About Student Emails

Activation emails introduce Handshake to students who have not yet logged in and encourage them to access their accounts.

These emails:

• Are sent to students who have been added to Handshake but have not logged in yet.
• Are timed based on account creation and ongoing activation campaigns.
• Share the value of using Handshake and can include curated job recommendations based on student information.

All activation emails are sent from noreply@joinhandshake.com.

For more information about activation emails, refer to Student Emails: Activation Email Campaigns (for 4-year institutions) and Student Emails: Community College Activation Campaigns (for Community and technical colleges).

Notification emails alert students about activity related to their Handshake accounts (events, jobs, messages, applications, and more).

Key details:

• Many notification emails can be turned on or off individually by students in their Notification Preferences.
• These messages are triggered by activity on the platform (for example, event invitations, document updates, application confirmations).
• Most notification emails are sent from notifications.joinhandshake.com.
• Event and career fair invitation emails are sent from mail.joinhandshake.com.

For a detailed list of optional notification emails and subjects, refer to Student Emails: Optional Notifications.

Transactional emails support sign-in and account security. They are sent directly in response to specific student actions on Handshake.

Examples include:

• Request to set password
• Request to reset password
• Temporary passcode
• Magic link

All transactional emails are sent from m.joinhandshake.com.

For more information on transactional emails, refer to Student Emails: Transactional Emails.

Virtual fair emails help students prepare for and follow up on virtual career fairs hosted in Handshake.

Key details:

• A series of notifications is sent to students who register for a virtual fair (registration confirmations, reminders, and updates).
• All virtual fair emails are sent from mail.joinhandshake.com. 

For more information on virtual fair emails, refer to Student Emails: Virtual Fair Notifications.

Marketing emails are automatically generated to students after they've activated their Handshake account.

These emails encourages students to:

• Fill out their profiles
• View job postings
• Apply to jobs in Handshake
• Is sent from g.joinhandshake.com.

For examples and timing of this series, refer to Student Emails: Newly Activated Student Onboarding Series.

Engagement emails (also known as Job recommendation digests) are generated to students based on their career interests and job search activity in Handshake. 

If a student hasn't been active for 27 days on the platform, Handshake will send a re-engagement email with a list of dynamic jobs and event recommendations (if available). 

Digest emails can include:

• Engagement digest emails with blog or video content and recommended jobs, employers, events, and fairs.
• Events recommendation digests that highlight upcoming events and fairs based on student skills and interests.
• Job recommendation digests that feature recommended jobs based on a student’s profile, career interests, and job search activity.
• Career fair digests summarizing employers a student connected with at a career fair.

Note: if your institution has opted out of marketing emails, students won't receive these emails.

For additional detail, check out Student Emails: Digest Emails.

Targeted emails are messages created and sent by institutions through Handshake to specific groups of students.

Key details:

• Career services teams compose the content and choose recipients based on filters (such as major, class year, or labels).
• Content varies by institution and campaign goals (for example, promoting career fairs, workshops, or resources).
• These emails are sent from mail.joinhandshake.com.

To learn how to create and send a targeted email, refer to Creating and Sending Targeted Emails.