If you’re unable to register for a career fair in Handshake, it usually means one or more required conditions are not met.
Before you register
To register for a career fair as an employer, all of the following must be true:
Your employer account must be validated by Trust & Safety and cannot be under review or suspended.
The career fair is visible and open for employer registration
Your company profile has not been declined by the school
Your user account is an employer account, not a student account
For Essentials and Enterprise customers, teammates can only register if the 'Manage Fairs' permission is enabled for their role by a company profile Owner or Admin.
If you’re unable to register, it may be due to one of the reasons outlined below. Review each section to identify and resolve the issue.
Check your account type
Students can register for career fairs as attendees, but employer registration uses a separate process.
If a colleague shares an employer registration link and you open it while logged into a student account, you will receive a permission error. This does not mean the fair is closed or restricted. It means the link requires an employer account.
How to resolve it
Log out and log back in using your employer account
-
If you do not yet have an employer account, create one using your work email.
Eligible roles and permissions
Employer registration for career fairs requires both an eligible role and the Manage Fairs permission.
Representative roles
Representative seats are available on Plus, Pro, Essentials, and Enterprise (formerly TES) plans.
If your account is assigned the Representative role:
You cannot register for career fairs
The Manage Fairs permission is not available for this role
This permission cannot be enabled, regardless of plan
If you need to register for career fairs, you must be assigned a non-Representative role.
Other employer roles
For all non-Representative employer roles:
Career fair registration is allowed
The Manage Fairs permission must be enabled
What to do if you cannot register
If your role is Representative, request a different role from your Admin or Owner
If your role is eligible but lacks the Manage Fairs permission, ask the company profile Owner or Admin to enable the permission.
To identify the Owner or Admin of your company profile, refer to Who Is the Owner or Admin of My Company Profile?.
Fair visibility and registration dates
Career fair visibility and registration windows are controlled by the school.
The fair does not appear in search
If you cannot find the fair after applying filters, the school may have hidden it from employers. Contact the school’s career center to request an invitation link.
Registration is closed
If the employer registration window has ended, the Register button will display Registration is closed. Only the school can advise on exceptions.
No Register button and no message
If you are on the fair page and there is no Register button and no message indicating registration is closed, continue to the next section Connection status with the school.
Connection status with the school
If a school has declined your company, employer registration for that school’s career fairs is not available.
How to check your connection status
At the top of the page, click in the search bar in the upper-left corner of Handshake.
Type the name of the school and select the school’s name from the dropdown list. This opens the school’s profile page.
Scroll down the page until you find the School Approval section.
What the status means
If the status displays Declined in a red oval, your company cannot register for that school’s career fairs. Learn more about being Declined by a School.
If the status displays anything other than Declined, your company is eligible to register, and you can continue troubleshooting.