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Handshake Center for Career and Professional Development

What is Handshake?

Handshake is a combination of some of the best tools on the web today, taken from services like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. It’s designed to help us precisely target career information, internship, employment opportunities, and career related events to student’s specific major, degree type, and interests.

Handshake is used on over 170 U.S. university campuses, including schools like Stanford University, Cornell University, Villanova University, and Wake Forest University. Likewise, 80% of Fortune 100 companies, including Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Google, Microsoft, and JP Morgan, are using Handshake to recruit from colleges and universities.

Getting Started with Handshake

Ready to start using Handshake? Great! Here are three quick steps you can take to jump-start your Handshake experience:

  • Log in to Handshake - Go to umw.joinhandshake.com, click University of Mary Washington Sign On, log in with your UMW NetID and password.
  • Upload a document - You’ll likely want to have a public resume available in Handshake for employers (and your school’s Career Development Services team) to see. To learn more about how to upload a document, read How do I add (upload) a new document?
  • Fill out your profile - Some of your information will already be in your Handshake profile. Check to be sure all pre-loaded information is correct. Pay especially close attention to your major and GPA (if included). If you find an error in any of your profile data, contact kdanzey@umw.edu.

You’ll need to decide whether to make your profile public or private.

A public profile, and most information in the profile, can be seen by any employer on Handshake and by your Career Services Center. (Note: There are some Handshake profile components, like GPA, that have their own privacy settings. So you can make your profile public, but your GPA private, for example). Your profile can’t be seen by other students or by Career Services Centers at other schools.

If you make your profile private, it can only be seen by you and your school’s Career Services Center.

You can switch your privacy status at any time, from private to public or from public to private.

The more information you add to your profile, the easier it will be for employer to find you and to make good decisions about whether or not you might be a good fit for their job postings.

How to Schedule an Appointment with the Career Center

  • Navigate to the Career Center dropdown at the top of your screen and select Appointments.
  • On the following page, you'll see any past and upcoming appointments you have scheduled. To request a new appointment, click the Schedule a New Appointment button.
  • You will see the option to pick a category and type of appointment.
  • Select the category and type of appointment you are interested in scheduling.
  • You will be taken to the next available appointment times once you have selected an appointment category and type.
  • Click on a time that works for you or click on staff member to see the availability of different staff members.
  • Enter details about the appointment in the What can we help you with? section and then click Request at the bottom of the screen.
  • You will be taken to the overview of the appointment where you can cancel the appointment or add comments before the appointment. ​
  • Make sure that you check your notifications for updates to the status of your appointment.

How to Search for Jobs and Internships

With thousands of employers posting collegiate hire jobs on the platform, Handshake can be an incredibly powerful tool for your internship and job searches. Taking time to understand Handshake’s search functionality will help you identify the best jobs for you. This article will give you strategies and tips to help strengthen your search skills.

  1. Start by clicking on Jobs and Internships on the left hand navigation bar. You will be taken to the Job Postings page. From here, there are various options available to view available jobs and narrow your search.
  2. To search for jobs using keywords, use the search box at the top of the page. Enter a few keywords and click Search.
  3. Another great way to search for jobs and internships is to use the filters and create a saved search. If you are looking for a summer internships in a specific city, you can set these as filters in your search! In this example, I have set Job Type = Internship and Location = Nashville, Tennessee.
  4. To sort the job listings, use the drop down arrow next to Sort By: Relevancy button on top right hand corner. Click on the arrow. Select the basis for your sorted job list from the options provided.
  5. As mentioned above, Handshake offers a variety of criteria to filter your search and create customizable search lists. Click on the drop down arrow just to the right of the criteria you’d like to filter. Options to select will appear. Select your options and click on Search at the top of the page. You may select as many options as you need. Some criteria options, e.g. Label, Major, etc., are specific to your school and input by your career services center.

For more information or assistance, contact Kyle Danzey at kdanzey@umw.edu.

Credits:

Created with images by Saulo Mohana - "At the bustling Times Square"

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