By Emily DeRenzo ’27, Career Ambassador
As a senior, it is likely you may be familiar with Handshake, the central platform that the Center for Career and Professional Development utilizes to support students, alumni, and employers in their career development journey and recruitment efforts. Students may use Handshake throughout their time here at Sacred Heart to search for internship and job opportunities, schedule appointments with Career Coaches, register for career events and workshops, or receive personalized job recommendations.
The great thing about Handshake is – it doesn’t end there! Handshake is more than just a tool for students completing their undergraduate or graduate degrees at Sacred Heart, it is a lifelong resource.
Make sure your Handshake profile is updated – whether you kept up with your Handshake profile during your time at SHU or not, this is the time to make sure your profile is complete.
While you are on your profile page, take a look at the rest of the information you have filled out under your profile, is it updated? If not, it is critical you update it so that anyone who views your profile is viewing accurate information about you and your job search. All of the default events, jobs, and people provided in your feed are based on the information in your profile. So, to make the most of the opportunities presented on Handshake, make sure you update your profile, so you are getting the best default results!
You may also want to add a summary to your profile, which provides your profile viewers with a brief overview of the relevant information about you. Handshake has even implemented a new tool to make your summary-writing even easier! This AI tone tool allows you to toggle with how formal or friendly you want your summary to be, and based on what you originally wrote, it will automatically generate a new summary based on the tone you selected.
Remember – the more detail you add to your profile, the fuller of a picture you have on Handshake, which in turn makes you more discoverable!
Ensure your profile’s viewability – having an accessible Handshake profile will put you on as many employers radar as possible!
Now that you have put all this hard work into your profile, you want to be sure that employers can actually see it. You can ensure this by going to “Settings” under your profile, and scrolling down to the “Privacy” settings. There, you must select the “Community” setting, as well as the check box for “I want my profile to be public and shareable outside of Handshake”. This will make your Handshake profile public, ensuring that managers or recruiters will be able to view your Handshake profile.
Keeping up with your profile – having a constantly updated profile will make sure Handshake’s recommended jobs, people, and events are all adapted to your profile changes.
Now that you have a refined profile that recruiters can access, make sure to keep it updated! You can update any education, work experience, or skills you develop throughout your career or modify your employer preferences if they change. It only takes a few minutes to update your profile but offers you a significant lift!
A tip I can provide for keeping your skills updated on your Handshake profile is reflecting on your final transcript – go through all of the courses you have completed throughout your time here at Sacred Heart and ask, did I develop any skills from this course? If so, add them to the skills section of your profile, along with the skills you develop throughout your career journey.
Adding employer preferences – this will ensure you are exposed to jobs relevant to your job wants and needs.
Filling out what you are looking for in an employer is super important for recruiters wondering if you may be the right fit for the role they are trying to fill. Handshake gives you plenty of options for what you are looking for in an employer, such as job type, specific roles, industries, and locations you may be interested in.
A tip I can offer for filling out your employer preferences is to add your “need-to-haves,” like location and work authorization first, and don’t be too quick to add all your “want-to-haves,” like pay, benefits, and onsite or remote preferences. That way, you will start off with a broad range of opportunities in the “Jobs” tab, and you can always go back and refine your “want-to-haves” after the fact.
Sharing your Handshake profile – this is how you increase the reach of your profile to as many employers as possible.
A great new feature of Handshake that may help you with your job search after graduation allows you to share your Handshake profile with anyone, whether they have Handshake or not. To share your profile, click your profile picture to access the profile page, and from there, you can select “Share”. You can choose to copy your profile link into a resume or website, you can directly share it via email or create an email signature. No matter how you choose to share your Handshake profile, anyone will be able to view it!
Navigating your Handshake feed – this is where you can learn a lot about jobs, events, and people with a quick scroll!
Accessing your feed is a great way to get a sense of students who are going through the same things as you in terms of being post-graduation and seeking work opportunities. Students in your feed will also share something else in common with you – whether it be you have the same major or you both went to SHU! Employer posts will also show up on your feed, so keep an eye out for posts from employers that share information about their company or employment opportunities.
While on your feed, you may notice you can follow others, whether they be students or employers. Following other students is great for creating connections and supporting other students who are experiencing the same things as you. As you follow more profiles, Handshake’s relevance model will update, which helps curate your own personal feed – making sure you are going to continue to be exposed to people, jobs, and events that are relevant to your career journey.
You can also follow employer pages which enables notifications when they post – this will give you the opportunity to be an early applicant when they post about an open position. Your Handshake feed can be customized; you can do this by filtering the content you want to see on your feed by just looking at employer posts, for example.
Exploring jobs and employers – learning about different jobs and employers is a great way to figure out what positions you may qualify for or be interested in.
You can discover employers by clicking on the “Employers” tab and apply filters there, which can be based on location, industry, company size, etc. This allows you take have a personalized experience with discovering employers via Handshake. By selecting the “Jobs” tab on Handshake, you can sort by similar filters, one of them being “newest jobs,” which allows you to get an edge by being an early applicant for a role you are interested in.
Upload documents to your Handshake profile – this will make it easier for you to apply for jobs via Handshake.
Handshake allows for users to upload various documents, such as a resume or portfolio. This feature allows you to submit applications super quickly, even from the Handshake mobile app, since the documents necessary to your applications are already uploaded to your profile. You may also choose to have certain documents added to your public profile, allowing employers to view your resume without you having to send them anything!
Final Thoughts:
Graduating seniors, as you begin your career preparations for post-graduation, keep in mind the plethora of resources that Handshake has to offer you. By updating your profile, staying active on the platform, and ensuring you have continued access to Handshake, you can connect with employers and discover opportunities that may help you grow professionally. I encourage you all to make use of this lifelong resource and by utilizing some of the steps I have outlined today.
Information and content gathered from Handshake. To view the Event Recording, visit: https://joinhandshake.com/students/events/
