Handshake is a career platform and job recruitment app founded in 2014 with the goal of helping college students and the Generation Z community find jobs and start their career. Students may be familiar with Handshake, as it is the main resource the university points to, especially for students looking for an on-campus job.
However, is Handshake as useful for job recruitment as it is made out to be? According to the results of a survey run by The Burr Magazine earlier this month, the answer is a resounding no.
Of those who answered the survey, 71.4% were freshmen, 21.4% were sophomores and 7.1% were graduate students. Of these students, 64.3% are currently employed, with only 14.3% of those students working an on-campus job. The other 50.1% were employed at a job off campus.
Overall, a majority of students who responded to the survey said they had used Handshake in the past, with only 21.4% of respondents saying they had never used the platform before.
Despite this, a whopping 0% of students claimed they were able to get a job through Handshake, with 9.1% of students saying they got an interview after applying through Handshake but were informed that they didn’t receive the job. The remaining 27.3% said that they never heard back from a job, while 63.6% claimed they have never received a job interview offer through Handshake.
Recruitment is another tactic used by Handshake to draw students to their app. The idea is that companies looking to hire can use recruiters to seek out potential candidates who meet their qualifications while also advertising their company.
However, those who responded to the survey found Handshake’s use of job recruiters to be less than helpful. Of those who were reached out to by a recruiter, 36.4% never heard back from the job, or did not apply because they felt the job posting was either a scam or a ghost job.
Comparatively, although 42.9% of students who used other job recruitment resources never received an offer from a job recruiter – in contrast to the 9.1% of students who never received an offer while on Handshake – those that did faced more positive outcomes.
For those who received an offer, 21.4% of students never heard back or didn’t apply because they didn’t qualify.
Most shockingly, only 14.2% of students who were reached out to by a recruiter didn’t apply because the job fell out of their travel region. This is 57.2% less than those who received an offer from a recruiter while using Handshake and didn’t apply due to the same problem.
Most students who responded to the survey didn’t have much to say when it came to the positives while using Handshake. At most, some students stated that they felt that the job was better suited for those looking for an on-campus job and that students should use Handshake as a last resort.
However, students who rely on on-campus employment stated otherwise.
“Handshake is the worst job searching site I have ever seen,” wrote Andy Prechachevawat, a graduate visual communication design major. “The condition in the International Student Visa only allows us to work on campus; [Handshake] does not accommodate the needs of international students at all,” he continued.
Even for those who do not rely on on-campus employment, it appears that Handshake is a flawed job recruitment resource – students are struggling to find employment opportunities due to these issues. Changes should be made to help better support students, especially for those who see on-campus employment as their only option.
Transparency
The results of the The Burr Magazine’s survey found within this article may be skewed due to the number of responses conducted during the survey. However, it is believed that the results of the survey are accurate and indicate a larger pattern regarding Handshake and student’s experiences with Handshake.
