Overview

SMS credits allow you to send invitation and reminder text messages to candidates. Each credit enables you to send one SMS message containing up to three message parts, giving you flexibility for longer messages without worrying about character counting.

Pricing

SMS credits are available for purchase at:

  • 300 SMS credits for $29

Credits never expire, so you can purchase them when needed and use them at your own pace.

How SMS Credits Work

What One Credit Includes

One SMS credit allows you to send a single text message with up to three message parts. This means you can send messages containing:

  • Up to 459 characters using GSM-7 encoding (standard English text)

  • Up to 210 characters using UTF-16 encoding (text with emojis or special characters)

Understanding Message Parts

SMS messages are split into "parts" based on their length and the characters used:

For standard text (GSM-7 encoding):

  • Single-part messages: up to 160 characters

  • Multi-part messages: up to 153 characters per part

  • Your credit covers up to 3 parts (459 characters total)

For messages with emojis or special characters (UTF-16 encoding):

  • Single-part messages: up to 70 characters

  • Multi-part messages: up to 67 characters per part

  • Your credit covers up to 3 parts (210 characters total)

Pro tip: To maximize your credits, stick to standard English characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9, and basic punctuation). Avoid emojis and special characters like curly quotes or em-dashes, as they trigger UTF-16 encoding and reduce your character limit.

If your message exceeds three parts, additional credits will be charged. For example, a 307-character message (standard text) will be charged as 2 credits instead of 1. Always check your message length before sending to avoid unexpected credit charges.

Character Encoding Examples

The encoding type affects how many characters fit in each part:

GSM-7 safe characters include:

  • Letters: A-Z, a-z

  • Numbers: 0-9

  • Basic punctuation: ! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , - . / : ; < = > ? @

  • Special symbols: £ ¥ è é ù ì ò Ø ø Å å Δ Φ Γ Λ Ω Π Ψ Σ Θ Ξ Æ æ ß É Ä Ö Ñ Ü § ¿ ä ö ñ ü à

Characters like ~ ^ | { } [ ] each require an escape code and count as two characters in GSM-7 encoding.

Purchasing SMS Credits

Steps to Buy Credits

  1. Navigate to your Billing page in the Hirevire app

  2. Locate the Buy SMS credits section

  3. Select the 300 credits package ($29)

  4. Complete the purchase using your configured payment method

  5. Credits are added to your account immediately upon successful payment

Only account owners and administrators can purchase SMS credits. Team members should contact their admin to request credit purchases.

Viewing SMS Logs

Track your SMS usage and see detailed information about sent messages:

  1. Go to SMS Logs in your Hirevire account

  2. View the following details for each message:

    • Recipient phone number

    • Associated job

    • Message content

    • Credits used

    • Timestamp

    • Delivery status

SMS Logs page showing a table with columns for recipient phone number, job, message content, credits used, timestamp, and delivery status. The example shows a sent message to a candidate for Test job 123 using 2 credits.

Limitations

  • Maximum message length: 3 parts per credit (459 characters for standard text, 210 for UTF-16)

  • Additional charges: Messages exceeding 3 parts will incur additional credit charges (1 credit per 3 parts)

  • Character encoding: Automatically determined based on the characters in your message

  • Non-refundable: Purchased credits cannot be refunded

  • Usage: Credits can only be used for invitation and reminder SMS messages

What's Next

After purchasing SMS credits, you can:

  • Send SMS invitations to candidates when creating or managing jobs

  • Set up automated reminder texts in your application templates

  • Monitor your SMS usage and delivery status in the SMS Logs

Getting Help

If you need assistance with SMS credits:

  • Check your SMS Logs for delivery status and credit usage

  • Verify your message content stays within character limits

  • Contact support if messages fail to send or credits are deducted unexpectedly

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