Content Guidelines

Categories of inappropriate content:

1. Contains Personal Information

“Personal Information” is information which can identify a specific individual, creating a privacy risk. We will reject any Q&A which contain the following:

• First and Last name
• Any phone number
• Any email address
• Any home address
• Indirect information which clearly identifies a specific individual in a negative light

2. Negative comments about individuals not involved in leadership

Q&A should not discuss specific people, unless those individuals are leaders or senior executives who have broad influence over the organisation’s culture and environment. We will reject Q&A if:

• It criticises specific people instead of the internship experience or company culture.

We will not reject Q&A if:

• It is critical of the highest levels of leadership in the company. It’s ok to identify and/or criticise the owner, founder, president, vice president, executive director, etc., as long as it’s related to the company culture or internship experience.

3. Profane, vulgar, discriminatory, hurtful or illegal content

We will reject Q&A if it contains:

• Profanities or swear words.
• Inappropriate sexual comments.
• Comments about a person or group based on gender, race, national origin, or sexual orientation unrelated to the company culture or internship experience.

4. Contains confidential information

We will reject Q&A if it contains:

• Information on upcoming products or services.
• Non-public information about the company.
• Research & Development activities.
• Budgets or detailed financial information.
• Names of the employer’s clients or customers.

We will not reject Q&A because it contains:

• Internship compensation.
• References to public information or published negative press about a company.

5. Spam

Q&A should not contain any commercial or promotional content. We will reject Q&A if it contains:

• Content advertising or promoting a product or service.
• Links to products, services, or other companies, even if related to the internship.
• Links to other job listings or other job listing services.

Employer Guidelines

Please review the following employer guidelines regarding posted student Q&A content:

1. Students are encouraged to share honest feedback

We encourage students and alumni to provide honest, constructive answers in their own voice. Accordingly, not all Q&A will be positive. We believe honest feedback adds value to the platform, and to your presence on it. Students may edit, update, or delete their own Q&A at any time. If a student leaves a negative answer, please treat it as useful feedback and consider making changes where appropriate. We strongly believe that not all press is bad press; in fact, a negative Q&A may be an opportunity to make a highly positive public response.

2. You have the ability to flag inappropriate content for Q&A

If a student leaves an inappropriate or unfairly negative answer, you have the ability to flag the post for Handshake to review. Our content moderators will review the post against our internal standards and determine whether to keep the post up, remove the post from public view, or replace the post with a notice stating that the post was removed and why.

3. We will only remove posts in clear violation of our Terms of Service

At our sole discretion, we may choose to remove certain Q&A from the website. In most cases, we will notify the student of the complaint and provide an opportunity for them to correct the issue. Additionally, if we choose to permanently delete or allow the post, we will notify the flagging party and inform them of our final decision and rationale for doing so. If you are concerned about a specific Q&A or wish to contest a moderation decision by Handshake, you may contact us directly at moderators@joinhandshake.com.

4. Please flag responsibly

We believe students have the right to express themselves in their own voice, and we take a broad view on what constitutes appropriate content. While we recognise that some organisations are more protective of their internal practices and interactions, we will not automatically remove Q&A because it is flagged as containing confidential information. For example, flags based on unusually broad NDAs, references to pay estimates or layoffs as “trade secrets,” or potential negative publicity will likely not be removed by Handshake unless the content falls outside of our acceptable content guidelines.

5. We will refer certain content to university career services centres

In some situations, issues raised by a student regarding their internship are better addressed by the student’s university. In those cases, we will report certain content to university career centres and allow them to decide how to proceed. For example, if a student writes an answer containing allegations of sexual harassment, we will refer the matter to university career services and allow our content moderation team to determine whether to remove the Q&A from the website.