Why Am I Stuck in Demo Mode After Creating My Zinc Account?

If your account is showing **demo mode**, don't worry — nothing has gone wrong with your background check. It usually just means your recruiter hasn't sent your check request yet. This happens when you create a Zinc account **before** your recruiter has actually requested your background checks — for example, if you signed up directly rather than through a request email. Zinc can only show your checks once a request has been sent to the same email address you're signed in with, so until that happens, your account has nothing real to display. ## What to Do 1. **Ask your recruiter** whether they've sent your background check request yet. 2. **Confirm which email address** they sent it to. 3. **Check that email matches the one you signed up with.** You can only access your checks using the email address the request was sent to — a different email, even if it's yours, won't work. If the emails don't match, you have two options: ask your recruiter to resend the request to the email you're already signed in with, or create a new Zinc account using the correct email address. ## What Happens Next Once your recruiter sends the request to your signed-in email, you'll see it appear in your [Notifications](https://app.zincwork.com/notifications). Sign in and check there — this is where check completions, matches, and reference updates show up too. If you've confirmed the email matches and you're still stuck in demo mode, contact our Support Team at contact@zincwork.com and we can check your account directly.