Student accounts are typically pre-created in Handshake by your school using your institution-provided email address.
This email is set as your default primary email and is used to receive messages from your school, as well as Handshake notifications and marketing communications.
If you’d prefer to receive emails at a personal address—or you're preparing to graduate and want to maintain access to your Handshake account as an alum—you can add a personal (alternate) email to log into to your account and even set it as your primary email.
How to Add an Additional Email
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Click your account icon in the upper-right corner of the Handshake screen.
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Select Settings from the dropdown menu.
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Under the Account Information section find the Emails area.
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Click the link + Add another email.
A text box will appear—enter the email address you'd like to add and click Add.
Once added, the new email will appear as pending until you confirm it. You have 7 days to confirm before the request expires.
Troubleshooting Tips
If you don’t receive the confirmation email in your inbox, check your spam/junk folders. For more information, refer to Troubleshooting Missing Confirmation Email.
- To resend the confirmation, click the three dots next to the email and select Resend confirmation email.
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To remove an unconfirmed address, click Remove.
Confirmation Message
Once you confirm your email by clicking the link in the message, Handshake will display a success prompt:
"Your Email Has Been Confirmed
You can now use any email associated with your account to log in.
If you'd like to receive messages from Handshake, employers and your school at this email, make it your primary email (link to your settings page)
[Go To Homepage] (gray button)"
Example Confirmation Email
From: handshake@m.joinhandshake.com
Subject: Confirm Your Email
Body: "Confirm Your Email
You recently added [EMAIL ADDRESS] to your Handshake account.
Confirm this email to start using it with Handshake.
[Confirm] (link)"
Change your Primary Email
After confirming at least one alternate email, or if your school has added a second email address for you, you can change your primary email:
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In the Emails section under Account Information, click the three dots next to the email you want to make primary.
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Select Make Primary.
The change takes effect immediately. Your new primary email will appear at the top of the list with a purple Primary tag.
Note: Your school-provided email will always remain on your account and cannot be removed. To request changes to it, please contact your career center.
You can add or remove additional email addresses at any time. Changing your primary email won’t affect how you log in—your login method will stay the same.