio or video recording or create an automated transcript. The interviewer takes structured notes under a source ID. A meeting or scheduling provider may process the limited technical and scheduling information needed to connect the conversation under its own terms.

Managers and other people discussed

We may collect business contact and professional-history information from candidates, participants, and publicly available professional sources. Interviews may include opinions and firsthand descriptions of workplace conduct. ReverseRef does not build persistent manager dossiers, create public manager profiles, or publish public reviews.

3. How we use information

We use information to review candidate eligibility and deter misuse; research and verify reporting relationships; contact and interview potential participants; prepare and quality-check a private candidate report; communicate, schedule, take payment, administer any optional participant benefit, prevent fraud or abuse, maintain security, comply with law, and improve templates and operations using aggregated or de-identified process information that is not used to create manager profiles.

ReverseRef is for candidates evaluating their own potential job opportunity. We do not use case information to help employers screen candidates, monitor employees, identify participants, or manage a manager’s reputation.

Each request is handled as its own case. We do not merge interview content into a persistent manager profile or reuse it in another case without fresh, case-specific consent from the participant.

4. Human interviews and supporting tools

Every incoming request is reviewed by a human. Source relationships are verified by a human, and interviews are conducted by humans. No AI voice, chatbot, meeting bot, or automated interviewer talks to reference participants. ReverseRef does not record or automatically transcribe the conversation.

AI-assisted tools may be used internally to organize research, structure notes, identify possible themes, or support drafting. Human judgment remains responsible for verification, interviewing, context, editing, and the final report. We aim to minimize the information entered into any supporting tool and do not use case information to build public profiles.

5. How we disclose information

We disclose information only as needed to operate the service:

  • To the requesting candidate: a private report containing de-identified source labels, findings, and context. Participant names and direct contact details are not included.
  • To potential participants: limited context necessary to explain and verify the request. We never give participants the candidate’s name or direct contact details. The limited opportunity context may sometimes allow a participant to infer who the candidate is.
  • To service providers: vendors that support hosting, analytics, email, scheduling, payment, storage, security, and internal productivity, subject to their terms and safeguards. Resend supports request delivery, receipts, and optional email updates. Candidate payments are processed by Stripe after a request is validated. Tally hosts the reference invitation response form and processes submissions so they can be delivered to ReverseRef.
  • For legal and safety reasons: when reasonably necessary to comply with law, protect rights or safety, investigate abuse, or respond to valid legal process.
  • In a reorganization: if the service is transferred to a newly formed entity, buyer, or successor, subject to this policy and applicable law.

Current statements about compulsory government demands and disclosures are published in our warrant canary.

We do not sell personal information or participant feedback. We do not disclose case information for cross-context behavioral advertising.

6. Anonymity and its limits

Reports omit participant names and direct contact details and are edited to reduce unnecessary identifying context. Before delivery, participants may review the de-identified synthesis based on their interview and correct, narrow, or remove their contribution. However, no de-identification method can guarantee that a person will never be inferred, especially on a small team or when an event is distinctive. We may aggregate, paraphrase, generalize, or omit detail to reduce that risk.

No candidate-facing finding relies on fewer than two independently verified participants. We omit or generalize distinctive single-source material and do not report how many eligible people declined or failed to respond. We may require more than two participants or decline a case when the available context would make a participant reasonably identifiable.

7. Retention and security

We seek to collect only what is needed for a legitimate case or operational purpose. Redacted employment proof is deleted after verification unless it must be retained for a legal, security, or dispute reason. We keep other information only as long as reasonably needed to complete the case, respond to follow-up questions, maintain essential business and payment records, resolve disputes, prevent abuse, and meet legal obligations. Email update addresses are kept until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete them. Resend may retain delivery records under its own retention settings. Retention may vary by record type and case status. We periodically review working records and delete or de-identify information that is no longer needed.

We use administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards appropriate to an early-stage service and the sensitivity of the information. No email, storage system, or transmission method is completely secure, so we cannot promise absolute security.

8. Your choices and requests

You may decline to participate, skip an interview question, ask us to stop contacting you, or remove your contribution before report delivery. A participant may ask to see the current synthesis based on their interview at any time. Before delivery, they may review the de-identified version and ask us to correct, narrow, or remove it. Interview content is not used in a later case unless the participant gives fresh, case-specific consent. After delivery, a participant may ask us to delete retained interview material, but we cannot retrieve copies already delivered to a candidate. You may also ask to access, correct, or delete information associated with you, or object to or restrict certain uses. We will respond as required by applicable law and may need to verify your identity. Some records may be retained when required for legal, security, payment, or dispute purposes.

Send requests to hello@reverseref.com.

9. Children, location, and changes

The service is for adults making or contributing to professional decisions and is not directed to anyone under 18. The service is currently operated from the United States, and information may be processed there. If you access it from elsewhere, local rights may apply.

We may revise this policy as the service develops. The effective date above will change when revisions take effect. Material changes may also be communicated directly when appropriate.