Want to Get the Most Out of Handshake?

Here are five tips on using the platform to your advantage. 

Available as an app and website, Handshake is a social platform created to assist students with job searching, focusing on helping “every student find the right job, no matter where they’re from or who they know.” If you’re a first-year, you likely haven’t used the career platform unless you’ve applied for an on-campus job. If you are a veteran user, you probably use it to check into events, schedule appointments, and look for jobs or internships. 

Whether new or not, these five tips will help you get the most out of your user experience and elevate your job-searching skills: 

• Applying filters in ‘Jobs’
• Checking out ‘Events’
• Making appointments and more in ‘Career Center’
• Managing messages through ‘Inbox’
• Making connections in ‘People’

Applying Filters in ‘Jobs’

When looking for jobs in Handshake, you can use filters to refine your search and find positions that meet your criteria. The Career Development Center developed the St. Catherine Collections filter for students to look for jobs or internships relating to their majors. For example, as seen in the image below, the feature is available for overall categories of majors. If you’re a nurse, it would be best to use the ‘Great for Healthcare Majors’ filter, etc. 

You don’t only have to use St. Catherine collections. You can also choose the type of work you want your position to be, such as remote or onsite, part-time or full-time change your location, determine if it’s an internship or not, what type of job benefits you would like, or determine if work authorization is required. 

Checking Out ‘Events’

On the ‘Events’ page, you can find career fairs happening on campus, employer events, and Career Development Center events. This is a good opportunity to see what’s happening career-related on campus and what’s happening virtually as well. 

You can sign up for virtual career fairs and employer information events by simply clicking on ‘register.’ After you’ve done this, you’ll get a reminder a few days or a day before. You can also check back anytime to keep track of what events you’ve checked into.

Making Appointments and More in ‘Career Center’

Our career coaches are here to support you with all things career! You can make an appointment through ‘Career Center’ as shown in the image below. You’ll click on make an appointment, select which type of student you are: College for Women (CFW), College for Adults (CFA), alumni, or prospective student, and then choose your type of appointment.

In ‘Career Center,’ you can also track your internship experiences, access the center’s contact information, and see upcoming events that will be hosted on campus.

Managing Messages Through ‘Inbox’

Employers can directly message students through the ‘inbox’ feature to promote employee positions or webinars for more information about the company or positions. Similar to any emailing system, you can email employers back. You can archive or filter messages by unread to make it easier to manage your messages.

Making Connections in ‘People’

The ‘People’ feature is a new way for students to connect with other students, alumni, or people with similar majors. Before you can message someone, you must agree and accept Handshake‘s guidelines of being professional and respectful. You can then choose what type of message you want to send, and Handshake provides a template with blanks that you can fill in to make it more personalized.

Share These tips!

Now that you have learned about using filters in job searching, seeing upcoming events, creating appointments, sorting inbox messages, and connecting with people, share them with peers and friends to help them gain or improve their Handshake skills.