Create an Employer User Account, Join a Company, and Connect with Schools

Ready to create an account with Handshake? Review our best practices, then follow the steps below to get started! 

Best Practices

• Sign up with your company-issued email address.
  • Signing up with your corporate email will help ensure you're connected with the right company.
• Are you unable to sign-up with a company-issued email, or does your company use a generic email domain? Check out Registering for an Employer Account with a Generic Email Address.
  • If you'll be using Handshake to post personal type jobs, review Posting Personal, Babysitter, Household, or Caretaker Jobs.
• Registering for someone else? Refer to Register for an Employer Account on Behalf of Another User.

Get started

1. Visit https://app.joinhandshake.com/employer_registrations/new and enter the following information: 

• Email Address
• Password (create new password) 
  • Note: passwords on Handshake must:
    • Contain eight characters or more
    • Contain characters from two of the following three character classes:
      • Alphabetic (e.g., a-z, A-Z)
      • Numeric (i.e. 0–9)
      • Punctuation and other characters (e.g.,!@#$%^&*()_+|~-=\`{}[]:";'<>?,./)

2. Click the blue button Sign Up, and on the next page, enter the following information:

• First Name
• Last Name
• Phone Number 
  • This is a free text field, format as desired.
  • A phone number is required to provide a point of contact for career centers. This information isn't visible to students. 
• Job Title
  • Enter your personal job title, and not the job that you are recruiting for.
• Country 
  • This information is collected to ensure that Handshake can observe all relevant practices in your country.
• Tell us the types of candidates you would like to find 
  • Check the box next to the major categories you'd like to source from.  
  • Note: while there isn't a way to add categories to this list, you may choose from additional major categories in the Preferences tab of your job posting. 
• Add your Alma Mater (the school you formerly attended and/or graduated from)
  • School Name
    • Type to search, or click the dropdown menu to search for and select your school.
  • Grad Year 
    • Click the dropdown menu to select your grad year. 
  • Note: if your Alma Mater is partnered with Handshake, an alumni contact entry will be automatically created at your Alma Mater. 

Note: your name, job title, Alma Mater and graduation year are displayed on your user profile. If you're publically listed on your company profile, students can view our user profile. Learn more about your Employer Account User Settings.

3. Click Next: Employer Guidelines. A popup will appear with Handshake Employer Guidelines, our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

• It's important that you review the guidelines and linked resources before you proceed.

Our guidelines require third party recruiters using Handshake to identify their account as such. Below the guidelines listed, you're prompt to answer the question "Are you a 3rd party recruiter working on behalf of another company?":

• If you are a third party recruiter, click the button Yes, then review our third-party recruiting policies, which reads "Job postings created by third parties must be for a single company. The description of the job posting must clearly state both the company name as well as the fact that you represent a third party firm recruiting on behalf of the company. You may not disclose any student information to another party without the written consent of the student", then check the box to the left of the text "I agree and comply with the above third-party recruiting policies." 
• If you're not a third party recruiter, click the button No.

4. Click the box to the left of the text "I agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy" to move forward and "I agree to recieve marketing messages including promotions and special offers from Handshake" if desired. 

5. Click Next: Confirm Email. The next page contains instructions on how to verify your account via the email address you used to sign-up. The email should arrive in 10 minutes with a link to confirm your account. Note: you must click the link in the email to proceed with the registration process.

If you don't receive a confirmation email, check out Troubleshooting a Missing Confirmation Email. 

6. When the email arrives, click the red button Confirm Email to verify your account. Email verification links are active for 12 hours after they are sent.

7. From here, you'll be redirected to Handshake to find and join your company, or create a new company profile. 

• The page will display a list of company profiles associated with your email domain. If there is more than one, review the details for each profile. Click the blue button Request to select that company profile. 
  • For third party recruiters, we recommend that you connect with the company you work for, or create a company profile if your company does not yet exist on Handshake, and then list your client's name in the job postings, as users can only be connected to one company profile per email.
  • If your company is found and you're part of a division, request to join your company and contact the owner of the company profile to add your division to the profile. Learn How to Add Divisions to Your Company.
• If you've accidently requested to connect with the wrong company profile, click the gray button Requested to undo the action. 

• If companies do not pre-populate, use the search bar to search for your company.
  • If your company does not exist, click the button Create New Company to the right of the page. For additional details, refer to How to Create a New Company Profile.
• If you're unable to locate your company, including a specific branch or division, or create a new company profile, contact our Support Team here. 

8. Once you've requested to either join an existing company or create a new company profile, click Next: Connect to Schools in the upper-right corner of the page to choose schools to connect with. 

We recommend connecting with 10–15 schools. You can always request more later. Learn more about School Network Management: Requesting, Adding, and Removing Schools.

Use the search bar to locate a specific school, or use the filters on the right sidebar to narrow and customize your search results.

You can filter schools by: 

• Region
• Location
• Rank 

To request to connect with individual schools, click the + button to the right of the school, then click Next: Finish.

Note: if you don't want to connect with any schools at this time, click Next: Finish to complete the signup process.

•  If you've created your company profile, you'll be redirected to your homepage in Handshake and prompted to set up Applicant Status Messaging Preferences. 
• If you've requested to join your existing company profile, the next steps are dependent upon the company profile settings.
  • If your company auto-approves new user accounts with their company email domain, you will be redirected to your homepage in Handshake and prompted to set up your applicant status messaging preferences. 
  • If your company doesn't automatically approve new user accounts with their company email domain, the request will be sent to the owner of the company profile for review and approval. For more information, refer to Pending Approval to Join Company.

Additional Resources

• Requested to join the wrong company? Refer to Canceling a Request to Join the Wrong Company.
• If you've automatically connected to the wrong company, refer to Leaving a Company in Handshake.
• If you've created a new company profile, check out Employer Owners & Admin Tools.
• Explore your Employer Account User Settings.
• Learn How to Post a Job.
• Learn more about Registering for a Fair (Employers).
• Ready to host your first event? Check out How to Request an Event.