Handshake's onboarding experience for new students is easy to use and efficient!
After signing up, students are asked a series of questions to help personalize their experience — these questions cover topics such as interests and skills.
Step 1 - Claim your account
Some schools may choose to create an account for you prior to your start date. If this is the case, you'll need to finish setting up your account using your provided .edu email address.
1. Go to https://joinhandshake.com/
2. Click the button Sign up located in the upper-right corner, or the bottom- center of the page.
3. Enter your .edu email address, then click the blue button Next.
4. If your school has created an account for you, your account will be displayed on the screen for you to claim. Click the blue button Get Started.
If an account hasn't been created for you, you can start the process by following the steps outlined in Getting Started with Handshake.
Step 2 - Confirm your account, create a password, and agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
An email is sent to your inbox to verify the account. Click the link Confirm My Account, located within the email to confirm your account. You'll be directed back to Handshake where you're prompted to create a password and agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy to proceed with the on-boarding process to set up your account.
Enter your password in the provided spaces, then check the box to agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
Note: Passwords must be 8+ characters and contain 2+ of the following categories: letters, numbers, and special characters.
Click the blue button Create account to proceed.
Step 3 - Confirm details
Once logged in, you'll be required to confirm a few details about yourself and your education plans.
Note: we allow students to decide how they'd like to share their information on Handshake. If you plan to keep this information private, or share it on Handshake, the decision is entirely up to the student and it can easily be changed at any time.
- First name (enter in the provided space)
- Last name (enter in the provided space)
- Major (Type in the box to search, then choose from the dropdown)
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Education Level (choose from the dropdown)
- High School
- Associates
- Certificates
- Advanced Certificates
- Bachelors
- Masters
- Doctorates
- Postdoctoral Studies
- Non-Degree Seeking
- Technical Diploma
- Graduation Month (choose from the dropdown)
- Graduation Year (choose from the dropdown)
- Required information by school (only presented if school has requested additional information)
Click the blue button Continue.
Step 4 - Choose your profile visibility
Upon agreeing to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, students are presented with the profile visibility options.
For more information on each of the options, refer to Profile Privacy Options in Handshake.
Note: when you click that you want employers to be able to find and view your profile, you're consenting to the section of our terms of service and claiming your own account. By doing so, you take ownership of the FERPA data and choose to share it. That information is no longer protected by your school's FERPA responsibility and is now owned by you.
Step 5 - Fill out your account information
We provide type ahead suggestions based on common answers, but this field will allow for other entries as well.
Pronouns
Pronouns help everyone on Handshake address each other in an inclusive, respectful way. They may be shared with employers and other students, depending on the visibility settings you choose. To learn more about this, refer to Employer Interactions with Students.
If you choose to enter your pronouns, you'll be prompted to display your pronouns to employers or other students. You may choose either or both options.
Demographic Information (optional)
Step 6 - Choose your employment preferences
Answer a few short questions for the opportunity to view relevant job opportunities!
What are you looking for?
Choose from the following:
- Full-Time Job
- Internship
- Part-Time
- On-Campus Job
Location
Type or choose any city you're interested in working in.
Industries
Type or choose the industries on your radar.
Company Qualities
Select what qualities you're looking for in a company. Your selection will help us give you better recommendations. You may choose up to 5 options for the
For more information on this, refer to the last section of Employer Attributes in Student On-boarding.
Types of jobs
Type or choose the job roles you'll be searching for.
Skills
Employers may reach out to students based on the information provided on their profile. To help employers find you, add the skills you'll bring to any future job!
GPA
Add your GPA to make it visible to employers.
Note: on mobile, students would need to uncheck the box for Make my GPA visible to employers to hide their GPA from employers. Once they've completed on-boarding, GPA visibility may only be changed via web browser.
Clubs or Organizations
Add any clubs or organizations you are a part of.
Work/Volunteer history
Add any places you've worked or volunteered.
Career Cluster
If your school offers career clusters, you may have the option to join a group of interest.
FAQs
How did you generate this list of attributes? We asked a diverse group of students from several different schools around the country what was important to them in an employer, and used their own words to generate this list. We then asked questions around what type of companies exist to further expand on the individual sections. We also did a text analysis of reviews that had been submitted by students about employers to pull out the words most used by students to describe those employers.
Who can view my responses? Employers will be able to search for students based on their responses. They can only search for students who have selected a certain attribute — they can't filter out students who have selected a certain attribute.
Why are the choices capped at five? Having a cap allows you to select the most important attributes that are the most meaningful.
Will this information be on my profile? At this time, the information won't be visible on the student's profile.