Handshake offers the ability to message other students and alumni on the platform! This feature is aimed at giving you an even greater ability to connect with and learn from your peers.
To send and receive messages from other students and alumni on Handshake, you must have your profile privacy set to Community. For more information on privacy options and steps to update, refer to Profile Privacy Options in Handshake.
Topics:
- Finding peers to connect with
- Composing a Message
- Guidelines
- Handshake Templates
- Receiving a Message
- Flagging a Message
Finding peers to connect with
You can find peers to message via the following ways in Handshake:
- An active Job Posting
- The Explore Students page
- An Employers company page
- Reviews
- Questions & Answers
An active Job Posting
To encourage students to learn about jobs and employers they're interested in, Handshake offers the ability for students to message peers directly from a job posting.
Note: message-able peers are only displayed if the job doesn't have a message-able job poster, and a peer is surfaced. Not all jobs will have message-able peers displayed.
Message-able peers are based on numerous factors in Handshake: recent activity, messaging volume, response rates, job role similarity with current job, etc.
Jobs with message-able peers can be identified directly on the Jobs default page — the posting will state "Talk to peers" in blue text, located below the job title, company, and location information.
Once a job is selected, there'll be an Ask a peer about their experience section, located below the Role Description. Up to three peers will be displayed with the following information:
- Name
- Avatar
- Role during relevant experience
- Year of relevant experience
- School
- Graduation year
Click the blue button Send a message to start a conversation.
Within the pop-up, a pre-filled message includes the following info:
- Name of the job
- Name of the employer
Click in the text box to add your custom message, then click the blue button Send Message to send!
Explore Students page
While the student homepage layout has been updated, you can still access the Student Community via two ways in Handshake:
- Your Profile
- Locate the Discover More Students section, located on the left side of the page, then click the blue link Discover students like you across the Handshake network.
- Your Handshake homepage
- Navigate to your homepage, then type "/students" at the end of the URL, or by click on this link: https://app.joinhandshake.com/students
A list of messageable students will be displayed on the right side of the page with a summary of the profile, which includes the peers: name, school, school year, major, two most recent employers, and two most recent organizations.
Use the filters on the left of the page to search for students alumni based on attributes:
- Name search (keyword)
- Your school only — all participating students and alumni will be listed by default, so you can use this filter if you'd like to only view peers connected to your current school.
- Alumni Only
- School Years
- Majors
- Previous Employers
- Student Organizations
To send a message, click the white button Message to the left of the peers name — or click on the peers name to access their student profile, then click the blue button Message to send a message.
Skip to Composing a Message for further instructions.
Employers Company page
Peers with a public profile who indicate they've worked for an employer will be displayed on the employer's profile page in Handshake under the Students Who've Worked Here section.
Only 3 peers will be displayed on the employers page at a time. Click the white button Message, located below the peers name to send them a message directly from this page.
To access other peers profiles, click the gray button See All — a list of peers will be displayed on the page. To send a message, click the white button Message to the left of the peers name - or click on the peers name to access their student profile, then click the blue button Message to send a message.
Skip to Composing a Message for further instructions.
Reviews
If you would like to contact a student who left a review on an employers page, click the tab Reviews at the top of the page under the company name. For students that are messageable, a white button that states Ask [NAME] more about this experience will be displayed in the lower-right corner of the review — click the button to send a message.
Skip to Composing a Message for further instructions.
Questions & Answers
If you would like to message a student who answered a question on an employers page, click on the question you'd like more details about.
Only 3 questions will be displayed on the employers page at a time. Click the gray button See All to access all questions and answers related to the company profile.
If the student that responded to the question is messageable, a white button that states Ask [NAME] more about this experience will be displayed in the lower-right corner of their response — click the button to send a message.
For more information on using the Q&A feature, refer to Student Q&A (Question & Answer) in Handshake.
Composing a Message
Guidelines
If you have never sent a message before, you'll first need to agree to our content guidelines:
- Be professional and career focused
- Use appropriate and respectful language
- Understand that messages may be moderated by your school and/or Handshake
Click the box to the left of each guideline to add a checkmark, then click the blue button OK to accept and proceed.
Handshake Templates
Choose a topic you'd like to inquire about:
- Professional Experience
- Ask what it's like to work for a particular company
- Education Recommendations
- Ask about a grad school program you're interested in.
- Resume Advice
- Ask about how you can best highlight your unique experiences when crafting your resume.
- Interview Advice
- Ask about how you can best prepare for an upcoming Interview.
- Reviews or Q&A
- Ask a follow up question about a Review or a Q&A question that was answered.
- Other career related topic
- Ask something else related to your career search.
Once you've selected your topic, you'll be able to craft your message. Handshake provides you with a template to help get you started –– just fill in the "blanks" with your specific questions.
If you'd prefer to customize the full message, click clear all and write your own message at the bottom of the prompt.
If you'd like to change the topic, click the X to the left of the topic within the blue bubble.
Once you're happy with your message, click Send!
A confirmation will indicate your message has been sent successfully. You can go to Inbox to view the sent message. For more information on managing your messages, refer to How to Use Messages in Handshake.
Note: the person you sent a message to will have to accept your message to reply. You'll get a notification from Handshake when they write back!
Receiving a Message
When other students or alumni send a message to you, you'll receive a notification from Handshake:
- A red bubble with a number will be displayed in the upper-right corner of your Inbox in Handshake.
- An email will be sent directly to your Handshake email address.
- Click View Request and Accept/Decline to access the message in Handshake.
You'll have the option to allow or decline the message.
Click the:
- Blue button Allow if you accept
- You'll be able to respond to the message.
- White button Decline if you don't choose to accept
- You'll get a prompt to tell us why you're declining.
- Note: the sender won't receive a notification that their message was declined.
- You'll get a prompt to tell us why you're declining.
Flagging a Message
If you receive a message that violates Handshake's guidelines, you have the option to flag the message.
Flagging a message will stop the other person from messaging you further, and the conversation will then be reviewed by Handshake's Trust and Safety team — your school may also be looped in if needed.
Note: when a message is flagged, Handshake doesn't notify the message sender.
To flag a peer message, click the three dots menu in the upper-right corner of the message, then click Flag Conversation.
Help us keep Handshake safe by telling us why you’re flagging this conversation by clicking one of the following options:
- Scam or spam
- Inappropriate content
- Abusive or threatening
- Something else
Add any additional details about the action in the text box, then click the blue button Submit in the lower-right corner of the pop-up to flag it.
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