Terms of Service

Last Revised: May 5, 2023

These Terms of Use, which incorporate our Privacy Policy (collectively, the “Terms”) are between You and CICP Foundation by and through its Ascend Indiana branded initiative (“Ascend” or “Ascend Indiana”), which may be contacted at 1210 Waterway Boulevard #5000, Indianapolis, IN 46202. “You” or “Yourself” shall mean an individual User (as defined below) 18 years of age or older or a representative of a Candidate (as defined below) under the age of 18 who is agreeing to these Terms on behalf of the Candidate.

By accessing the website currently located at www.ascendindiana.com (the “Site”), using the Ascend Network platform (the “Network”) through the Site or directly at https://network.ascendindiana…., or by accessing any other Ascend service (the “Services”), You are entering into a legally binding contract with Ascend, and will be bound by these Terms. If You do not consent to be bound by these Terms, You are not authorized to use this Site, the Network, or the Services. The Ascend Network is wholly owned and operated by Ascend.

YOU USE THE ASCEND NETWORK, SITE, AND SERVICES AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Ascend may modify these Terms from time to time. While Ascend will endeavor to notify You of material changes to these Terms, it is Your responsibility to ensure that You consent to the current version of these Terms by referring to the “Last Revised” date at the top of this page. Your continued use of the Network, Site, or Services will constitute Your acceptance of any modifications.

Ascend offers job seekers (“Candidates”), prospective employers (“Employers”), and third-party partner organizations that may provide supplemental services (“Community Partners”) (collectively, “Users” and each a “User”) certain Services described on the Site and the Network. The Network consists of the following, without limitation:

A Service for Candidates seeking to view employment opportunities (jobs and internships) with compatible Employers, which may include in-person interaction with Ascend staff;
A Service for Employers to post employment opportunities; and
Any other related Services offered by or on behalf of Ascend.

From time to time, Ascend may revise existing or offer additional Services at its discretion, and without further notice. Unless otherwise exempted in writing, these Terms will apply to all additional or revised Services. Ascend also reserves the right to cease offering any Service.

Eligibility

To use the Network and Services, You must be and You represent and warrant that:

You are at least 18 years old at the time You register to use the Network, Site, or Services, or if You are under 18 years old, Your representative registers on Your behalf for You to use the Network, Site, or Services;

You will only share information with Ascend, or post information on the Site or through the Network, that You have the right or authorization to share;

The information You provide to Ascend and post on the Site or through the Network is accurate and is not false or misleading in any manner; and

Your registration and use of the Network, Site, or Services does not violate any applicable law, regulation, or legal obligation to a third party.

Use of the Network, Site, and Services

As a Candidate and user of the Network, Site, or Services, You must complete the Ascend questionnaire and participate in an in-person interview with Ascend staff to obtain an Ascend account on the Network, which Ascend may or may not provide to You, in its sole discretion. You may only use the Network if You have a Network account. For certain programs and initiatives, the materials You submit to Ascend, Your Ascend Fit Rating, and Your in-person interview will inform what Ascend includes in the “Your Recruiter Says” portion of Your profile. You acknowledge that these components: Your in-person interview, Your Ascend Fit rating (where applicable), and the Your Recruiter Says portion of Your profile (where applicable), will make up the information disclosed to potential Employers. Neither Your Ascend Fit rating nor the Your Recruiter Says portion of Your profile, if applicable, will be disclosed to You. You are not permitted to make any revisions to Your Ascend Fit rating or in the Ascend Says portion of Your profile. While Ascend may provide comments in the Your Recruiter Says section of Candidate profiles, Ascend is not an employer of such Candidates, and expressly disclaims any liability that may be associated with the use of the Your Recruiter Says profile, whether for negligent hiring or otherwise, to the fullest extent allowable by law.

Posting and Communication Restrictions.

Information You post should relate only to Yourself, if a Candidate, or Your organization, if an Employer. Community Partners must also adhere to these restrictions. You will not post on or transmit through the Network to other Users any content that:

Is in any way unlawful, or promotes or enables illegal or unlawful activities;
is unprofessional or is unrelated to the purpose of seeking and/or filling employment opportunities;
promotes racism, bigotry, hatred, or physical harm of any kind against any group or individual;
is intended to or tends to harass, annoy, threaten, intimidate, defraud, or deceive any other users of the Network, Site, or Services;
is defamatory, abusive, obscene, profane, overtly sexual, obscene, harmful, harassing, or otherwise unreasonably objectionable;
contains information or images/representations of another person (whether video, audio photographs, still images or otherwise) without his or her permission (or in the case of a minor, the minor’s legal guardian);
is in any way used for: (a) scripts, bots, or other automated technology to access the Site or Network; (b) viruses, time bombs, trojan horses, cancelbots, worms or other harmful or disruptive codes, components, or devices; (c) spamming, skimming, phishing, trolling, chain letter, junk mail, or related activities;
uses the Site or Network to post jobs or consultancy opportunities: (a) that require any form of payment to apply; (b) that require the recruitment of others to apply; (c) that request the donation or use of human body parts (including egg donation and surrogacy services); (d) violate laws that regulate multi-level marketing, or any similar type of arrangement; or (e) that make citizenship or permanent residency a condition of employment if not required by applicable law;
reverse engineers or attempts to derive the proprietary source code of the Network or Site;
interferes with or overrides any security feature of the Network or Site; or
otherwise violates the terms of these Terms, in letter or spirit.

Exclusive Account Use.

Exclusive use requirements are as follows:

If You are a Candidate, Your account is for Your personal use only. You may not authorize others to access or use Your account, provide Your log-in credentials (including User name or password) to another individual, or create an account for another individual. You acknowledge that You are solely responsible for the security of Your log-in credentials and that Ascend is not responsible for third party access to Your account that results from or is related to theft or misappropriation of Your account access information. You may have only one unique profile. Your use of the Network must be for bona fide career enhancement, career search, or acquiring information about the labor market or individual employability prospects. You assume liability for any risks or breaches, as defined by applicable law, associated with Your account that directly or indirectly arise from Your use of the Network, Site, or Services.
If You are an Employer, You may authorize multiple Users (subject to any restriction on the number of Users that Ascend may assign to You) to access an account and utilize the Network’s recruitment functions. Employer Users are authorized to define profile attributes and functional preferences for the Employer account. You may not authorize others to access, create an account for another, or use Your account, except as described. Ascend is not responsible for third party access to Your account that results from theft or misappropriation of Your account access information.
If You are a Community Partner, You may authorize multiple Users (subject to any restriction on the number of Users that Ascend may assign to You) to access an account and utilize information accessible on the Network. Community Users are authorized to define profile attributes and functional preferences for the Community Partner account and are granted access to data from certain limited segments of the Network. You may not authorize others to access, create an account for another, or use Your account, except as described. Ascend is not responsible for third party access to Your account that results from theft or misappropriation of Your account access information.

All Users with access and control to Your profile must use the Network for bona fide candidate search and hiring purposes, or to enhance supplemental services if You are a Community Partner. You assume liability for any risks or breaches associated with Your account that directly or indirectly arise from Your or Your Users’ use of the Network, Site, or Services.

All other uses of Your account and the Network, Site, or Services—other than those expressly allowed in these Terms or another governing agreement—are strictly prohibited.

Risk Assumption and Precautions.

You are solely responsible for taking all necessary precautions when communicating with and/or meeting others through the Site or within the Network, including interactions that arise from Your Use of the Site, Network, or Services.

Liability Concerning Information Submitted and Received.

You are solely responsible for, and assume all liability regarding, and waive any liability of Ascend, its officers, employees, directors, agents, and representatives relating to, the information and content You contribute, post, transmit, publish, or otherwise make available through the Site or within the Network.

No Guarantees.

Ascend makes NO GUARANTEES, either express or implied, as to the following:

For Candidates, the number, frequency, availability, or compatibility of potential jobs available via the Site, Network or Services;
For Employers, the number, frequency, availability, qualifications, employability, or compatibility of potential Candidates provided via the Site, Network, or Services;
For Community Partners, the number, frequency, availability, compatibility, qualifications, employability, or compatibility of potential jobs or Candidates provided via the Site, Network, or Services.

Third Party Connections.

We may provide You with the option to connect Your Network account to Your account on other professional or social networking apps or sites (such as LinkedIn) for logging in, uploading information, or enabling certain features on the Network (“Connected Site”).

When enabling a connection with a Connected Site, we will disclose the information collected from the Connected Site and use such information in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
By connecting Your Network account to Your Connected Site account, You consent to the ongoing release of Your information collected from the Connected Site to Ascend, and You affirm that You have read and consent to the terms of use and any applicable policies of the Connected Site.
To disconnect Your Network account from Your Connected Site account contact [email protected].

Connected Site features on the Network are subject to continuous change and improvement, and therefore may be changed or updated without express notice to You.

You can also choose to share links to other professional or social networking apps or sites (e.g., LinkedIn) or a custom website (e.g., to display a portfolio of previous work) via Your job seeker profile.

Reporting of Violations.

You shall promptly report to Ascend any known or suspected violation of these Terms by others, including other Users, to [email protected].

Geographic Limitations.

The Network, Site, and Services are intended for use only in the United States. You will use the Network, Site, and Services in a manner consistent with these Terms and all applicable laws and regulations. By using the Network, Site, and Services, You represent that You have not been designated by the United States government as a “Specially Designated National” or other person to whom the provisions of the Services are prohibited. Registration for, and use of, the Network, Site, and Services are void where prohibited. You are responsible for determining whether Your use of the Network, Site, or Services is legal in Your jurisdiction and assume any and all liability arising from jurisdictional violations or noncompliance.

Content Removal.

Ascend reserves the right, but has no obligation, to: monitor the information or material You submit to or post through or within the Network or Site; remove any such information, content, or material that in its sole opinion may violate any applicable law or part of these Terms or upon the request of another; or remove User profiles to ensure a quality experience on the Network or Site.

Limitations on Oversight and Enforcements.

Ascend generally cannot prevent violations of these Terms or misuse of the Network. By using the Network, You may be exposed to inaccurate, misleading, offensive, or harmful content, including content in violation of these Terms. Ascend cannot be and is not responsible and is not liable for the conduct of other Users on the Network

Account Term and Termination.

These Terms shall remain in force until terminated. Either You or Ascend may suspend, limit, or terminate Your access to Your Network account at any time, for any reason or no reason, without explanation, effective upon sending emailed notice to the other party. If Ascend terminates Your account, notice will be sent to the email address then associated with the account at issue.

Proprietary Rights

Proprietary Information and Intellectual Property.

Ascend owns and hereby retains all proprietary rights and intellectual property in the Network, the Site, and the Services. Your access or use of the Network, Site, or Services does not in any way grant You ownership rights to any of Ascend’s proprietary content or information, or intellectual property. Trademarks, logos, graphics, service marks, and trade dress accessed in connection with the Network, Site, or Services are the property of their respective owners.

Grant of License to Posted or Accessed Content.

By posting information or content to any of the Site or Network, or making it accessible to us by linking Your Network account to any of Your Connected Sites, You automatically grant, and You represent and warrant that You have the right to grant, to Ascend, an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, fully-paid, worldwide license to use, reproduce, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such information and content, and to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such information and content, and to grant and authorize sub-licenses of the foregoing.

User Information

Privacy Policy.

For information about how we may collect, use, and handle Your personal information, please see our Privacy Policy, located here, and fully incorporated herein

Disclosure by Law.

Ascend may disclose information You provide if required by law, at the request of a third party, or if we, in our sole discretion, believe that disclosure will benefit efforts to:

comply with the law, requests or orders from law enforcement, or any legal process;
protect or defend Ascend’s or a third party’s rights or property; or
protect someone’s health or safety.

Use of Anonymous Information for Research.

Ascend may use de-identified information associated with Your account, profile, and User experiences through the Network. All of Your information will be processed and used in compliance with applicable laws prior to publication in research or any public-facing medium. This information will be used to support Ascend ‘s research initiatives and make improvements to the Network, Site, and Services.

Disclaimer of Warranties

No Warranties.

THIS SECTION WILL APPLY TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. ASCEND PROVIDES THE SERVICES, SITE, AND NETWORK ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS AND GRANTS NO WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE WITH RESPECT TO THE NETWORK, THE SERVICES, AND THE SITE. ASCEND DISCLAIMS ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. ASCEND DOES NOT WARRANT THAT YOUR USE OF THE NETWORK, SITE, OR SERVICES WILL BE SECURE, UNINTERRUPTED, ALWAYS AVAILABLE, ERROR-FREE, OR WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS, OR THAT ANY DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED. ASCEND IS NOT LIABLE FOR AND MAKES NO WARRANTY REGARDING THE CONNECTIVITY AND AVAILABILITY OF THE NETWORK, SITE, OR SERVICES.

Limitation of Liability

Incidental Damages and Aggregate Liability.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL ASCEND BE LIABLE FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR INDIRECT DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICES, NETWORK OR THE SITE INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OR CORRUPTION OF DATA OR PROGRAMS, SERVICE INTERRUPTIONS AND PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE SERVICES, EVEN IF ASCEND KNOWS OR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL ASCEND’S AGGREGATE LIABILITY, IN ANY FORM OF ACTION WHATSOEVER IN CONNECTION WITH THIS AGREEMENT OR THE USE OF THE NETWORK OR THE SITE, EXCEED THE PRICE PAID BY YOU FOR YOUR ACCOUNT, OR, IF YOU HAVE NOT PAID ASCEND FOR THE USE OF ANY SERVICES, THE AMOUNT OF US$25.00 OR ITS EQUIVALENT.

No Liability for Non-Ascend Actions.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, YOU RELEASE ASCEND FROM ANY AND ALL CLAIMS AND SHALL NOT HOLD ASCEND LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, WHETHER DIRECT, INDIRECT, GENERAL, SPECIAL, COMPENSATORY, CONSEQUENTIAL, AND/OR INCIDENTAL, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE CONDUCT OF YOU OR ANYONE ELSE IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OF THE NETWORK, SITE, OR SERVICES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, FINANCIAL LOSS, BODILY INJURY, EMOTIONAL DISTRESS, AND/OR ANY OTHER DAMAGES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THOSE THAT MAY RESULT FROM COMMUNICATIONS OR MEETINGS WITH OTHER USERS OF THE NETWORK, SITE, OR SERVICES.

Indemnification

You shall indemnify, defend and hold harmless Ascend, its subsidiary and parent organizations, its affiliates, and each of their officers, directors, employees, agents and related third parties, for any losses, costs, liabilities and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) relating to or arising out of any third-party claim that arises from:

Your use of or inability to use the Services, Site or Network,
any postings made by You,
Your violation of these Terms or of the rights of a third party, or
Your violation of any applicable laws, rules or regulations.

Ascend reserves the right, at its own cost, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by You, in which event You will fully cooperate with Ascend in asserting any available defenses.

Unsolicited Communications:

If You send or post unsolicited bulk email, “spam,” or other unsolicited communications of any kind through the Network, You acknowledge that You will have caused substantial harm to Ascend, but that the amount of such harm will be very difficult to ascertain, entitling Ascend to seek injunctive relief in addition to money damages.

Complaints / Questions/Law Enforcement Contact

To resolve complaints or if You have any questions regarding the Service, You should contact us by email at the following email address: [email protected]. Law enforcement officials may send correspondence to Ascend via mail to 1210 Waterway Boulevard #5000, Indianapolis, IN 46202.

Arbitration

Arbitration of Disputes.

Any disputes arising out of or related to the Network, Site, Services, these Terms, and/or any related policies of Ascend (a “Dispute”) will be subject to FINAL AND BINDING ARBITRATION and may only be resolved through an individual arbitration governed by the Federal Arbitration Act, to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, provided, however, that Ascend may elect to have claims of intellectual property infringement resolved by means other than arbitration. Notwithstanding the above, Ascend will be entitled to seek extraordinary relief by injunction in court to avoid irreparable harm. EXCEPT AS OTHERWISE SET FORTH IN THIS AGREEMENT, YOU AND ASCEND ARE EACH GIVING UP THE RIGHT TO GO TO COURT in connection with any Dispute and rights will be determined by a NEUTRAL ARBITRATOR, INSTEAD OF A JUDGE OR JURY. Notwithstanding the above, Ascend prefers to resolve any Dispute by amicable and informal means. Therefore, we request that You contact us at [email protected] to resolve any Dispute(s) before You pursue arbitration.

One Year Period to Commence a Dispute.

A Dispute must be filed within one (1) year after the date in which the incident giving rise to the Dispute occurred. Failure to file an arbitration claim or court action as described above within the applicable limitations period constitutes a waiver of such claim and serves as complete bar to any claim based on any Dispute.

No Class Actions.

NEITHER YOU NOR ASCEND WILL BRING OR PARTICIPATE IN ANY CLASS ACTION OR OTHER CLASS PROCEEDING IN CONNECTION WITH ANY DISPUTE WITH THE OTHER PARTY, and neither of us consents to class arbitration or any arbitration where a person brings a dispute as a representative of other person(s).

Arbitration Procedure.

If the parties are unable to resolve a Dispute by informal means, the arbitration of Disputes will be administered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA), a non-profit organization not affiliated with Ascend, in accordance with its Commercial Arbitration Rules.

General Provisions

Entire Agreement.

This Agreement comprises the entire agreement between You and Ascend regarding Your use of the Network, Site, and Services, and supersedes any prior contracts or agreements between You and Ascend related to Your use of the Network, Site, and Services (including any prior versions of these Terms), whether written or oral.

Non-Waiver.

The failure of Ascend to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms does not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.

Severance of Invalid Provisions.

If any provision of these Terms is held invalid, the remainder of these Terms will continue in full force and effect.

Ascend Employer Status.

A reference to employment, jobs, internships, or hiring in the Network is attributable to the Employer that makes the employment opportunity available within the Network and not to Ascend. In the event Ascend itself posts an opportunity through the Network, Ascend will be explicitly identified as the employer.

Copyright © 2017 CICP Foundation, Inc. by and through its Ascend Indiana branded initiative. All Rights Reserved. ASCEND NETWORK BY ASCEND and several other marks, colors, and images are registered and common law trademarks of CICP Foundation, Inc. Other trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners.