Email Invitations credit deductions: Revoke & Reclaim
tl;dr: Each time you invite a candidate, we deduct 1 credit from your balance. If the candidate doesn't finish the first test of the assessment within 24 hours, you can then revoke the candidate's assessment attempt and reclaim the credit.
Each time you invite a candidate to an assessment, 1 credit is deducted from your balance. For example, say your credit balance is 10 and you invite 3 candidates A, B and C. The balance will become 7 as soon as you invite them, even if they haven't opened the email, the email has bounced, etc. The candidate can then attempt the assessment from the link they have received.
If a candidate doesn't attempt the assessment, you can reclaim the credit. For example, let's say:
A doesn't start the assessment
B opens the assessment and closes it midway through the first test
C finishes the assessment
In this case, you can reclaim the credits that were used up by the invitation to A and B. To reclaim credits, you can click on the Reclaim Credits link on the sidebar or visit this url. Your balance will then become 9.
You can reclaim an invitation credit if (i) the invitation was sent more than 24 hours ago and (ii) the candidate has not finished the first test of the assessment
What if I invite the same candidate twice? We warn you if you are inviting the same candidate to an assessment. If you still go ahead with the invitation, we will deduct 2 credits in total. The candidate will open the invitation link from only one email anyway. So, you can reclaim the credit from the other invitation 24 hours after it was sent.
Can the candidate continue the assessment if I reclaim credit? Once you reclaim the credits, the assessment link the candidate has received is revoked (that is, it will become invalid). All the test data associated with the candidate (like their points) will be deleted. The candidate will need to be invited again.
What is the maximum number of candidates I can invite at any point? As discussed on this link, your account can have a maximum negative balance of 25. So, the maximum number of candidates you can invite is 25 + Current Number of Credits. For example, if you currently have 10 credits, you can invite up to 35 candidates. If you invite 35 candidates, your balance will become -25. Remember though, that if your balance is negative, you cannot access your account without purchasing credits. So, if your balance becomes -25, you will have to either purchase credits or wait for 24 hours until you can reclaim credits.'
What if the email bounces, doesn't get delivered, etc? Because the credit deduction happens immediately after the emails are sent, they get deducted even if the email later ends up bouncing, etc. Like mentioned above, even if the email bounces, you can wait for 24 hours and then reclaim the credit.
When we launched Equip, we didn't deduct credits on email invitations. We actually deducted credits when candidates finished the first test of the assessment. This was easy for recruiters to understand and there was no extra complication of reclaiming credits, etc. But, one fine day, a recruiter decided to abuse our system and sent emails to 50,000 random email IDs! We don't know why the recruiter did this!
We blocked the recruiter's account within minutes of noticing this, but by then it was too late Many of those who received the emails reported them as spam and our emails weren't being delivered properly for a few days. Our email service blocked us and we had to switch to a different provider. It was a very stressful time for our team as well as our customers. We don't want to be in a position where this repeats. That is why we had to change our policy to deducting credits as soon as invitations are sent.
When is a Credit Deducted?
Each time you invite a candidate to an assessment, 1 credit is deducted from your balance. For example, say your credit balance is 10 and you invite 3 candidates A, B and C. The balance will become 7 as soon as you invite them, even if they haven't opened the email, the email has bounced, etc. The candidate can then attempt the assessment from the link they have received.
What if the candidate doesn't attempt the assessment?
If a candidate doesn't attempt the assessment, you can reclaim the credit. For example, let's say:
A doesn't start the assessment
B opens the assessment and closes it midway through the first test
C finishes the assessment
In this case, you can reclaim the credits that were used up by the invitation to A and B. To reclaim credits, you can click on the Reclaim Credits link on the sidebar or visit this url. Your balance will then become 9.
You can reclaim an invitation credit if (i) the invitation was sent more than 24 hours ago and (ii) the candidate has not finished the first test of the assessment
FAQs
What if I invite the same candidate twice? We warn you if you are inviting the same candidate to an assessment. If you still go ahead with the invitation, we will deduct 2 credits in total. The candidate will open the invitation link from only one email anyway. So, you can reclaim the credit from the other invitation 24 hours after it was sent.
Can the candidate continue the assessment if I reclaim credit? Once you reclaim the credits, the assessment link the candidate has received is revoked (that is, it will become invalid). All the test data associated with the candidate (like their points) will be deleted. The candidate will need to be invited again.
What is the maximum number of candidates I can invite at any point? As discussed on this link, your account can have a maximum negative balance of 25. So, the maximum number of candidates you can invite is 25 + Current Number of Credits. For example, if you currently have 10 credits, you can invite up to 35 candidates. If you invite 35 candidates, your balance will become -25. Remember though, that if your balance is negative, you cannot access your account without purchasing credits. So, if your balance becomes -25, you will have to either purchase credits or wait for 24 hours until you can reclaim credits.'
What if the email bounces, doesn't get delivered, etc? Because the credit deduction happens immediately after the emails are sent, they get deducted even if the email later ends up bouncing, etc. Like mentioned above, even if the email bounces, you can wait for 24 hours and then reclaim the credit.
Why deduct credits like this, instead of when candidate finishes the assessment?
When we launched Equip, we didn't deduct credits on email invitations. We actually deducted credits when candidates finished the first test of the assessment. This was easy for recruiters to understand and there was no extra complication of reclaiming credits, etc. But, one fine day, a recruiter decided to abuse our system and sent emails to 50,000 random email IDs! We don't know why the recruiter did this!
We blocked the recruiter's account within minutes of noticing this, but by then it was too late Many of those who received the emails reported them as spam and our emails weren't being delivered properly for a few days. Our email service blocked us and we had to switch to a different provider. It was a very stressful time for our team as well as our customers. We don't want to be in a position where this repeats. That is why we had to change our policy to deducting credits as soon as invitations are sent.
Updated on: 29/08/2024
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