ENC Career Services introduced students to Handshake, a website dedicated to helping college students find jobs, in January of 2021. Their mission statement reads: “We’re driven by the mission to give all students the chance to build the career they want, no matter where they’re from or what school they attend.” Created in 2014, Handshake’s impact has grown significantly due to the pandemic and welcomed a large community of university partners in 2020. They are now the pioneers for assisting students in finding entry-level jobs in the field of their choice.
A hybrid of LinkedIn and Indeed, Handshake makes it easy to set up a profile. All ENC students should have received an email last semester inviting them to sign up for the service, but, if not, Handshake has got you covered. Using your ENC email, you can join Handshake on their website or download their mobile app for Apple and Android devices. Once your profile is active, you can then add the types of jobs you are looking for, whether that be a full-time job at Habitat for Humanity or an internship at Amazon. Handshake will also give you suggestions based on your major, and let you identify which cities are of interest to you. From there you can add any relevant work experience or classes you have taken to ensure your profile showcases a plethora of talents, something a normal job-recruiting website would not do. Employers can even reach out personally based on your profile! Applying for a job on Handshake is as simple as pushing a button.
Handshake is an important tool to utilize when looking for jobs in a post-COVID world, especially being a recent (or soon-to-be recent) college graduate with little to no professional work experience. Designed by college students for college students, the developers understand the struggles associated with finding quality employment. With over 600,000 company partners, there is bound to be a job out there that lines up with the career path you wish to pursue. Creating a profile on Handshake is the first stop on the road to a successful career.