Before deciding to delete your Handshake account, we encourage you to explore a few alternative options that may address your concerns. These solutions can often help you maintain access to valuable features and benefits without the need for deletion.
Recommendations Instead of Deleting Your Account
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Taking a Break From Projects?
You don’t need to delete your account to step away. Your account will be here if you want to return to projects later. -
Want to Be Considered for More Projects?
Keep your profile up to date with your most current resume, and fill out interest forms for the projects you’d like to be considered for. An up-to-date profile helps us understand your experience when new projects open up. -
Concerned About Your Privacy or Your Data?
If you use the careers platform, you can set your profile to Private. That hides your information from employers and other students while you keep access to your school’s career services. Learn more in Profile Privacy Options in Handshake. -
Getting Too Many Notifications or Emails?
You can change how and when you hear from us in your notification preferences. -
Not Looking for a Job or Internship Right Now?
If you also use the careers platform, you can update your career interests to reflect what you’re looking for today. To do this, refer to Step 4 in Update Your Career Interests.
Before you request deletion
Make sure you’ve received your last payment. Once your account is deleted, you’ll lose access to your Payments page and your earnings history. Before you submit a request, check that every pay week you worked shows as Paid and that the funds have reached your bank account.
How to Request Account Deletion
All deletion requests — regardless of account type (student, Handshake AI fellow, or alumni) — are submitted the same way, through Handshake’s Privacy Center:
- Open the Privacy Center.
- Select Requests from the left menu.
- Choose Delete Your Data.
- Enter the following information:
- Request details
- First name
- Last name
- Email (make sure to use your Handshake student account email address)
- Country
- State/Province
- Click Submit to send your request.
What happens after you submit
After you submit your request, you’ll receive an email from Ketch asking you to verify it. Ketch is the privacy request platform Handshake uses to securely process account deletion requests, so this email is legitimate and part of our process. It comes from noreply@m.ketch.com.
You have 3 days to respond to the email. If you don’t verify your request in that time, we won’t be able to process it, and you’ll need to submit a new request.
Didn’t receive the email from Ketch?
- Check your spam/junk folder.
- Confirm you entered your email address correctly, and check that inbox directly.
Once verified, what happens next depends on whether your account is affiliated with a school:
- Unaffiliated accounts: If only one Handshake account is associated with your email address, your deletion is handled automatically. We’ll send updates to let you know once the process is complete.
- Affiliated accounts: If your account is affiliated with a school, your request creates a Support ticket instead of completing automatically. Support will notify your school’s Career Services team and give them time to retain any data needed for their own reporting before your account is deleted. You’ll receive confirmation that your request was received while this is being handled.
- Multiple accounts on the same email: If more than one Handshake account (of any type) is linked to your email address, your request will also create a Support ticket for manual review, regardless of affiliation.
If you’re a Handshake AI fellow who also has a student account, your student account’s affiliation status determines how your deletion request is handled, following the same logic above.
If you run into issues submitting a request, don’t receive the verification email, or have questions about your specific situation, contact Support.