RetainWise

How to use RetainWise

Everything you need to run a hire through this app, and what to do if something doesn't look right.

The workflow

  1. Create a job profile - + New Job. Fill in what the role actually offers: location, work arrangement, comp ceiling, typical time to first promotion, manager style, and core responsibilities. The more of this you fill in, the more the candidate's answers can be checked against something real.
  2. Copy the interview link from the job's page and send it to the candidate - email, WhatsApp, anywhere. It works on any device; nothing needs to be set up on their end.
  3. The candidate answers 7 short questions themselves, in their own time. If an answer is too short, the app asks one natural follow-up before moving on.
  4. You get an email the moment they finish - a full report with the expectation map, their exit conditions, and every answer. That email is the only copy; check it (and your spam folder, the first time) rather than looking for it on the site.
  5. Later, use the check-in link at the bottom of that email for Day 1 / 7 / 30 / 90 follow-ups. Filling one out and submitting emails you an updated report with a fresh link for the next one - so keep using the link from the most recent email, not an old one.

Reading a report

Every line in the expectation map gets one of four labels. None of them predict whether someone will stay - they just say how much evidence you have.

MATCH  the candidate's own words line up with what the job actually offers.
GAP  the candidate's own words conflict with the job - worth raising directly before an offer.
VERIFY  (exit conditions only) related to something the candidate flagged - confirm it specifically.
UNKNOWN  not enough was said to judge either way. This is the default, and it's never quietly treated as a match - it means "ask directly," not "probably fine."

Troubleshooting

  • "This interview link looks incomplete or broken" - the link got cut off or altered somewhere along the way (some chat apps do this with long links). Re-copy it from the job's page and re-send it.
  • Submitting an interview shows an error mentioning GMAIL_USER / GMAIL_APP_PASSWORD - email hasn't been set up yet in Vercel. See the README's "Setting up email" section.
  • No email arrived after a candidate finished - check spam first. If it's not there, double-check the App Password in Vercel's environment variables doesn't have extra spaces, and that you redeployed after adding it.
  • A job doesn't show up on the homepage - job profiles are saved only in the browser that created them, so open the site from that same browser/device, or recreate the job.

What's stored where

There's no database and no AI anywhere in this app. A job's details live inside its own interview link. A candidate's answers and check-in history live inside the emails sent to gsrcoimbatore@gmail.com - that's the full record. The only thing saved on a device is the list of job titles on the homepage, and only on the browser that created them, purely so you can re-open a job to grab its link again.