How Can I Get Approved By Institutions?

When signing up for Handshake, you will have the opportunity to select which institutions you'd like to connect with. Read below to learn about Best Practices. 

We recommend selecting 10-20 institutions to begin with, as you can always go back and add more by following the steps here.

• Once you have requested to connect with institutions on Handshake, this is automatically submitted to the Career Centre for review. It typically takes 1-5 business days for an institution to approve an employer's request.
• Your request will stay in a Pending status until the institution determines to approve or decline. You might also see an In Progress status, which means the institution has reviewed your profile, but is typically waiting for some information from you before they can make a decision to approve or decline your request.
• If you have any specific questions in regards to an institution's decision, you will need to contact the Career Services Centre at that university to inquire. This is because each institution is independently responsible for approving, declining, and giving permissions to their employers, and every institution has different deciding factors when selecting which employers to connect with. Only this institution's Career Centre can change your status with them on Handshake. 
  
  
• You can get the contact information of any University by searching for and clicking on the name of the institution in the topmost blue search bar. The information will be located on the left side of their profile page.

Best Practices: 

We find that the more accurate, up to date, and matching information that an employer provides when they first register and create their company profile, the more success they will have in getting approvals.

• Register for your Handshake account using a work-related email with a matching domain. (Read this article on what to do if you only have a generic email domain)
• Make sure your website is functioning and matches the company you'll be recruiting for 
• If you're creating a new company, enter in as much information as possible, which helps establish transparency between your company and institutions. (Click here to find out how to create a company on Handshake) 
• Request to connect with 10-20 institutions when initially signing up. If you select too many at once before establishing a presence on Handshake, you may damage your Trust Score. (Learn more here on how to increase your Trust Score)