Terms and Conditions of Service

Zadesta Career Crucible is a guided career acceleration system designed to support professionals pursuing stronger positioning, interviews, and career advancement across the Canada, US, and UK job markets.

ZCC is currently offered in two formats:

• 8-Week Programme. Two live coaching sessions per week for 8 weeks, followed by the post-job support described in Section 5.
• 4-Week Programme. Two live intensive coaching sessions per week for 4 weeks, followed by 8 weeks of continued job search and interview support (delivered as described in Section 2), and then the post-job support described in Section 5.

The format that applies to you is the one confirmed in your enrolment and record of agreement (Section 17). Except where a section states that it applies only to one format, references in these Terms to "the programme" or "ZCC" apply to whichever format you enrolled in.

ZCC is not a job placement agency, recruitment service, university programme, or guarantee of employment. Outcomes depend heavily on participant execution, consistency, responsiveness, and market conditions.

Professional advice disclaimer

ZCC is provided for educational and professional development purposes only. Nothing provided during the programme constitutes legal, immigration, financial, tax, investment, employment, or other regulated professional advice. Participants should seek independent professional advice where appropriate.

By joining ZCC, you acknowledge that:

• You are voluntarily enrolling in an intensive, guided execution programme, in the format confirmed at enrolment:
  • 8-Week Programme: two live sessions per week for 8 weeks, with a suggested commitment of approximately 10 hours per week throughout.
  • 4-Week Programme: two live intensive sessions per week for 4 weeks, with a suggested commitment of approximately 4 live hours plus 8 to 12 hours of independent execution weekly, followed by an 8-week support period of group progress clinics and individual or group interview preparation sessions for booked interviews, scheduled as needed rather than on a fixed weekly basis.
• You understand that progress inside the programme depends significantly on your active participation and execution, across both the live coaching weeks and any continued support weeks that follow.
• You are expected to attend scheduled live sessions and clinics, complete assigned tasks, apply feedback, and participate professionally.
• Cohorts are small and the value of each session depends on every participant arriving with work to review.
• Participants who repeatedly fail to engage, attend sessions, or complete execution activities may receive reduced support priority or removal from the cohort where necessary to protect cohort quality. Three consecutive missed scheduled sessions, in either format, may lead to removal from the cohort with a partial refund at Zadesta's discretion, calculated in accordance with Section 8.
• If you do not join a scheduled live session or clinic within 15 minutes of its start time, that session is treated as attended for the purposes of your participation record, unless it was rescheduled with Zadesta at least 24 hours beforehand.
• Individual sessions booked during the 8-week support period are subject to availability; four business days' notice is required to reschedule.

Participants are expected to maintain respectful, professional, and constructive conduct throughout the programme.

The following behaviours may result in immediate removal without refund:

• Harassment or abusive conduct
• Disruptive behaviour during sessions
• Hate speech or discriminatory behaviour
• Repeated disrespect toward facilitators or participants
• Sharing confidential cohort information publicly without authorisation
• Misrepresentation of identity or experience

The programme fee is made up of an enrolment payment and a completion payment. Both are consideration for the coaching, review, and guidance provided through the programme, in whichever format (8-Week or 4-Week) you enrol in. The amount of each is the amount displayed on the payment page at the time of your purchase, and is confirmed to you in the record of agreement described in Section 17.

Enrolment payment

The enrolment payment is the option you select at checkout, as displayed on the payment page at the time of purchase. Where applicable, the options are:

• Single Payment. The full enrolment amount, paid in one payment. This is the lowest enrolment cost.
• Extended Payment. Provided by third-party payment providers and subject to their eligibility checks. Zadesta does not decide eligibility.
• Flexible Payment Plan. An initial payment at checkout, followed by a fixed number of instalments collected every two weeks. The total is higher than the single payment, reflecting the cost of spreading payment over time. The initial payment, the instalment amount, and the number of instalments are shown at checkout before you pay.

Completion payment

The completion payment is the remaining portion of the programme fee. It is not a placement, introduction, or recruitment fee. Zadesta does not source roles, introduce participants to employers, submit candidates for vacancies, or act on behalf of any employer, and no part of any fee is payment for doing so.

The completion payment works as follows:

• It falls due when you accept a written job offer, whether during the programme or within three months of your cohort's final scheduled session (including, for the 4-Week Programme, the final week of the 8-week continued support period).
• You must notify Zadesta in writing within 30 days of accepting a written offer.
• Payment is due within 60 days of your start date in the new role. If you would prefer to spread it, contact us before the due date and we will arrange two equal instalments at no extra cost.
• If you do not accept a job offer within that three-month period, the completion payment is written off. You owe nothing further, and no interest, charge, or extension arises.
• The completion payment is not owed on an offer arising from a recruitment process that had already reached interview stage before your cohort began.
• The completion payment is not owed where you withdrew from the programme, or were removed under Section 2 or Section 3, before your cohort's final scheduled session.
• Zadesta may reduce, defer, or waive the completion payment at its discretion, including where the role is materially below the level or compensation you were targeting.
• It is a single payment. It is not a share of your salary, does not recur, and does not increase with your earnings.
• The amount is fixed at enrolment. Any change to the completion payment applies only to enrolments made after the change is published, and never to yours.

Taxes and charges

All fees are stated in US dollars and are exclusive of any applicable sales, goods and services, harmonised, or value added taxes. Where Zadesta is required to charge such tax, it will be shown separately and added at checkout. Any currency conversion charges, card fees, or bank charges are your responsibility.

How payment is processed

Payments are processed by Stripe. Zadesta does not receive or store your full card details. Where you use a third-party extended payment provider, that arrangement is a separate contract between you and that provider, on their terms. Zadesta receives the enrolment payment at the point of purchase and is not a party to your repayment schedule with them. Questions about your repayment schedule, missed payments, or fees charged by that provider must be directed to the provider.

Payment plan

Where you select the payment plan:

• The first payment reserves your place in a cohort and forms part of the total.
• The remaining instalments are collected automatically from the payment method you provide, every two weeks, until the number of instalments shown at checkout has been completed. It is your responsibility to keep that payment method valid and funded.
• Where a payment fails, we will attempt collection again. If the balance remains unpaid, access to sessions, materials, and post-job support may be suspended until the account is brought up to date.
• Choosing the payment plan does not reduce the total amount owed. If you withdraw after the cohort has begun, or are removed under Section 3, the remaining balance remains payable.
• Where you are removed for non-attendance under Section 2, Zadesta will confirm to you in writing whether the remaining payment schedule is cancelled, reduced, or continues.

Chargebacks

If you initiate a chargeback or payment dispute, we ask that you contact us first at [email protected] so we can attempt to resolve the matter directly. Where a chargeback is raised while a balance is outstanding, access to sessions and materials may be suspended pending resolution.

Participants who accept a job offer are eligible for 90 days of complimentary post-job support, regardless of whether they are enrolled in the 8-Week Programme or the 4-Week Programme. This support is provided at no charge as a goodwill addition to the programme and does not form part of the programme fee.

What is covered

Support is delivered as three guided group sessions covering offer handling, your first 30 days in the role, and your first 90 days. Sessions address integration into a new workplace, professional conduct expectations, navigating organisational culture, communication with managers and colleagues, and establishing yourself in the early months of a role.

What is not covered

This support is non-technical. It does not include coaching on technical skills, tools, certifications, or the technical requirements of your specific role. Where participants want that kind of help, Zadesta can arrange sessions with specialist practitioners. This is a separate paid service, quoted separately, and entirely optional. Nothing in the programme requires you to purchase it.

How to activate it

Notify Zadesta within 30 days of accepting a written offer. The 90-day support runs from the date you accept the offer, not from the date the programme ends. Support is available for offers accepted within three months of your cohort's final scheduled session.

Zadesta may extend the eligibility window at its discretion, for example where a participant's job search was interrupted by illness, caring responsibilities, parental leave, or similar circumstances. Any extension is granted case by case and does not create an entitlement for other participants.

Limits

Support is provided in a group format on a schedule set by Zadesta. It is not one-to-one advisory, ongoing career management, or a substitute for advice from your employer, a lawyer, or a licensed professional. As this support is complimentary, no refund or fee reduction arises if you do not use it, do not activate it in time, or are unable to attend a scheduled session. Zadesta may change the format of complimentary support for future cohorts, and will honour the support described here for participants already enrolled at the time of any change.

Recording for programme delivery

Live sessions, workshops, and mock interviews are recorded. Participating in recorded sessions is a condition of enrolment. These recordings are used to deliver the programme, to make sessions available to participants who could not attend, for facilitator training, for internal quality review, and for our record keeping. They are not published or shared outside the cohort and Zadesta's team.

Marketing and promotional use

We will use your image, voice, name, or submitted work in marketing, advertising, social media, webinars, or other public materials only where you have given separate written consent. That consent is optional, is not a condition of enrolment, and you may withdraw it at any time by emailing [email protected]. On withdrawal we will stop using the material in new campaigns and remove it from channels we control within 30 days, although we cannot recall materials already distributed.

Zadesta's materials

Any frameworks, systems, templates, documents, recordings, presentations, or materials provided by Zadesta remain the intellectual property of Zadesta. Programme materials may not be resold, redistributed, copied publicly, or republished without written permission.

Your own materials

You retain ownership of your CV, portfolio, written submissions, and other work you create. You grant Zadesta a licence to use that work for the purposes set out above. Where we use participant work internally as an anonymised teaching example, we will remove identifying details.

By submitting feedback, testimonials, comments, survey responses, or reviews regarding ZCC, you grant Zadesta permission to:

• Quote or reproduce such feedback
• Edit lightly for grammar or formatting clarity
• Use excerpts in marketing, advertising, presentations, webinars, social media, or promotional materials

Zadesta will not intentionally misrepresent participant statements. You may withdraw a testimonial at any time by emailing [email protected], and we will remove it from channels we control within 30 days.

ZCC is a limited-capacity, execution-based cohort programme, in either format. Because places are reserved in advance and cohort quality depends on controlled participation size, refunds are handled under the following policy.

Cancelling within 14 days

You may cancel your enrolment and receive a full refund by notifying us in writing at [email protected] within 14 days of payment.

If you ask us to begin providing the programme within that 14-day period and your cohort starts before the period ends, you may still cancel, but we may retain a proportionate amount reflecting the sessions and materials delivered before we received your cancellation.

Where you have taken the payment plan, an approved cancellation refunds the amount paid and cancels the remaining payment schedule.

After the 14-day period

Once the 14-day period has passed and the cohort has begun:

• Refunds are generally not guaranteed.
• Partial refunds may be considered only in exceptional situations at Zadesta's discretion.
• Refund decisions may consider attendance history, completed participation, consumed resources, session access, and overall engagement, across the live coaching weeks and, for the 4-Week Programme, the continued support weeks.
• Where you have taken the payment plan, any refund is calculated against the full enrolment payment total for that plan as shown at checkout, and the remaining payment schedule continues unless expressly cancelled in writing by Zadesta.

Removal from the programme

• Participants removed due to misconduct, repeated disruption, abuse, or serious violation of these terms are not eligible for refunds, and any remaining balance under the payment plan remains payable.
• Participants removed for non-attendance under Section 2 may receive a partial refund at Zadesta's discretion.

Your statutory rights

Nothing in this section removes any cancellation or refund right you have under the consumer protection laws of your country of residence. Where those laws give you a stronger right than this section, that right applies.

Zadesta may make minor changes to session timing, facilitators, session formats, and materials, and will give reasonable notice where practical.

A material change is one that significantly reduces the number or length of sessions, or substantially alters the content or format from what was advertised, in either the 8-Week or 4-Week format. If we make a material change, we will notify you, and you may withdraw and receive a refund proportionate to the sessions not yet delivered.

If we cancel a cohort before it begins, we will offer you a place in the next available cohort or a full refund, at your choice. If we cancel after it has begun and cannot reasonably complete it, we will refund the proportion of the fee relating to sessions not delivered.

Participants must respect the privacy of fellow cohort members. Confidential personal information shared by participants during sessions must not be recorded, distributed, or discussed outside the cohort without the consent of the person concerned. Breach of this obligation may result in removal under Section 3.

Zadesta cannot guarantee complete confidentiality in live group environments, and participants should exercise their own judgement about what they choose to share.

Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for any liability that cannot lawfully be limited or excluded.

Subject to the above, Zadesta's total aggregate liability arising out of or in connection with these Terms or your participation in ZCC, in either format, is limited to the total fees you have paid. We are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, or for loss of profits, earnings, or opportunity.

Without limiting the above, Zadesta is not liable for:

• Employment decisions made by third parties
• Visa or immigration outcomes
• Salary outcomes
• Interview outcomes
• Market changes
• Technical interruptions outside reasonable control
• Personal financial decisions made by participants

Participation in the programme is voluntary and undertaken at the participant's own discretion.

Programme communication

By registering for ZCC, you agree that Zadesta may contact you about matters necessary to deliver the programme, including session reminders, schedule changes, materials, payment matters, and feedback requests relating to your cohort. These messages are part of the service and cannot be opted out of while you are enrolled.

Marketing communication

We will send you information about future programmes, offers, events, or related opportunities only where you have given separate consent. That consent is optional, is not a condition of enrolment, and you may withdraw it at any time using the unsubscribe link in any message or by emailing [email protected].

Zadesta Ltd is the controller of your personal data. We are based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and can be contacted at [email protected].

What we collect

When you submit a profile for review, we collect your name, email address, phone or WhatsApp number, location, target roles, and the information you provide about your career situation and availability. If you enrol, we also hold payment records and any work you submit during the programme, including session recordings as described in Section 6.

Why we hold it, and on what basis

• To assess your application and communicate with you about it, on the basis of steps taken at your request before entering a contract.
• To deliver the programme, process payment, and provide post-job support, on the basis of performing our contract with you.
• To record sessions for delivery, quality review, and facilitator training, on the basis of our legitimate interest in running and improving the programme.
• To use your image, voice, work, or testimonial publicly, and to send you marketing, on the basis of your consent, which you may withdraw at any time.
• To keep financial and tax records, on the basis of our legal obligations.

Who we share it with

We share personal data only with service providers who help us operate ZCC, including Stripe as our payment processor, any third-party extended payment provider you choose, our email and customer relationship system, our scheduling and video conferencing tools, and WhatsApp where you have given us that number. We do not sell your personal data.

Our website uses analytics and advertising technologies, including the Meta pixel and the TikTok pixel. These are used only where you have accepted them through our cookie banner, and you may change your choice at any time.

How long we keep it

Applications that do not proceed are retained for up to 24 months. Participant records are retained for as long as necessary for legitimate business, tax, and legal purposes.

Your rights

You may request access to the personal data we hold about you, ask for corrections, request deletion, object to processing based on legitimate interests, request a copy of your data in portable form, or withdraw any consent you have given. Some records must be retained where we are legally required to keep them. Contact [email protected] to make a request.

If you are unhappy with how we handle your data, you may complain to a supervisory authority. This is the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, the UK Information Commissioner's Office, or the authority in your country of residence.

Full details are set out in our Privacy Policy at zadesta.com/privacy-policy.

The goal of Zadesta Career Crucible is to create a serious, execution-oriented environment focused on measurable career progress, in either the 8-Week or 4-Week format. All policies are intended to protect cohort quality, participant commitment, and the integrity of the programme.

Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. The version that applies to you is the version you accepted at enrolment, and we will not apply changes retroactively to your cohort except where required by law. Updated terms apply to new enrolments from the date they are published.

Fees are set out on the payment page rather than in these Terms, and may change from time to time, and may differ between the 8-Week Programme and the 4-Week Programme. A change to published fees does not affect the amounts you agreed at enrolment, which are fixed by your record of agreement.

Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable, that provision will be modified to the minimum extent necessary or removed, and the remaining provisions continue in full effect.

Entire agreement

These Terms, together with any separate written agreement for paid technical support or specialist sessions, form the entire agreement between you and Zadesta regarding ZCC.

Assignment

You may not transfer your place in a cohort to another person without our written consent. We may transfer our rights and obligations under these Terms to another entity, provided this does not reduce the programme or support you have paid for.

Notices

Notices to Zadesta should be sent to [email protected]. Notices to you will be sent to the email address you provided at enrolment. It is your responsibility to keep that address current.

Record of agreement

On enrolment you will receive a copy of the Terms you accepted, including the version number and the date and time of acceptance. That record also sets out the programme format (8-Week or 4-Week) you enrolled in, the enrolment option you selected, the enrolment payment total, the instalment schedule where one applies, and the completion payment amount. Those amounts are the ones that apply to you for the duration of your enrolment.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario, Canada, and the federal laws of Canada applicable therein. Any dispute arising from or relating to these Terms or participation in ZCC, in either format, shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Ontario.

Nothing in these Terms removes any statutory consumer right you may have under the laws of your country of residence.

For questions regarding these terms, contact us at [email protected].