Handshake's Guide to Attending a Virtual Fair

Schools may choose to host career fairs virtually via Handshake. Similar to in-person fairs, employers that recruit from your school can register to attend.

Once the employer's registration is approved by the school, the employer creates a schedule for the virtual sessions they plan to host.

Employers can host two types of sessions to interact with students: 

• Group Sessions: intended for multiple attendees 
  
• 1:1 Sessions: intended for one student and one employer representative

The session length for both group and 1:1 sessions may vary! We recommend paying attention to session length when signing up — sessions may be 10, 15, 20, 30, 45, or 60 minutes.

In these sessions, employers will be identified as the Host, and they'll be able to share their screen with participants.

Click Events on the left menu, then click Medium from the filters located at the top of the page. From the dropdown, check the box next to Virtual.

All virtual fairs that your school is hosting or was invited to will be displayed on the page. 

Note: you can click on More Filters, then check the box for Posted by my school to discover events posted by your school only.

To save an event to review later, click the bookmark icon to the far right of the name to save it. When you're ready to access your saved events, click Saved, located in the upper-right corner of the event page.

To load the fair's overview page and review available sessions, click on the fair's name. 

To register for the Fair, click the button Register on the fair's overview page.

• From the overview page, click on the Available Sessions tab to review and sign up for sessions.
  • For details on this process, refer to Signing Up for & Managing Virtual Fair Sessions.
• To sign up for Group or 1:1 sessions, you may be prompted to update your profile's privacy settings. We recommend using Community to make the most of your Handshake experience, as this will allow you to participate in all fair sessions and engage with other students/alumni!
  • For more information on profile privacy, refer to Profile Privacy Options in Handshake.
• Review which employers are attending the fair (follow the employers you want to check back in with)!
  • For more information on following an employer, refer to Following an Employer in Handshake.

You'll be able to sign up for sessions at any point, even during the fair (as long as the session hasn't ended).

To help you prepare for a successful fair, check out the following tips and resources!

• Make sure you have the right setup to support session audio and video.
  • Attendee Requirements for Integrated Video
  • To request an ASL interpreter, refer to Requesting an ASL Interpreter or Transcriber for Virtual Interactions and Virtual Fairs: Accessibility.
• Complete your profile
  • How to Drive Profile Completion

For tips on attending a virtual fair, check out our blog post Attending a virtual career fair? Here are 10 tips you need to know.

All sessions will have the option for Handshake video, audio, and text-based chat. There's no customization for types of interaction. It is up to the employer and student joining the session to decide how they'd like to connect.

For details on day-of participation, refer to Participating in a Virtual Fair.

As long as you've signed up for the session successfully, you'll be able to join up to 5 minutes before the session starts and throughout the duration of the session. 

We want you to feel as safe as possible while attending virtual fairs and interacting with employers, so we've taken several steps to ensure your safety. Read more about these steps in Reporting an Issue at a Virtual Fair.

Once the fair has wrapped up, you can followup with employers in Handshake immediately after your session via the pop-up that appears automatically.

• If the session has multiple hosts, click the Send a message button to the right of the hosts name you'd like to continue a conversation with. 

• If the session has one host, the text box will load immediately.

Type your message within the text box, then click the Send button in the lower-left corner to continue the conversation.

Not sure what to say? We suggest to:

• Follow up on something you found interesting or helpful from the event. 
• Show your enthusiasm for a role, this company, or the industry. 
• Ask questions about the company.

You can follow up with recruiters later by:

• following their company profile (receive notifications of employer activity at your school)
• messaging other students or alumni that have worked for the employer or a publicly listed point of contact for the company
• responding to an employer message
• applying for an active job
• participating in an interview schedule
• attending an event

To review who you've attended sessions with, navigate back to the fair in Handshake with the direct link to the fair or browse using the Date filter on the Events overview page, then selecting "Past year".

Click on the Your schedule tab for a list of past sessions you signed up for. The session host's name, job title, and company will display.

Click the Send a message button, to the right of the host's information, to send a follow-up message.