Product Announcement—August 14, 2020

Recently Released

For Career Services…

Virtual Fairs—New Invite Template

We’ve redesigned the invitation email you can send to students using the “Invite Students” tab on any career fair. The new version has already shown a significant increase in engagement!

For Employers…

Virtual Fairs—Editing Schedules

Employers can now edit several aspects of a published virtual fair schedule:

• Marking time slot as busy
• Adding a new attendee for the fair
• Setting up 1:1s if the employer user is only in group sessions
• Adding / editing 1:1 session qualifications
• Renaming group sessions / descriptions
• Cancelling sessions

Virtual Fairs—Representative Account Type

We've launched a new “representative” account type for all employers that will make it easier for employees to participate in virtual fairs while receiving limited access to the rest of Handshake.

Coming Soon

For Career Services...

Virtual Fairs—Data

Later this month, we’re giving career services more insights into virtual fair session data:

• Which students have signed up for employer sessions
• Which students haven’t signed up for any sessions
• Which 1:1 sessions have qualifications set by the employer

Saved & Scheduled Reports

Building on the merged reports and data definitions updates, we’ll be adding the ability to:

• Save your favorite reports in Handshake and access a repository of saved report templates created by Handshake.
• Schedule reports to be sent to external systems or stakeholders (as an image, PDF, or CSV) on a regular cadence.

For Students…

Virtual Fairs—Android App

While Android users can currently access all virtual fair features via a mobile browser on their phones, we’re building these features into our Android app. The update will be released later this month.

Virtual Fairs—Profile Completion Prompt

Because virtual fair 1:1 sessions may include qualifications—major, school year, GPA, work auth status—set by the employer, we’re building a prompt to remind students registering for a virtual fair to keep those fields up to date. The update will be released later this month.

Virtual Fairs—Raise Hand

To help facilitate a better experience in large group sessions, we’re building a “raise hand” feature students can use to request to be unmuted. This will expand on employers’ ability to host “Ask Me Anything” style sessions. The update will be released later this month.

Virtual Fairs—”Just in Time” Email

We’re building an email to help drive more students to your virtual fairs if less than 50% of available employer session slots have been filled on the day before the fair. The goal is to ensure all employers have students to meet with. The email will recommend sessions with low signups to students who have expressed interest in the employer through Handshake. The email will be launched later this month.

• Read more about the “Just In Time” email here

Virtual Fairs—Join Multiple 1:1s per Employer

Currently, students can only join one 1:1 session per employer. In September, we’re releasing the option to register for more than one 1:1 session per employer in case the employer is sending multiple company division reps that the student is interested in meeting with.

Sharing Gender Identity & Pronouns

Following research with students and schools, we’ll be introducing the option for students to share their gender identity and pronouns on their profile in the coming weeks.

• This helps employers connect with candidates with underrepresented genders while also allowing students to express themselves authentically and safely on Handshake.
• Self-reported gender will only be visible to career services. Students will be able to choose whether to share their pronouns with employers or other students.

“Get Ready for Fall” Digest

We are supplementing our digest emails for students with two emails to activated sophomores, juniors, and seniors in early September. These emails will promote key actions to take in Handshake, like updating profiles and career interests. Any student who logs in after receiving the first email will not receive the second.

• Check out an example mockup of the "Get Ready for Fall" digest email here

For Employers…

Virtual Fairs—Additional Schedule Editing Options

In early September, we’re releasing additional schedule editing options for employers:

• Adding new group sessions
• Adding existing user to a group session
• Swapping schedules for a different user

Virtual Fairs—Group Session & Representative Increases

In early September, we’re increasing the number of group sessions an employer can schedule from 3 to 5 and the number of representatives they can send from 15 to 30. This will help employers—especially those hoping to have representation from multiple arms of the business—engage with more students.

Virtual Fairs—Scheduling Reminders

In September, we’re releasing two reminder emails to employers, prompting them to set up their schedules. Right now, an employer gets a notification to build their schedule when their registration is approved. These reminders will be send if they do not act on the first notification.

Evaluations & Check In Questions

In the next few weeks, premium employers will be able to add questions for students to answer when checking into an event or career fair and include standard questions for recruiters to fill out about a student while meeting with them. Premium and core (free) employers can currently take internal notes on a student’s profile.

Candidate Hub

In order to encourage recruiters to find new students on Handshake, we’re developing a hub that will help them discover which students would be good candidates for their open positions and reach out with thoughtful messaging.

• We’re also planning to introduce candidate digest emails, highlighting great students for employers to review.
• This feature will be available both for free and premium employers. Premium employers will have access to more advanced filtering, and to a comprehensive overview of past engagements with students—messages sent to the students, jobs they’ve applied for, events they’ve attended, whether they follow the employer, and more.

End-to-End Virtual Recruiting

In addition to virtual fairs and the candidate hub, this fall we’ll be introducing a variety of tools to help employers navigate a virtual recruiting season.

• Read more here about how core (free) and premium employer partners can engage students virtually this fall.
• Learn more about these and other virtual features at our upcoming Back to School Virtual Engagement Webinar on August 19th at 10am PT. Register here.