Are you a Career Services staff with a few questions about the premium employer features in Handshake? Check out these FAQs to learn more!
Overview
Q: Where do I refer employers who are interested in Handshake Premium employer features?
A: If you connect with an Employer who is interested in this offering, please direct them to our website, where they can learn more and request a demo. https://joinhandshake.com/employers/
Q: How can I identify which employers are paying for premium?
A: There is not a filter for premium employers from the Career Services view. However, if you are logged into your Career Services account and view as a student, you will notice that premium employers have a revamped profile page. We will be adding a way for you to find premium employers more directly in the future.
Q: Can you give us an idea of price structure for premium features?
A: Much like our university contracts, premium employer contracts are annual and vary on an employer-by-employer basis. Generally, the more internship and entry-level hires an employer makes per year, the more expensive the contract. We do not charge for individual job postings and we do not charge for access to any individual school.
Messaging
Q: Are all employers (both free and premium) only able to message/search for students who have opted into making their profiles public?
A: Yes - Students always have control over when and how they show up to employers. Only students that have specifically opted-in to having a public profile can be searched for and messaged by an employer. If a student has applied to a job, they can be messaged by that employer via their application.
Q: What are the messaging differences for free vs premium employers in Handshake?
A: Free employers are limited to 100 messages per company, per recruiting season. Free employers are only able to send one message at a time. They have access to basic search filters.
Premium employers can send 100 messages at a time to public students at schools they are approved at, and send more messages per season than free employers. To keep these messages relevant and targeted, Premium employers have access to additional targeting filters and a dedicated Customer Success Manager. We also monitor the engagement rates of all of our messaging to ensure students find the messages valuable. We will limit messaging from any employer who is sending spammy messages, whether or not the employer is paying for premium features.
Q: Message limits are set per recruiting season. How do you define a recruiting season?
A: Recruiting seasons mirror the semester structure (Spring, Summer, Fall). Employers can proactively send 100 messages per season across all the schools they're connected to. They can still message students who applied to one of their jobs without the cap on messaging.
Q: Is the 100 message per recruiting season limit for free employers 100 per school or 100 across every school the employer is connected with?
A: The 100 message limit for free employers is across every school the employer is connected with. We do not charge for access to an individual school.
Branding Pages
Q: Premium employers have a branding page with the ability to create additional customized content based on a student's major. Will you offer customized branding based on student career interests to premium customers?
A: Right now, premium employers have the ability to customize content based on the specific major groups they are targeting. We will consider allowing separate branding for student career interests in the future.
Q: How does the updated branding page fit in with the update that breaks employer users into administrator and recruiter roles ?
A: Handshake has released updates related to the organization of employer roles and company profile management! These updates will affect all employers in Handshake - both free and premium. Explore the Employer Roles and Admin Tools and A Guide to Employer Role Types in Handshake Help Center articles for more information.
Jobs / ATS
Q: Handshake is introducing a new Direct Apply feature. If an employer wants to use the new feature to direct students straight to their external Applicant Tracking System (ATS), can you still coordinate an interview for that job through Handshake?
A Yes - if an on-campus interview is set up for the job in Handshake, students will be required to submit a resume through Handshake when they click the Apply button on. After that, the system will redirect to the Employer's ATS.
Q: If students apply to positions through the employer's ATS, does that job still show up on the applications page in their account?
A: Yes, Handshake will indicate that the student "applied" in Handshake and was redirected to the ATS.