Tutorials, data, and updates for staff and faculty at the University of Minnesota.Career Services Administration brings you the ‘Handshake at the University of Minnesota,' a monthly newsletter for student-facing staff or simply staff who want to know more about Handshake from the student perspective. Each month, we’ll show you: “Student how-to’s”, University-wide data pulled directly from Handshake, and share relevant behind-the-scenes information about the specific topics. *Handshake was previously referred to as GoldPASS powered by Handshake. You may see the term GoldPASS still used in some videos, training material, and in past editions of the newsletter. |
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Previous Newsletters
August 2022 - Virtual Fair Help Resources
| HOW TO SUPPORT STUDENTS AND EMPLOYERS DURING A FAIR
We want our staff to be well equipped when helping students and employers during fairs, especially virtual fairs. These Handshake articles are a great source of information to help prepare for assisting during your next career fair.
FUN FACTS OF THE MONTH
*Data Disclaimer: At this time, nearly all student information (school year and college) is self-reported or not reported at all. Data was collected on August 16th, 2022. The student participant count is all the student participants; not only unique participants. BEHIND THE SCENES
Handshake offers help during virtual fairs! Not only do they offer great articles like, Common Employer Questions. They also have a curated Launch Kit full of helpful tools for our faculty and staff to utilize.
JULY JOB COMPARISONS
As summer comes to a close, Handshake still remains steady in the number of jobs posted for our students.
BONUS POST: BEST PRACTICES FOR HYBRID FAIRS
As we transition back into in-person career fairs it's important to remember that virtual fairs are still an option! In fact, creating hybrid fairs lets colleges reach more students by giving them the choice to attend the format they are most comfortable with.
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September 2022 - Top Three Things Students Should Know About Handshake as They Start the New Year
| NUMBER 1: UPDATE PROFILE
When students have an up-to-date profile, they will receive push notifications for relevant fairs, events, and jobs. This allows students to have a more personalized experience on Handshake.  NUMBER 2: FILL OUT CAREER INTERESTS Students are messaged, marketed to, and see relevant jobs based on their profile and selected career interests. 80% of students who fill out their preferred job type, locations, and job roles will receive a message from a recruiter.
Did you know students cannot apply to jobs through Handshake without having an approved resume on file? Some colleges automatically approve resumes, while some review the student’s first uploaded resume to ensure they make a good impression with employers. This can take up to two business days. The colleges that review the first resumes are: CCAPS, CDes, CEHD, CFANS, CLA, CSE.
AUGUST JOB COMPARISONS
Finishing off the summer strong! Over 16,000 jobs were posted to Handshake for our students and alumni this August.
Don’t forget to have students check out upcoming events! It is a great opportunity to meet new people and network.  |
October 2022 - Internships
| HOW TO SEARCH FOR JOBS AND INTERNSHIPS
Knowing how to search effectively for positions on Handshake is very important. Students and alumni can use the filters to create saved searches and receive push notifications for jobs that meet their criteria, allowing them to stay on top of their job search!  FUN FACT OF THE MONTH
*Data Disclaimer: At this time, nearly all student information (school year and college) is self-reported or not reported at all. Data collected on October 10th and 11th, 2022. Some colleges (such as CLA, CFANS, CDES, CCAPS, CBS, and CSE) use Handshake to track internships or co-ops, particularly for-credit internships, which Handshake calls 'Experiences.' Every Experience request is looked at by a member of the career services team before it is sent to approvers. Approvers include a site supervisor from the organization, a course instructor (depending on the college), and a Career Services staff member. This process allows everyone involved to be on the same page, and agree to the terms of the Experience as outlined.
SEPTEMBER JOB COMPARISONS
Fall recruiting season is in full swing! The number of jobs posted this September on Handshake rose by more than 3000.
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November 2022 - Peer to Peer Messaging
| HOW TO MESSAGE PEERS IN HANDSHAKE
Peer to Peer Messaging allows students to connect with each other even if they do not go to the same university. Students can use templates composed by Handshake or they can compose their own message. This Handshake feature provides a great opportunity for students to ask each other career questions!  FUN FACTS OF THE MONTH The results are in… our students are using Peer to Peer messaging! Our students are connecting with peers outside of our institution to gain knowledge about career opportunities and paths.
*Data Disclaimer: At this time, nearly all student information (school year and college) is self-reported or not reported at all. Data was collected on November 2nd, 2022. Did you know that students can change their profile privacy setting at any time? Handshake offers three different privacy options: Community, Employers, and Private. For students to interact with their peers, they need to set their profile to community.
 OCTOBER JOB COMPARISONS
The only thing spooky about October’s Handshake job postings were how many there were. Over 13,000 opportunities were posted for our students and alumni!
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December 2022 - Handshake Accounts
| HOW TO KNOW WHO HAS HANDSHAKE ACCESS
Handshake is available to all active, degree-seeking students and alumni across the University of Minnesota’s five campuses. To access the platform, students must be enrolled in classes and alumni must have graduated and obtained a degree. 
FUN FACTS OF THE MONTH Our alumni are very actively engaged in recruiting activities via Handshake! Over 7,500 alumni employers have been approved on Handshake. This past fall we saw over 20,000 jobs posted by alumni employers for our students.
Data collected on December 12th, 2022. BEHIND THE SCENES
Did you know that a student’s class standing, major, college and campus are automatically populated on their Handshake profile? Students and alumni just need to fill the last few fields to have a complete profile!
NOVEMBER JOB COMPARISONS
Job postings on Handshake are still going strong! This November, over 11,000 jobs were posted on Handshake.
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January 2023 - Career Fairs
| HOW TO USE THE EMPLOYER LIST ON HANDSHAKE Handshake has an employer database, which is searchable using many filters. These can help specify items of interest for students, including: location, employer size, and industry. Students can also search using keywords by typing in the “Search” field.
 FUN FACTS OF THE MONTH  *Data Collected on Jan 5th, 2023.
BEHIND THE SCENES
DECEMBER JOB COMPARISONS
2022 ended with an outstanding number of jobs posted to Handshake. Over 11,000 jobs were created for our students and alumni to apply for in December!
 BONUS: UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA JOB & INTERNSHIP FAIR 2023
The University of Minnesota Job & Internship Fair is back in person and will be on campus! For more information, go to jobfair.umn.edu.
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February 2023 - Staff and Handshake
HOW TO GET A MOCK STUDENT ACCOUNT
Did you know advisors and faculty members can get a mock “student” account? Contact your college’s superuser and request a faculty/advisor account. Once you receive login instructions and follow the steps, you’ll be able to experience firsthand what students see on Handshake.
FUN FACT(S) OF THE MONTH
Staff members are assigned one of 10 pre-labeled roles within Handshake - each with its own set of defined, custom permissions. An academic advisor, for example, has a basic view of Handshake, while career counselors can go more in depth, such as accessing job postings. To learn more about each administrative role, check out our Administrative Business Processes document.
*Data Collected on February 15th, 2023.
Promoting Handshake to students in appointments and classrooms is important to their success. Check out the “Introducing Advisors and Faculty to Handshake” slide deck to learn more about Handshake before promoting it to students. We also provide helpful resources for staff at handshake.umn.edu/staff-resources.
JANUARY JOB COMPARISONS
New year, new Handshake data! January 2023 saw more jobs posted on Handshake for our students and alumni than 2020 and 2021 combined.
March 2023 - Jobs
HOW JOB COLLECTIONS ARE GENERATED
Handshake offers students three job collections based on different criteria: Editorial, “Popular in Your Major”, and “Recommended for you”. For example, the editorial collection features jobs in a given city (or cities) based on information from multiple editorials.
FUN FACT OF THE MONTH
*Data Collected on March 20th, 2023.
BEHIND THE SCENES
Starting in December 2022, we piloted Handshake’s auto-approval, with an exception for certain criteria. Criteria tied to jobs which require additional review prior to approval includes job type, jobs outside of the US, and unpaid salary type.
BONUS POST: UMJF DATA
April 2023 - Year in Review
POSTINGS Since the start of this school year, over 100,00 job postings have been approved on Handshake!  *Data Collected on April 14, 2023. EVENTS Over 1,100 events, 40 career fairs and 180 interview schedules were conducted through Handshake this past year!  *Data Collected on April 14, 2023. EMPLOYER AND PEER MESSAGING Did you know that nearly 3,000 employers are reaching out to students in Handshake? Over 60,000 students received a message from employers.  *Data Collected on April 14, 2023. MARCH JOB COMPARISONS Both the flowers and the number of jobs on Handshake are blooming! Last month, nearly 20,000 jobs were posted on Handshake.
Our staff, students and alumni used Handshake this past year and it shows! From hosting events to finding job opportunities both nationally and internationally, Handshake is a great resource for our student and alumni job seekers. Check out our Handshake at a Glance yearly recap to see the numbers behind our excitement.
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May 2023 - Handshake Over the Summer
HOW TO ENGAGE STUDENTS OVER THE SUMMER
FUN FACT OF THE MONTH
Did you know that both students and employers are active on Handshake over the summer? Last summer, over 20,000 jobs and internships were approved between June and August.
For more detailed data, such as city, state, or country specific posting information, visit the Handshake Data Dashboard.
The temperature is rising—and so is the number of jobs on Handshake! Over 15,000 jobs were posted in April.
*Data Collected on May 9th, 2023.
