Maintaining alumni involvement on Handshake is essential for fostering a strong and supportive network that positively impacts both recent graduates and current students.
Alumni on Handshake can provide valuable insights, mentorships, and connections for those currently enrolled at your institution. Their ongoing involvement on the platform can also improve the reputation and scope of your institution's network, drawing in a greater number of employers and opportunities to the platform.
To learn about the benefits alumni may experience on Handshake after graduation, refer to Using Handshake After Graduation.
Consider the following before archiving student accounts:
- Students accounts should be archived upon student request or if absolutely necessary.
- Accounts can be unarchived - however, if other career services members at your institution are unaware of a student’s account being archived, they may suggest that the student create a new account. At this time, accounts cannot be merged so data cannot be connected between two accounts.
- Data and information from an archived account may include: appointment history, fair participation, job applications, experiences, and more. These key points could help shape their career growth.
- Students may want access to the CV or job history attached to their Handshake account and will be unable to retrieve it unless they request for their account to be reactivated.
- Alumni with archived accounts may still want to use Handshake post-graduation.
- If your institution currently runs automated jobs through Importer, the file will need to be updated to reflect students whose accounts have been archived. If a student requests reactivation, the file will need to be updated once more to reflect this change.
To ensure a smooth transition in managing student accounts to alumni on Handshake, we recommend the following:
- Update Data Through Student Sync: regardless of whether students keep their institution's email address or not, you'll need to update their records via the Importer. For more information on this, refer to Importer: Updating Graduating Students to Alumni.
- Encourage Email Changes: To ensure students can access Handshake long after their institution's email address is archived, send an email requesting they update their primary email address in Handshake. This may involve sending targeted emails and providing a deadline before archiving accounts. Check out Creating and Sending Targeted Emails for more information on creating and sending targeted emails.
- SSO Access for Alumni: Alumni can continue to use Single Sign-On (SSO) if their account is not disabled after graduation and if the institution allows continued SSO access. If SSO access isn't an option, inform alumni to create a new Handshake-specific password. Refer to Log In as an Alum: Set your Handshake Password for steps on how students can create a Handshake password.