SAN FRANCISCO, July 29, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Handshake, the number one site for college students to find jobs and get hired, today announced the availability of an end-to-end virtual job search and recruiting solution. With this new offering, colleges and universities can host virtual career fairs, employers can leverage the first seamless solution to manage all virtual recruiting for early talent, and college students can participate in virtual fairs and events to get on the fast track to get hired. This virtual solution includes a purpose-built mobile and web video experience, enabling authentic personal engagement through the recruiting process.
With on-campus events and traditional career fairs on hold for the rest of the year, employers and higher education institutions are looking to digital solutions to achieve their goals. Students, too, are looking for ways to stand out to top employers and get an inside look into company culture, job and internship opportunities in a virtual setting. While some industries have seen significant decreases in job postings, employers across several industries including education, healthcare, government and technology are actively hiring early talent.
Handshake regularly updates its “Hiring on Handshake” list of 500 popular employers recruiting on Handshake to spotlight companies in a wide range of locations and every state. But the current environment continues to pose challenges, and recent Handshake survey data shows that more than a third (38%) of students who have participated in online recruitment events struggle to find the right way to network at these events, and 35% are frustrated by the challenges of standing out in a virtual environment.
“As the future of work rapidly changes, we are finding new ways to help democratize opportunity for early talent by helping them navigate the job landscape, especially at this challenging time,” said Handshake’s CEO, Garrett Lord. “We have seen first-hand the immense need and demand to provide a robust virtual recruitment solution and we believe that our new offering will play an important role in meeting the needs of employers, career centers and students.”
Digital Engagement, Events and Workflow for Employers
A survey of employers conducted by Handshake found that 71% of employers are rapidly extending their digital recruiting capabilities — at a faster rate in 2020 than in any prior year. Over 67% of them are looking for support on information sessions, video panels and more. Handshake’s comprehensive virtual recruiting solution allows employers to:Receive up-to-date candidate recommendations based on network activity and their specific hiring criteria from the nationwide Handshake school network that includes over 1,000 colleges and universities.Spend more time engaging with students, building meaningful personal connections through video, audio, and chat directly within Handshake’s website and mobile app.Build their brand by allowing employee ‘Ambassadors’ to engage in online dialogue with students from their alma maters.
“In the last major market downturn, we made the decision to pull way back on hiring interns, and as a result, we have been challenged by a gap in our management pipeline. This challenge was exacerbated by our significant growth coming out of the recession. We are committed out the gate not to do that this time around,” said Lauren Nunnally, Chief Talent Officer at Swinerton Builders. “Handshake’s new solution provides us with the end-to-end workflow we need to engage early talent and manage them through every stage from initial contact to hiring.”
Virtual Career Fairs and Event Support for Higher Education and Students
With the absence of on-campus career development activities since COVID-19 began, higher education career centers have adapted quickly to provide more digital services to students to help in their job and internship searches. A Handshake survey of 574 career center administrators at institutions of higher education revealed that their first priority for serving students during COVID-19 has been to develop new ways to provide services to students virtually.
According to Handshake’s student survey, 91% of students would consider taking a fully virtual job after graduation, and 54% of students want their school’s career center to advise them on how to conduct a search for virtual internships or jobs, reinforcing the need for colleges and universities to help students adapt.
Handshake’s technology for virtual career fairs and events provides students a more curated, efficient experience, eliminating many of the pitfalls of in-person job fairs. Instead of plotting out a map of booths and waiting in lines, students can now browse employers ahead of time and schedule all of their sessions in advance—or, they can click the link on the day of the fair and join sessions that day. In addition, students can attend one-on-one video sessions with employers, and get an inside look into company culture, internships, and jobs during virtual sessions.
Handshake’s virtual offering also provides comprehensive promotional, administrative, and reporting tools to help higher education career centers ensure they can continue to provide their students with access to a wide range of internships and job opportunities.
“We’ve been a partner of Handshake for three years, and we are excited that the company accelerated its roadmap to offer a series of virtual career fairs this fall,” said Tom Devlin, Executive Director of the Career Center at The University of California, Berkeley. “Their strategy represents an innovative and comprehensive solution that enables our students to continue to engage with employers who won’t be able to recruit on campus this year.”
For more information and to learn about the new virtual events and recruiting platform employers click here, and students and career services administrators click here.
For additional information about Handshake visit https://www.joinhandshake.com/.
