New feature
Pinned
12 days ago

New Streamlined and Branded Candidate Experience

The entire onboarding process has been updated and redesigned to be a smoother, more professional, and more consistent with your company's brand. You can customize the onboarding app with your company logo and colors, ensuring a seamless experience from the first touchpoint. A user-friendly, multi-step form allows candidates to easily submit their information, upload necessary documents (like CVs, payslips, or certificates), and track their progress.

We are rolling these changes out in stages and is expected to complete by July 14, 2025. New candidates can expect to experience these changes immediately, and older candidates will be migrated over in stages over the next few days.

1. Seamless Navigation and User Control

The application is designed to feel less like a rigid form and more like a guided process, giving candidates control and clarity at every stage.

  • State Preservation: Candidates can start the application, leave, and return later without losing any of their entered information. All progress is automatically saved to their local browser until final submission, which is a crucial feature for lengthy applications.
  • Effortless Navigation: A persistent navigation sidebar (on desktop) and a progress bar (on mobile) show candidates exactly where they are in the process. They can freely move back to previous steps to review or edit information without losing data.
  • Final Review Stage: Before the final submission, a dedicated validation screen presents a complete summary of all the information they've entered. This gives them a final opportunity to catch any errors, ensuring accuracy and building confidence.
  • Clear Expectations: The process begins with a checklist of all the requirements and documents they will need, so there are no surprises.

2. A Modern, Reliable, and Personalized Interface

The look, feel, and performance of the application have been enhanced to meet modern web standards and provide a frictionless experience.

  • Complete Branding Control: The application can be fully customized with your company's logo and primary brand color. This ensures the onboarding journey feels like a natural extension of your organization.
  • Robust Verification Module: The integration with third-party verification services (like SSS, NBI, etc.) has been completely re-architected to be faster and more efficient. For the candidate, this translates to a highly reliable and crash-free experience, eliminating common issues like lingering pop-ups or frozen screens that previously caused frustration.
  • Personalized Experience: The interface includes modern comforts a fully responsive UI, providing an optimal experience on any device, from mobile phones to desktops.

3. Proactive Guidance and Trust-Building

The platform is designed to be transparent and supportive, building trust with the candidate throughout the process.

  • Clear Consent: The first step requires candidates to explicitly review and agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy before proceeding, ensuring they feel their data privacy is respected.
  • On-Demand Help: An introductory screen includes a "Need Help?" link that brings up an instructional video, providing immediate support for candidates who may be unsure how to proceed.
  • Transparent Checks: For each verification step, clear consent text is provided so the candidate knows exactly what information is being accessed.

These enhancements collectively create an onboarding experience that is not just efficient for the hiring manager but also respectful, intuitive, and reassuring for the candidate.

Fix
15 days ago

Emergency Hotfix: Reference Form URL Issues Resolved

We’ve issued an urgent update to address critical issues affecting the reference process, ensuring your ongoing checks can proceed without disruption.

Reference URL Restoration Hotfix

We identified and fixed a problem where expired reference form URLs were not restored when a check was reopened. This could have stalled reference requests and introduced unnecessary delays. With this emergency patch, reopening a check will immediately restore previously expired reference URLs. Additionally, all expired reference URLs associated with ongoing checks have been retroactively reopened, so your important reference flows can continue without manual intervention.

Expired/Completed Reference URL Landing Update

Users and references reported confusion when landing on the Smile Checks homepage after completing a reference form. To address this, expired reference URLs now redirect to an appropriate thank you page, confirming to references that their input has been received. This avoids ambiguity and offers a clear, reassuring end point to the reference workflow.

Critical Messaging Fix for References

A significant flaw prevented SMS notifications from being sent to references when only a mobile number (and not an email) was provided. We’ve fixed this immediately. References will now reliably receive SMS invitations even if no email is listed; however, as email is critical to receive the Reference Form, please ensure your candidates provide a working email address for their reference contacts.

These emergency updates are designed to keep your background and reference checks moving without interruption and to reduce confusion for both staff and references. Thank you for your quick reports and feedback—please notify us if you notice any further issues or if you need assistance with ongoing checks.

Improvement
19 days ago

Standardized Support Email & Enhancements

We're continuing to make Smile Checks smoother and more reliable for everyone. Here’s a round-up of the latest improvements and why they matter to you:

Standardized Support Communication

All Smile Checks notifications and system emails will now come from support@getsmilechecks.com. By consolidating our communications under one sender, we can reduce confusion, improve deliverability, and ensure you always know where to reach us for the quickest support possible.

Trial Credit Expiry for New Users

To keep credit offerings fair and efficient, the 5 free credits for new users will now automatically expire 30 days after they’re added if they’re still unused. If you find yourself needing those trial credits after expiration, users can reach out for a one-time reinstatement. This helps us manage free usage more effectively while still giving you flexibility if you need more time to get started.

Account Access and System Optimizations

  • We fixed a bug that prevented us from recording the last login time for some new accounts. This helps both you and our team maintain accurate account activity records.
  • Internal processes and functions have been further optimized to boost service stability and responsiveness, which means a smoother experience on every login and check.

You can always reach us at support@getsmilechecks.com with any questions, feedback, or reinstatement requests. Thank you for choosing Smile Checks—your workflow is at the center of everything we do!

Improvement
25 days ago

Improved Flexibility for Check Request Settings & Enhanced Reference Form Expiry

We're excited to share a handful of updates aimed at streamlining your Smile Checks experience and giving you more flexibility in managing check requests.

Editable Check Request Settings

You can now request updates to select check request settings, such as changing report recipients. For now, simply reach out to our support team and we’ll make the change for you—no need to cancel and reissue a request if key recipient details change mid-process. We know self-service is important, and giving you the ability to manage these updates directly is on our roadmap.

Smarter Reference Contact Questionnaire Handling

Reference contact questionnaire forms will now automatically expire and redirect to the Smile Checks website as soon as a check request is closed or completed. This prevents confusion for reference contacts and ensures responses are only accepted while checks are active, helping maintain the integrity of your background screening process.

Process & Automation Efficiency

Behind the scenes, we've made several improvements to how we process and automate key steps in check management. These changes should result in faster response times, smoother handling, and greater reliability for you and your candidates.

Your feedback is crucial to these enhancements—thanks for helping us make Smile Checks better every day. If you have ideas for future improvements, don’t hesitate to let us know!

Maintenance
a month ago

Report Generation Currently Unavailable

Heads up! We’re currently experiencing an unexpected issue with the Report Generation feature in Smile Checks. Some users may be unable to generate or receive empty reports during this time.

Our team is actively investigating the root cause and working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. We’ll keep this post updated as we learn more, and we’ll let you know the moment things are back to normal.

We sincerely apologize for the disruption and appreciate your patience while we get this sorted. If you have urgent reporting needs, feel free to message us via in-app chat or at support@getsmilechecks.com — we’re here to help.