Handshake Power-Up
Simplify Your Job Search in 3 Steps
By completing these three quick steps (30 minutes) on Handshake, you will simplify your job hunt and ensure you are visible to top employers when the spring recruiting season officially kicks off.
- Step 1: Complete / update your profile
- Step 2: Set up / change your career interests
- Step 3: Save your searches / get notified
The good news is that you can update each step as frequently as you want.
Step 1:
Complete Profile
Get Discovered!
Your Handshake Profile is how 700,000+ employers search for their next candidate. A complete profile is key to getting noticed. You should complete your Handshake Profile and keep it up to date.
How you benefit:
- Get recruiters’ attention. Students with complete profiles are 3X more likely to receive direct messages, event invitations, or interview requests from recruiters.
- Be ready for spring semester. Ensure you are immediately searchable and visible to employers who are actively setting their hiring strategies for the new year.
What you should do:
- Go to your profile by clicking on “my profile” under your profile picture on the top right of the screen.
- Look down the page for the skills area and list your skills. Check out this resource for ideas.
- The work experience area is below skills. There, detail all work experience, projects, and organizations. This can include experiences in organizations, volunteering, summer jobs, etc.
Example screens:
Select “My Profile” under your image.
Scroll down and complete the “Skills” and “Work Experience.”
Step 2:
Define Career Interests
Personalize Your Feed
If you only search for jobs without setting your interests, you are missing out on the platform’s core benefit: personalization!
How you benefit:
- Personalize your feed. Handshake acts as your personal job agent, filtering thousands of listings to deliver a job feed tailored 100% to your goals.
- See what matters most to you. By selecting desired roles, industries, employers, locations, and more, you limit time-consuming scrolling and focus on opportunities that fit your preferences.
What you should do:
- Go to the “career interests” section of your profile.
- Specify the type of job you seek (full-time, internship, etc.).
- Select your preferred job roles, industries, and locations (local and national).
Example screens:
Select “Career Interests” under your profile image. Complete the page and hit “Save.”
Step 3:
Setup Search/Alerts
Automate Your Hunt
Don’t search every day—let the jobs come to you! This is the most effective way to guarantee you never miss a new posting.
How you benefit:
- Decide what you want. Create a search.
- Set up alerts that will notify you. Enable job alerts to receive email or text notifications (daily or weekly) the moment a new listing matches your exact saved criteria.
- Save time. You spend minutes setting it up now, and Handshake works in the background for you all semester.
What you should do:
- Perform a detailed search using filters.
- Toggle the “get alerts for jobs like this.”
- Click “update preferences.”
- Give your search a title, choose how you want alerts and their frequency.
Example screens:
In the “Jobs” area filter to see that jobs that interest you. To save the search, click the highlighted toggle. Then, click the highlighted “Update Preferences” link.
Click “Edit” next to the top link (the one you just completed). Give it a new title that you will remember. Choose how you want to be notified. Finally, select the notification frequency and hit “Save.”
Bonus:
Get insider info.
Collections
Employer Relations has done the sorting for you! Collections are curated lists of opportunities grouped by specific criteria (e.g., “Hot Opportunities” “Wake Friendly” “On Campus Organizations”).
How you benefit:
- Get access. Immediately browse a curated list with insider info.
- Explore new paths. Find interesting events and opportunities you may not have thought to search for on your own.
What you should do:
- Login to Handshake.
- Look for the Collections in Handshake under Career Center, Jobs, and Events.
Select “Career Center” and “Collections.”
Select “Jobs” and “Wake Forest Collections.” Choose a collection.
Select “Events” and “Wake Forest Collections.” Choose a collection.
Congratulations! You are now ahead of the game. Enjoy the rest of your break knowing your Handshake account is actively working for you.