Fairs: Automatic vs Manual Invoice Creation

When it comes to invoicing employers who register for your career fair, you have two options: 

• Have Handshake create invoices immediately and automatically upon your approval of an employer’s fair registration (we’ll call this option “automatic” for the rest of this article)
• Create and send fair invoices individually at a time of your choosing, before or after registration approval (we’ll call this option “manual”)

Most institutions choose to have invoices created automatically to improve the efficiency of their career fair management process, giving employers the maximum amount of time to pay the invoice and reducing the risk of forgetting to invoice a registered employer. 

Note: No invoice will ever be sent to an employer without career services reviewing it and approving it for delivery. The automatic invoicing feature refers only to the invoice being automatically created, not automatically sent.

Invoice Setting 

To indicate whether you want to create invoices automatically or manually, you’ll use the “Approve employers before invoicing” checkbox located near the bottom of the Career Fair Details page.

• Check the box to turn on automatic invoicing.
• Leave the box unchecked to proceed with manual invoicing.

Automatic Invoicing 

Here’s what will happen if you use automatic invoicing, (meaning the “Approve employers before invoicing” box is checked for your career fair):

• Each time a you approve a registration (by moving the employer’s fair registration from “Pending” status to “Approved), a “New Invoice” popup will automatically open.
• When you’ve confirmed that the invoice is accurate, click the Finish and Send button to deliver it to the employer and any other designated recipients.
• If you choose not to send the invoice at the time it auto-generates, you’ll always have the option of creating and sending it manually later.

Manual Invoicing 

Here’s what will happen if you use manual invoicing, (meaning the “Approve employers before invoicing” box is not checked for your career fair):  

• When you approve an employer’s fair registration, an invoice will not automatically be created.
• At a time of your choosing (for example 30 days before the fair), you need to manually create and send an invoice to each registered employer.

Updating an Existing Fair 

To confirm an existing fair’s invoicing setting (and/or to change the invoicing preference) follow these steps:

1. Click Fairs on the left navigation bar.
2. From the list of fairs, click the name of the fair you’d like to review or edit.
3. Click Edit in the upper-right corner.
4. Scroll down to the Employer information section and locate the “Approve employers before invoicing” form field heading.
   • If the box is checked, invoices will automatically generate upon registration approval.
   • If the box is unchecked, all invoices for the fair must be created manually, anytime after registration approval.
5. If you change the fair’s invoicing setting (by checking or unchecking the box), be sure to click the Update Settings button at the bottom of the page to save your change! 

Additional Resources

To learn how to set up a new fair (including setting your invoicing preference) see Career Fairs: Creation.

To learn how to send invoices see How to Send an Invoice.