Candidate Portal
The Candidate Portal is the page a job candidate sees to follow their application and act on an offer. There is no account to create and no password to remember. Everything opens from a private link sent to you by email, plus a short code we email you each time you open it.
This guide is written for the candidate. Recruiters manage jobs, interviews, and offers from the Recruiting Module.
How you get your link
You receive a private link by email at key moments:
- When you apply through a company's careers page
- When an interview is scheduled with you
- When an offer is sent to you
- After you accept, when the company asks for your contract details or sends your employment contract
The link looks like https://company.sparko.app/candidate/your-link. It is
valid for 30 days. If a link has expired or stopped working, the most recent
email from the company has your current one.
Lost the email?
Open Application status in the top bar of the company's careers page
(https://company.sparko.app/careers/application-status). Enter the address
you applied with and select Send link. If the company has an application
from that address that is still in progress, we email you a fresh link. The
page shows the same notice either way, so it never reveals whether someone
applied. We send at most 3 links an hour to one address; further requests in
that hour show the same notice but send nothing. Older links keep working until
they expire. If the recruiting team switched your links off, ask them for a new
one.
Opening the portal with a code
The link alone does not open your page. When you open it, the portal emails a 6-digit code to the address the company has for you. Type the code to see your page. The code expires in 10 minutes.
- If a code does not match, check your email and try again. After 5 wrong codes, wait 15 minutes, then ask for a new code.
- You can ask for up to 3 codes in 10 minutes.
- Once you are in, the link is removed from your address bar.
- Your session lasts 30 minutes. When it ends, the page says "Your session has ended. Open the link in your email again."
Your page shows your applications and your offers, and nothing about anyone else.
What you see
The portal greets you by name and lays out where things stand.
Acme Corp CareersHi Jordan, here's where things stand
Senior Software Engineer Interviewing · applied Jul 2 Technical interview · Aug 5, 2:00 PM · Join linkApplication status
Each role you applied for shows a progress bar that moves through applied, screening, interviewing, and offer, then fills completely once you are hired. If an application is closed, the page shows that clearly instead of a bar.
Interviews
Scheduled interviews appear under the matching application, with the interview type, date and time, and duration. When the company adds a video link, a Join link appears next to the time.
Offers
When an offer is sent to you, an offer banner appears at the top with the role, base salary, start date, and the date to respond by. Click View offer to open the full terms.
Acting on an offer
The full offer view shows the offer letter first, then the base salary in the offer's currency, target bonus, equity, start date, respond-by date, and a benefits summary when the company includes one. If the letter text cannot be shown, the page says so and you cannot accept until the company fixes it.
You have three choices:
- Accept offer: we email you a fresh code, just for accepting. Type it, then tick the box that says "I've read this offer letter. By typing my name I accept the offer and agree to sign it electronically." and type your full legal name. Typing your name acts as your electronic signature. Click Sign and accept within 5 minutes of entering the code.
- Request changes: write a short note about what you would like to discuss (for example base salary, start date, or remote days). The team gets your request and follows up.
- Decline: you can add an optional note. Your response is recorded.
After you accept, we email you a PDF of the offer letter you signed, with a record of your acceptance. Keep it for your records: accepting closes your portal link, so the email is your copy.
An offer can only be accepted, countered, or declined before its respond-by date. If that date has passed, reply to your offer email and the team will help.
Your employment contract
After you accept an offer, the company may send your employment contract through the same portal. Your accepted offer shrinks to one line, with View offer to open it again, and an Employment contract card appears below it.
- Details needed. The company needs a few details for your contract: nationality, date of birth, ID type and number, right to work, and home address. It takes about two minutes. Click Send my details. The ID number is shown only on your contract; once saved, the form shows its last 4 characters and you can leave it empty to keep it.
- Being prepared. The company is finishing your contract. We'll email you when it's ready to sign.
- Ready to sign. Click Review and sign to open the signing page. We email you a code to open it. Sign before the date shown.
- Signed. You signed; the company countersigns next, and we email you the signed copy. Once the company has signed too, the card says so and the signed copy follows shortly.
- Complete. Both sides have signed. Download signed copy saves it.
- Expired. The signing link ran out. Click Ask {Company} to resend and the company is told.
If your agreement is a contractor or freelance services agreement, the form also has a Business and tax group: a business name, the type and number of the tax id used in the country you work in (shown back as its last 4 characters, and optional in the UAE), an invoice email, in the US the W-9 or W-8BEN form, and in the UAE a freelance permit number.
The details you send are used only for your contract and your employee record. If your contract has already been sent and a detail is wrong, ask the company's HR team to change it.
Before your first day
Once both sides have signed your contract, the same link shows your pre-start page under the contract card, until a week after your start date.
- Before you start is your checklist: sign your contract, add your ID and address, read the employee handbook, choose your laptop, add an emergency contact, and any first tasks from your onboarding plan once your company starts it. Each item says when it is due.
- Choose opens the laptop choice: pick one of the laptops your company offers and your keyboard layout, then Save my choice. You can change it until IT orders it.
- Add opens the emergency contact: a name, a phone number and, if you like, the relationship.
- Your first day shows the date and time, the address with an Open in Maps link, who meets you, what to bring and the dress code.
- Your Sparko account shows whether your login invite has gone out. Once it has, Resend my invite sends it again, once a day. When your login is set up, Sign in takes you to Sparko.
- Your team shows your manager and your buddy, and a welcome note if your manager wrote one.
On your first day the page changes to Welcome to {Company}, with your first-day tasks and the address for today.
Privacy and security
- A link alone opens nothing. Every visit needs a code sent to your email, and accepting needs a second, fresh code.
- The page only ever shows your own applications and offers.
- Links expire after 30 days. A link also stops working when you accept an offer, when the company sends you a new or revised offer (the new email has a new link), when your applications with the company close, or when the company turns your link off. After you are hired, the company's contract emails bring a new link, which stops working if the contract is declined or voided.
- When you accept, we keep a record of the sentence you agreed to, the name you typed, the time, and the network address and browser you used, next to the exact PDF you accepted.
Related guides
- Recruiting Module: how recruiters run jobs, interviews, and offers
Still need help? Reach us at [email protected].
← Back to Help Center