If you are attending college this year, you’re probably already familiar with Handshake.
In recent years, the campus recruiting platform has become synonymous with higher-education hiring, and is one of the primary tools for students looking for internships, on-campus, and entry-level roles.
The platform was created in 2014 by a group of Michigan Tech University classmates who felt that their institution’s location in the Upper Peninsula made it more difficult to get in front of employers. At the time, employers had to log into a different campus recruiting platform for each institution, making them more likely to limit their searches to only their top choice, leaving many students behind.
“Recruiters now just log into Handshake and can post that position to all of the Handshake schools, or to a subset of the Handshake schools, with a click of a button,” explains Christine Cruzvergara, the company’s chief education strategy officer.
Today, more than three-quarters of U.S. university students have access to the tool through their institution. “We have almost 92% of the top 500 institutions in the U.S [on the platform], and we have over 350 minority-serving institutions, including more than 70 HBCUs,” Cruzvergara says. “There’s both four-year and two-year, private and public, elite and not elite—we’ve got it all covered.”
With such a massive scale, however, it can be difficult for individual students to stand out from the crowd, especially if you don’t have a ton of experience.
“It’s a competitive market that they’re going into as we enter into the fall recruiting season,” adds Cruzvergara. “There are certain areas that are growing, and I think it’ll require students to be flexible.”
Build Your Profile
Handshake automatically populates the profiles of students attending partnered institutions based on registration data, but it’s important for students to log on and ensure those profiles are accurate and continue to keep them up to date.
Handshake tailors the experience based on how users engage with it, so the information students upload and the kinds of roles they search for will dictate the opportunities that are surfaced.
“Things like, are you interested in part-time or full-time? Are you willing to relocate? What industry or job role are you interested in? The more you can give us, the more we can give you better recommendations,” Cruzvergara says. “We’re also paying attention to what you click on, who you choose to follow, what jobs you save, so we can personalize the experience for you, but I always tell students filling out that profile is really, really key.”
Identify and Fill-In gaps
While Handshake does prioritize opportunities that match the user’s qualifications, students can also explore jobs that are still out of reach. That provides an opportunity for students to get a sense of the skills employers are seeking for these more aspirational roles, and gives students a chance to pursue those credentials sooner.
“Join a student organization, volunteer, find an on-campus job,” advises Karin Hanson, director of the career services network at Michigan State University. “There are a wealth of on-campus and close-to-campus jobs that can fill in the gaps for your experience, and taking advantage of those opportunities early on is key.”
Tap Into On-Campus Resources
Since adopting Handshake in 2016 Hanson says the platform has become the primary student employment management system for MSU’s 50,000 students.
“We encourage students to engage on Handshake as soon as they’ve accepted their attendance at Michigan State University,” she says. “Then we work with our students to ensure that they’re managing the volume, and we try to provide appropriate tools to allow them to search better and get better content curation.”
On-campus career support services can also help students identify career paths that match their skills and interests, beef up their résumés, and get in touch with alumni, faculty, and fellow students that may have insights about various employers or career paths.
“This is the one time in your life when you’ll have a lot of people who are trying to help you, and a lot of opportunities to boost yourself to that next level,” Hanson says. “Don’t overlook those resources.”
Keep Multiple Résumés on File
One Handshake feature that Hanson encourages students to take advantage of is the ability to keep multiple résumés on file at once. That means that students can send out different versions based on the opportunities they find on the platform.
“We always say customize your résumé depending on what you’re applying for, so it’s easy to simply click on the résumé and immediately apply,” she says. “Use the fact that you can upload as many résumés as you need to [on] Handshake and use the correct résumé when you do apply for the position.”
Do Your Research
If you’re interested in a particular role or employer, there are many ways to learn more about them. Actively seeking that information can also help you expand your network and get in front of prospective employers.
You can follow employers to learn about events they’re hosting on campus or follow alumni and past interns to learn more about their experiences at a particular company. You can even reach out and ask questions to employers, current and former staff directly in the app.
Doing a little bit of research can help you be more precise in your job search, and have more informed conversations with prospective employers, according to Nicole Furnia, ABB’s director of university relations, early talent and employer branding in North America.
“I never expect students to be an expert on ABB, but I want them to have an understanding of why they might be interested in our organization, and come to the events with that information,” she says. “Come to the events with a little bit of knowledge, but some questions for the recruiters or the people from the business around what the organization does and what type of roles are available.”
Show Up In Person
Furnia says ABB uses Handshake to hire about 300 interns across North America each year, including about 160 to 175 in the United States, and hires about 75 full-time entry-level staff.
ABB’s on-campus recruiting efforts include hosting roughly five events per semester at each of the 11 campuses it considers its tier-one targets, spanning guest lectures, career fair booths and networking events.
“If we see a student at multiple events throughout the semester, that can show a genuine interest in our organization, and it can make a difference if we get into an interview or selection process,” Furnia says.
If you do interact with prospective employers on campus, it’s a good idea to send a follow up note. Include a reminder of what was discussed and what roles you may be interested in.
Even if you are just beginning your academic journey, however, Furnia says there’s always value in showing up to events in person. “Even just walking around that career fair during your freshman year to get a lay of the land, understanding what organizations are actively recruiting at your university, talking to a few of them for practice, is always a great idea.”