Privacy Notice

NextGen Placements (“NextGen”, “we”, “us”) is a South African intern placement agency and host employer facilitator. We connect students and graduates with organisations offering meaningful workplace experience.

We are the “responsible party” as defined in POPIA for the personal information described in this notice. Our Information Officer can be contacted at nextgenplacements24@gmail.com or +27 75 404 9908.

Applicants and students

• Full name, email address and phone number.
• Province and municipality (residential location).
• Qualification, education history and years of experience.
• Curriculum vitae (CV) and, where required, a copy of your South African ID.
• Availability, driver’s licence status and placement preferences.
• Disability status — only if you choose to provide it.
• Consent record for the processing of your information.

Employers and partner contacts

• Contact person name, company or organisation name.
• Work email address and phone number.
• Industry, internship or vacancy requirements and placement details.

Website visitors

• IP address, browser type, device information and pages visited.
• Technical logs and error information.
• Cookie and similar-technology data (see section 15).

• Directly from you when you complete an application, submit an enquiry, or contact us.
• From host employers during the placement matching process.
• Automatically through your use of our website (technical and cookie data).
• From publicly available sources where necessary and lawful to do so.

• To screen, match and introduce applicants to suitable host employers.
• To arrange placements, prepare agreements and manage onboarding documentation.
• To monitor placements and provide ongoing support to both parties.
• To communicate with you about your application, enquiry or placement.
• To comply with legal and regulatory obligations (for example labour and tax legislation).
• To improve our services, website and user experience.
• To detect and prevent fraud, misuse or security incidents.

We process personal information on one or more of the following grounds:

• Your consent (section 11(1)(a) of POPIA).
• Performance of a contract or placement agreement to which you are a party.
• A legal obligation imposed on NextGen Placements.
• Our legitimate interest in operating a placement business, where this does not override your rights and freedoms.
• The legitimate interest of a third party, where applicable and lawful.

We do not intentionally collect special personal information (such as health information, biometric data, or information about racial or ethnic origin) unless you voluntarily provide it for the purpose of an accommodation request during placement. Where you choose to share such information, we process it only with your explicit consent and solely for the purpose you intended.

• Prospective host employers — only after you have approved the introduction.
• Service providers who act as our “operators” (for example cloud hosting, storage and email providers), under written agreements that bind them to protect your information.
• Professional advisers (legal, accounting) where necessary.
• Regulatory or law-enforcement authorities where the law requires disclosure.

We do not sell, rent or trade personal information to third parties.

We use the following categories of service providers who may process personal information on our behalf:

• Cloud infrastructure and database hosting (for example Supabase).
• Email delivery services (for example Resend).
• Document processing tools for CV parsing.

All operators are bound by written agreements that require them to implement appropriate security measures and to process personal information only on our documented instructions.

Some of our service providers (such as cloud-hosting providers) may be located outside South Africa. Where personal information is transferred abroad, we ensure that the transfer complies with section 72 of POPIA by ensuring that:

• The recipient is subject to binding law or rules that provide an adequate level of protection.
• The transfer is necessary for the performance of a placement agreement.
• You have consented to the transfer.

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure or alteration. These measures include:

• Encryption of data in transit (HTTPS/TLS).
• Private, access-controlled storage for sensitive documents such as ID copies.
• Access limited to authorised NextGen staff and operators with a legitimate need.
• Confidentiality undertakings from all personnel who handle personal information.
• Regular review of our security practices.

No method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is completely secure. While we strive to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

In the event of a security compromise involving personal information that poses a real risk of harm, we will notify you and the Information Regulator as required by sections 21 and 22 of POPIA. We will take reasonable steps to mitigate the impact of any breach.

• Unsuccessful applications: retained for up to 24 months so we can consider you for future opportunities, unless you request earlier deletion.
• Concluded placements: retained for as long as required by the placement agreement and applicable law (for example labour and tax legislation).
• Employer enquiries: retained for up to 3 years from the date of enquiry.
• Website technical data: retained for up to 12 months in aggregated or anonymised form.

After the applicable retention period, records are securely deleted or anonymised so that they can no longer be linked to you.

Under POPIA you have the right to:

• Access — ask what personal information we hold about you.
• Correction — request that we correct or update inaccurate or incomplete information.
• Deletion — request that we delete your information where there is no longer a lawful reason to keep it.
• Objection — object to the processing of your information for specific purposes.
• Restriction — request that we restrict certain processing of your information.
• Portability — request a copy of your information in a structured, commonly used format.
• Withdraw consent — withdraw your consent at any time, without affecting processing done before withdrawal.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at nextgenplacements24@gmail.com or +27 75 404 9908. We will respond within a reasonable period and at the latest within 30 days.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa at www.inforegulator.org.za.

We may send you communications about opportunities, placements or services that are directly related to your application or enquiry. We will not send you unsolicited direct marketing communications without your consent. You may opt out at any time by contacting us or following the unsubscribe instructions in any such communication.

Our website uses only essential cookies necessary for the website to function correctly (for example session cookies to maintain form state). We do not use analytics, advertising or tracking cookies.

If we introduce analytics or marketing cookies in the future, we will display a consent banner and allow you to opt in before any non-essential cookies are placed on your device.

Our services are intended for students and graduates aged 18 and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 18. If we become aware that we have collected information from a child without the required parental or guardian consent, we will take steps to delete that information promptly.

We do not use automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal effects or similarly significant effects on individuals. All placement matching involves human review and judgment.

Our website may contain links to third-party websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those sites. We encourage you to review the privacy notices of any third-party website you visit.

We may update this privacy notice from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements or other factors. The latest version will always be published on this page with an updated effective date. We encourage you to review this notice periodically.

If you have any questions, concerns or requests regarding this privacy notice or our processing of personal information, please contact our Information Officer:

You may also contact the Information Regulator of South Africa:

• www.inforegulator.org.za
• complaints.IR@justice.gov.za