Applicant List Upload

The Applicant List Upload tool allows you to upload a list of applicants from an external system to determine which of these candidates have interacted with you through Handshake. We’ll anonymize the information to preserve your data privacy. 

Note: Student accounts will only be displayed if the student has an active and public student account. Accounts that aren't activated or are set to private will not be included. 

This feature is available to Premium partners only. For more information, check out this resource!

Topics: 

• How to upload Applicant lists
• How Handshake anonymizes candidate data
• What happens to your hashed data after it is uploaded?

How to upload Applicant lists

Step 1: Prepare your file 

Create a spreadsheet in a CSV format with the following headers:

• First Name
• Last Name
• Email Address
• Job Title (data optional, to reference the job applied for)
  
• Status (data optional, to reference the applicant status)

Note: the file cannot exceed more than 10,000 Applicant records. If you need to analyze more records, you'll need to separate the file into multiple uploads. We recommend uploading files based on hiring season. 

Step 2: Upload your file 

1. Click Analytics on the left navigation bar. 

2. Click the External Applicants tab located under the Applicants section. 

3. Click the blue button Get started. 

4.  A pop-up will appear with our Data Privacy Policy. Click the blue button I Understand in the lower right corner to proceed. 

Note: if you don't wish to receive this message again, click the box to the left of Don’t show this again.

5. Click Select file in the lower right corner of the page to upload the anonymized .csv file to Handshake.

6. Click Import hashed data to import your data into Handshake for analysis. 

7. Handshake will begin to search for candidates with matching hashed values.

• • First, Handshake will search using the hashed candidate email against its own database of hashed user emails 
  • Next, all remaining records not found by email are searched using the hashed names

7. Handshake will retrieve details on your historical interactions in the last 12 months with these matched candidates.

• Handshake does not report on candidates that you have not interacted with in this 12-month period
• Handshake plans to continuously improve its matching algorithm and interaction data set in order to ensure every sourced candidate is matched and reported upon
• Because of limitations inherent in the matching process, the results may be incomplete

8. Handshake will generate an output spreadsheet with the information on your interactions on Handshake with matched candidates, one reflecting all exact email matches found and the other with all possible name matches.

• Only matches who interacted with you on Handshake will be provided
• Your customer success manager will receive these files and prepare them into an easily understood format

9. On a regular basis, Handshake deletes all uploaded files to ensure no employer-provided hashed data is stored in perpetuity.

How Handshake anonymizes candidate data

Once you have prepared a file with a list of applicants and have validated its format, Handshake will anonymize all fields in the file that could be used to identify the exact candidate. Specifically, Handshake will run a SHA-256 hashing algorithm on the First Name, Last Name, and Email fields in the file. This process will transform the plaintext names and emails into 64-character hexadecimal values that are functionally impossible to decrypt. As an example, “John Doe” would read as “6cea57c2fb6cbc2a40411135005760f241fffc3e5e67ab99882726431037f908” after hashing. You will have the opportunity to view a preview of these hashed values for verification before any data is transferred to Handshake. 

File validation and hashing take place in your browser on your computer. Handshake does not receive any data from your local system until after hashing and you explicitly click the button to upload. 

What happens to your hashed data after it is uploaded?

Handshake will begin the process to identify matching student accounts with the hashed fields. Handshake will identify the matching values produced by the hashing algorithm against its own set of hashed data, in the same way that web passwords are securely validated. Handshake compiles an output report summarizing your historical interactions with the matched Handshake accounts in the past 12 months. This output report is emailed to your Handshake success team.

Once the above process is complete, the original hashed file is deleted from Handshake’s system. Handshake does not hold on to the original file any longer than necessary to identify matching Handshake accounts. Unmatched records are never shared or stored.