Hello, Handshake

August 31, 2017
This year, the Wheaton Center for Vocation and Career (CVC) has replaced “Thunder Careers,” the previous career-building platform for students, with “Handshake.” Handshake is a new platform, created by three Michigan Technical University students in 2014, that aims to help students connect with employers — especially students from smaller schools that may not have equal opportunity to network with big name companies. The platform has quickly garnered popularity among colleges. “This is only the fourth year for Handshake in the marketplace, and they’ve already taken over. They have the largest market share already.”
“[Handshake] levels the playing field a bit. So if a company is posting at a big state school… they can also post at Wheaton. So now our students get the same opportunities,” explained Dee Pierce, Director of the CVC, about the decision to switch to Handshake.
According to Pierce, the switch to a new platform benefits both the CVC and the students they hope to reach.
Students can build a customized profile to help Handshake find the right kind of job in the right place. “[Handshake] is using the algorithm of your previous activity to come in and say these are the things you might be interested in.”
Beyond connecting students with job opportunities, Handshake also helps students interact with the CVC itself. It allows career coaches to look at student’s profiles, set up appointments with them and pin events to their dashboards.
Next week, the CVC will be hosting “Handshake Week.” Events will include lemonade stands, photo booths, food and puppies. All Wheaton students are automatically signed up on Handshake.