Reviewing Applications in Handshake

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

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.

1. Click Jobs from the left navigation 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.

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
Engagement
- Employer invited candidate to apply
Education
- Skills
- Majors
- Schools
Profile attributes
- Labels
- Not labels

*Additional filters for Plus employers

In addition to all filters above:

*Additional filters for Essentials and Enterprise customers

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

View documents

Documents submitted by the candidate are listed in the Application 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:

In the Application documents tab of the candidate's profile, click the gray Download document button, then choose the document you wish to download.

To download documents for multiple candidates:

Select the check box in the upper-left corner of the applicant list to select all candidates, or choose individuals manually. Then, click the More dropdown in the header.
Choose Applicant packages (PDF) to download the selected candidates’ documents as a single PDF file, or Applicant packages (ZIP) to download them in ZIP format.

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. After applicants are selected, the More dropdown becomes available above the table.

From this menu, you can take the following actions:

Need help crafting or sending messages to applicants? Read more about Messaging Applicants.
Not sure which status to choose or what each one means? Review Managing Applicant Status.
Looking to categorize or organize applicants? Learn more about Using Labels to Manage Applicants.
Want to export applications or create resume books? Refer to Download Applications / Create a Resume Book.

Handshake Help Center