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Reviewing Applications in Handshake

Jennifer
  • Updated

Once your job is approved and candidates begin applying, you can review, evaluate, and manage applicants directly in Handshake.

 

Who can access and manage applicants?

Basic employers

  • Owners and Recruiters can view and manage applicants only for jobs they have personally created. Jobs posted by other teammates will appear on your list but are view-only.
  • After a job is closed, applicant data remains accessible for 30 days. To view applicant data beyond this period, you must upgrade to an eligible paid plan.

On-campus employers, Plus, Pro, Essentials, and Enterprise customers

  • All users, except Representatives, can access and manage applicant data indefinitely for both their own jobs and those posted by teammates, provided they have the appropriate permissions.
  • On-campus employers: You must be designated as an on-campus employer in your profile settings to review and manage applications for jobs created by teammates. This designation is enabled by the owner of the company profile. Learn more about Identifying as an On-Campus Employer on Handshake.

Features marked with an asterisk (*) are available only to Premium partners. For more information, please check out this resource.

 

How do I access applicants?

1. Click Jobs from the left navigation bar in Handshake.

2. Choose the job you want to review and manage. 

3. On the job posting page, click the Applicants tab to view everyone who has applied.

Applicants tab.png

 

How do I filter applicants?

Filters help you narrow your list so you can focus on candidates who match your criteria.

The filters available to you depend on your Handshake account type.

Filters available to all employers

  • Application status

    • Applied

    • Interviewing

    • Rejected

    • Hired

  • Matching qualifications

    • Latest graduation date

    • Minimum GPA

    • Majors

    • Work authorization

      • Note: When this filter is applied, candidates who meet your criteria or choose not to disclose their status will appear.

  • Application date range

  • Sourced through 

    • Promotions 

    • Messaging 

  • Education

    • Skills

    • Majors

    • Schools

  • Profile attributes

    • Labels

    • Not labels

 

*Additional filters for Pro employers

  • Recommended match 
    • Filter by 3-star, 2-star, or 1-star matches

*Additional filters for Essentials and Enterprise customers

  • Screening questions (Enterprise only)

  • Where candidate applied 

    • Handshake

    • ATS

To view a candidate's profile, click directly on their name. Learn more about Viewing Student Profiles.

All filters.png

 

How do I view and download application documents?

View documents 

Documents submitted by the candidate are listed in the Documents tab of the candidate's profile. 

  • If the job was updated to require documents after candidates applied, documents may not be available for all applicants.
  • Only documents submitted directly through Handshake will be available. Files shared via external links cannot be accessed in Handshake.

 

Download documents 

To download documents for a single candidate:

  1. In the Documents tab of the candidate's profile, click the download icon, then choose the document you wish to download.
Download documents icon.png

To download documents for multiple candidates:

  1. Select the checkbox next to each applicant, or use Select all in the header to select everyone. 
  2. Click the More dropdown in the action bar at the top of the list. 
  3. Choose Download applicant packages (PDF) to download the selected candidates' documents as a single PDF file, or Download applicant packages (ZIP) to download them in ZIP format.
Download applicant packages .png

 

How do I manage applicants?

You can take action on one or more applicants directly from the Applicants tab.

1. Check the box next to each applicant's name. To select all applicants, check the box in the header of the table. 

2. Once applicants are selected, an action bar appears at the top of the list with quick-access buttons and a More dropdown.

Quick-access actions (visible in the action bar)

  • Message

  • Move to interviewing

    Message and move to interviewing .png
     

Additional actions available in the More dropdown

  • Move to interviewing (with message)
  • Move to hired
  • Move to rejected
  • Move to rejected (with message)
  • Manage labels
  • Download applicant data (CSV)
  • Download applicant packages (PDF)
  • Download applicant packages (ZIP)
Actions from the more dropdown .png

 

Additional resources