Creating and Managing a Time-Slotted Event

Time-slotted events allow career centers to create and manage 1:1 meetings between students and campus visitors, such as alumni, employers, and career coaches. 

Use time-slotted events for mock interviews, coffee chats, and other short meetings.

Create a time-slotted event

1. Open the Events page in Handshake.
2. Click New in the upper-right corner, then select Scheduled sessions.

Event details

Complete the following fields:

• Name: Enter a short, descriptive event name that communicates what students will get out of the event (85-character maximum).
• Description: Enter a clear, concise description that includes an agenda (2,500-character maximum).
• Contacts: Add the contacts associated with the event. Their contact information is displayed to students attending the event. You can add more than one contact. Search for a Handshake user or click Create it here to add a contact manually.
• Date and time
  • Date: Enter the event date.
  • Start time: Enter the event’s start time.
  • End time: Enter the event’s end time.
  • Timezone: Select the time zone in which the event is hosted.
• Time slot length: Select 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, or 60 minutes.
• Event location
  • In person: Select this option to host the time-slotted event in person.
  • Virtual only: Select this option to host the time-slotted event virtually. Enter an external meeting link under Choose Hosts. Handshake video is not currently supported for scheduled sessions.

• Additional Questions*: If a survey is required to proceed to the next step, the questions appear here.

Click Next step: Visibility and branding to proceed.

Visibility and branding

Complete the following fields:

• Image: Your institution’s logo appears by default. To upload a custom image, click Change Image. To remove the image, click Delete Image. For image dimensions, refer to Handshake Image Size Guide.
• Employer Attendees: Add any employers attending the event. Students can view the participating employers, and the event appears on those employers’ Events page. For more information, refer to Events: Inviting Employers.
• Event category: Select up to two categories to help students find your event. Employer-related categories become available only after an employer is added. Academic resources and General topics are not available for time-slotted events.
  • Career guidance: Resumes, mock interviews, workshops, advising, career education, professional development, and mentorship programs
  • Networking: Socials, meet and greets, cookouts, and mixers
  • Active hiring: Active recruiting for internships and full-time opportunities
  • Learn about employers: Information sessions, speakers, and panels
  • Career fair related: Events associated with career fairs, including events before and after a fair
  • Conferences: Conferences, expos, summits, trade shows, and symposiums

Click Next Step: Attendance to proceed.

Attendance

Complete the following fields:

• Student welcome message (optional): Toggle this option on to include a custom message in the confirmation email students receive after registering.
• Admission: Select Invite Only to restrict event visibility to invited students. Otherwise, leave this option unselected.
• Attendee survey: Attach a survey for students to complete when registering. Surveys are created separately in Handshake and then linked to the event. For instructions, refer to Creating and Testing Surveys.
• Name tag (optional): Toggle this option on to sync a printer to Handshake and print name tags when students check in to your in-person event. For more information, refer to Printing Attendee Name Tags.
• Participating institutions: Add other institutions whose students can register for the event. Students from those institutions can find and register for the event in Handshake.

Students receive an email after registering for a time-slotted event, 24 hours before their scheduled session, and if the session is canceled. The registration confirmation includes the time, location, and host for each session the student selected.

Click Next Step: Choose Hosts to proceed to the final step.

Choose hosts

Add the host information:

• Name: Enter the name of the contact hosting the event.
• Room/Location: Enter the location for the host’s sessions.
  • In-person events: Choose a room or location. If the location has not been determined, use a placeholder, such as “TBD.”
  • Virtual events: Enter an external meeting link from your preferred video provider.

Select Save as pending to finish setting up the event later, or Publish event to publish it.

Manage a time-slotted event

Event information and status

The upper-left section of the event page displays:

• Title
• Status: Select the pencil icon to update the event’s status.
  • Approved events can be set to Pending.
  • Pending events can be set to Approved or Declined.
  • Declined events can be set to Pending.
  • Canceled events cannot be changed to another status.
• Date
• Time
• Type of event
• In-Person or Virtual event
• Location: For in-person events, the location appears below the organizer and creator information.
• Organized by career center
• Created by user

Below the event information, the following sections display registration and attendance information:

• Registered/Capacity: The number of registered students and spaces available for students to register.
• Invited: Students who have been invited to the event.
• Checked In: The number of students who checked in to their session.

Event actions

The upper-right corner of the event page includes these options:

• Launch kiosk: Open the kiosk to check students in to the event.
• Invite: Open a dropdown menu with two options:
  • Get shareable link: Copy a shareable URL for students. Only students who meet the applied qualifications can register for the event.
  • Invite students (legacy): Invite students using the legacy method. For instructions, refer to Events: Inviting Students.
• Edit: Return to the Event details tab to edit the event.
• Three-dot menu: Click the three-dot icon to the right of Edit to open additional event actions:
  • Email attendees: Choose the group you want to email, then select Create email to open the targeted email draft.
  • Get check-in QR code: Download the check-in QR code as a PDF or PNG.
  • Add qualifications: Open the legacy qualifications page to set student qualifications, including School year, Cumulative GPA, Major Groups, Colleges, Required Labels, and Career Clusters.
  • Manage collections: Open the collections side sheet, select one or more collections, then click Save to add the event to those collections.
  • Add attachment: Open the New attachment page to browse your computer and add an attachment to the event.
  • Duplicate event: Open the Event details tab for a duplicate event. The new event’s title begins with “Copy of”.
  • Cancel event: Cancel the event. A prompt asks whom you want to notify and whether you want to include a custom message before confirming the cancellation.

Note: Canceling an event cannot be undone.

Event tabs

Use the tabs in the center of the event page to review information and manage sessions.

Schedule

The Schedule tab lists the hosts and students scheduled to attend the event. Use the three-dot menu on the right side of the screen to mark the schedule as available or add an attendee. You can also remove an attendee after adding them.

The following rules apply to session bookings:

• Students can book up to three time slots per event, with three different hosts.
• Career services users can assign time slots to students.
• Career services users can cancel a student’s time-slot registration to make the slot available to other students.
• Students cannot swap time slots with other students.
• If a student unregisters while signed up for a session, the host and relevant staff receive an email notification.
• Students can be moved to other sessions if a host cannot attend their session.

Overview

The Overview tab displays registration progress and additional information, including Participating schools, Participating employees, Labels, and students who recently registered or were waitlisted.

Comments

The Comments tab provides a space for discussion between your institution and participating employers. Actions taken by the event host are also recorded here.

The legal disclaimer shared with students appears on the left side of the screen. Select Edit in preferences to update the disclaimer in Event Preferences.

Notes

Add notes and share them with other staff members, or keep them private.

Use the three-dot menu to Edit or Delete a note.

Access student resumes

• Employers can review students who attended the event and download their public resumes. Employers can also open student profiles to view resumes. For more information, refer to Downloading Public Resumes.
• Career services teams can download public resumes and share them proactively with employers. For instructions, refer to Download a Student Book.