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Handshake provides a diversity-focused recruitment network for graduates, with 18 million users already signed up. This revolutionary platform brings together employers and job seekers in a digital space, and recently raised 80 million dollars at a $1.5 billion plus valuation.
In this article, we will discuss how Handshake is changing the recruitment landscape for the better.
What is Handshake?
Handshake is a brilliant new online career recruiting platform that bridges the gap between universities and employers. It provides a unique online experience for college students and recent graduates searching for job opportunities, internships and more. Handshake matches job seekers with employers and gives recruiters access to one of the largest professional networks within universities worldwide. As a result, it helps employers in their efforts to find talented graduates, as well as give these graduates a platform to reach out to potential employers.
Through its web-based directory of companies, Handshake provides users with detailed information about potential employers and opportunities in the area they are searching in. Employers list their desired qualifications, work experience, expected duties, salary requirements and other key details that help students make informed decisions about applying for positions or attending an interview. Additionally, users can connect with potential employers via conversations and use resources like downloadable resume/CV templates, profile optimization tips and industry eBooks all intended to aid them in making an impactful impression on hiring managers.
No longer do recruiters find it necessary to stand in endless lines at university job fairs—the emergence of Handshake has offered them ease of access when connecting with suitable candidates within no time. Handshake is revolutionizing how recruitment works today by offering job seekers a streamlined method for submitting resumes and portfolios—while allowing recruiters access closed university gates.
How it is changing the recruitment landscape
Handshake is a career platform that has transformed how employers and students connect. It is transforming the recruitment landscape by providing access to hundreds of thousands of student profiles to potential employers, making it easier than ever for students and alumni to search for jobs, internships and career advice.
The platform allows employers to find talent easily, leading to a more efficient job-search process for students and recruiters. Through Handshake, employers can post jobs, follow up with their recruited staff, set up interviews and even schedule virtual meetings. In addition, students can better develop their professional networks and get more personalized career advice from recruiters.
Handshake also helps companies fill the gaps in their existing recruiting processes with AI-driven matching technology that accelerates the hiring process by providing 90 percent targeted match accuracy compared with only 30 percent achieved through resume filtering alone. In addition, all users are connected on one single shared platform enabling enterprises of any size or structure access highly qualified talent pools.
Overall, Handshake modernizes the recruitment process by providing an improved connection between candidates living anywhere in the world and employers offering global opportunities whether they are looking to fill full-time roles or part-time positions. As such, it’s no surprise that this tool is rapidly becoming a go-to resource within corporate recruitment strategy today.
Handshake’s Success
Handshake has recently closed an $80M fundraise at a $1.5B+ valuation backed by investors such as Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed, and Spark Capital. This makes Handshake one of the biggest success stories of Silicon Valley.
With 18M users on its recruitment platform, the company has successfully revolutionized the recruitment landscape for college students and high school grads.
Let’s take a look at how Handshake has achieved such success.
Handshake’s recent funding
Handshake, the career platform for college students and recent graduates, secured 100 million dollars in funding in a Series D round. This is a new record for the company, raising its total evaluation to $1.5 billion.The funds come just 13 months after Handshake’s Series C round of $80 million.
The most recent funding round was headed by Silicon Valley-based Iconiq Growth, with capital also coming from KPCB Edge and Spark Capital. This latest cash injection will fuel continuing visionary thinking and global expansion of Handshake’s technology platform.
The large influx of capital into the company further validates the platform’s past successes in strengthening employer-student connections and dovetails with Handshake’s mission of creating more equitable access to economic opportunity for all students, regardless of their background or location.
This new investment has allowed Handshake unprecedented access within the US market and abroad. The company is already serving 7 million active students from over 500 universities worldwide, including 675 Fortune 1000 employers who plan on actively recruiting talent from their ranks through the platform this year alone. In addition, this funding is expected to enable millions more students around the globe to access meaningful career opportunities across several industries via Handshake’s simple yet powerful recruiting suite of tools.
Handshake’s user base
Handshake has become an essential tool for job seekers and employers alike. In just over five years, their user base has grown to include over 9.7 million college students, tens of thousands of employers, and over 691 thousand career center professionals who support the users.
The company consistently updates the platform based on user feedback. New features such as Handshake 2.0 were released in 2018, which enhanced the search experience for college students looking for jobs and internships based on their preferences. The platform also allows users to search and apply for jobs posted directly by employers or colleges Career Services Center. In addition, employers have access to a suite of tools which make it easier to find qualified candidates from all levels in their chosen domain quickly, post open positions, engage prospective candidates through events like mock interviews and webinars, manage rejected applicants transparently, preview students’ portfolios before hiring them, set up job fairs like virtual career fairs etc.
With a wide range of features present on the platform that allow both recruiters and job seekers to increase engagement and efficiency while ensuring a secure recruitment process, Handshake is becoming increasingly popular amongst recruiters looking to fill open positions quickly with qualified candidates while giving job seekers the necessary tools they need to succeed in their job search.
Handshake raises $80M at a $1.5B+ valuation as its diversity-focused recruitment network for grads passes 18M users
Handshake has recently raised $80M at a $1.5B+ valuation and its diversity-focused recruitment network for grads has passed 18M users. This demonstrates the popularity of Handshake and its potential to revolutionize the recruitment landscape.
Let’s look at some of the benefits Handshake provides to employers and job seekers.
Improved employer-student matching
The traditional recruitment process involves organizations collecting resumes, sorting them and selecting those they deem fit. This exhausting process takes tremendous time and effort, while not always guaranteeing satisfied results. But, on the other hand, with a handshake, employers can precisely match job descriptions with students with relevant experience and skills.
Organizations can accurately match job descriptions to specific college courses or majors so that job postings are only visible to students with the desired qualifications. It directly eliminates the need for employers to sift through hundreds of irrelevant applications in search of the ideal recruit. Moreover, recruiters can initiate projects or assessments related to applicants to better understand their qualifications. This allows employers to make well-informed decisions regarding which candidates best suit the company’s needs. The process is simplified and made more efficient for both parties as it saves time and money for employers on additional recruitment components such as tests and interviews in assessing applicants.
Improved employer-student matching thus allows organizations to identify qualified people faster, yet more efficiently eliminating unnecessary applications from unqualified individuals, which would be arduous if done through conventional methods.
Increased diversity
The use of handshakes in recruitment practices has been growing due to its benefits in promoting diversity among candidates. Handshake allows employers to gain access to a wider pool of potential candidates who may have not previously heard about the job opportunity. In addition, employers can also utilize Handshake to explore potential candidates with different backgrounds, levels of education, and experiences from all over the world who are equipped with a range of skills that can bring fresh ideas and perspectives.
Handshake has also helped bridge communication gaps between employers and potential employees by creating an open forum for both parties to discuss expectations. This method allows for better understanding without biases or preconceived notions about the other party’s identity. In addition, using disability-friendly protocols on Handshake such as options for two-way video interviews and five minute meetings can help make it easier for people from historically underrepresented backgrounds, including those affected by disabilities, to succeed.
Overall, handshakes have revolutionized the recruitment landscape and helped companies create more diverse workforces while providing increased accessibility for individuals seeking job opportunities regardless of their identity and abilities.
Access to more job opportunities
Handshake is a powerful platform that allows job seekers and employers to engage with one another efficiently and effectively. This platform connects students and recent graduates to job opportunities, internship postings, professional networking events, interviews, mentor relationships and more. With this new tool comes a larger range of opportunities from recruiters nationwide. In addition, through Handshake, users have unprecedented access to industry information, staffing possibilities and career trends.
This beneficial resource not only increases the pool of potential jobs for job seekers — saving them time spent searching for positions in multiple different places — it also eliminates recruitment barriers for employers who wish to source specific talent for their businesses. With Handshake, recruiters can reach a much larger pool of applicants than ever by simply uploading a job listing through the platform. This increased reach will allow businesses to find previously untapped talent pools while improving their efficiency in finding the best candidates.
Moreover, Handshake’s comprehensive database helps create better match-ups between potential employers and employees by collecting information on skill sets and interests beyond traditional resume data such as GPA, achievements or college major. The platform can use this data to surface relevant jobs for candidates and enable recruiters to identify candidates suitable for openings within their companies or departments using powerful search tools designed specifically with filters such as desired GPA or location radius.
In summary, handshake provides users access to more job opportunities nationwide while enabling employers and job seekers with matching resources that enhance engagement within the recruitment process leading them one step closer towards success.
Challenges of Handshake
Handshake faces various challenges despite being well-funded and having a sizable user base. For example, their potentially-limited pool of users, issues around maintaining competitive pricing, and the challenge of remaining competitively differentiated in the ever-growing recruitment-tech sphere.
In this article, we’ll look at some of Handshake’s key challenges.
Lack of personalization
The main challenge experienced by companies when using Handshake for recruitment is that it can be difficult to personalize the communication. During recruitment, hiring managers typically look for an answer from the applicant quickly, and automated messages sent through Handshake tend to appear impersonal and generic. This could result in less enthusiasm about the company or position of the applicant.
Since many programs are conducted through Handshake, including application tracking and onboarding, there may be a gap between potential candidate interest and receiving their onboarding packet after they have been hired. It is supposed to encourage transparency and engagement during recruitment which should help create more personal connections with candidates. However, if employers are not careful with their communication style or content it can often feel impersonal or cold to the candidate instead of embracing them into corporate culture.
Another challenge with lack of personalization is that candidates may become overwhelmed by constant notifications about new job postings because there isn’t much filtering capability within Handshake itself. When inundated with notifications, it can make it difficult for recruiters or hiring managers to stand out among all other employers who also use this platform for recruiting.
There’s also limited ability within Handshake in terms of customization when setting up job postings, which can further compound the lack of personalization issue previously mentioned. Furthermore, companies will need additional customization options to differentiate their hiring process from competitor’s processes on Handshake and present a unique message about company culture or values to potential employees on this platform.
Limited reach
Due to its recent emergence as an effective recruitment tool, Handshake still has a limited reach. While job seekers and recruiters find it helpful, it is still a rather ‘up and coming’ platform gaining more recognition and familiarity. This limited reach can be seen in the lack of recruiters using the app, and some of those who do may not do so actively or efficiently. Additionally, because Handshake has only been around for a few years, there may be some gaps in the resources and knowledge for users of it as far as what to expect from recruiting on Handshake compared with other recruitment platforms or methods.
As a result, recruiters must work diligently to ensure they are keeping up-to-date with updates to the app and changes in best practices regarding how to use it effectively. Jobseekers need to take extra care when utilizing this tool as well; even though Handshake increases their ability to apply for jobs quickly, they should also research competing options so they have an idea of other options that could be available given time.
Conclusion
Handshake is a recruitment platform that is driving the future of recruitment by providing diversity-focused graduate networks and now has 18 million users to prove it. Their recent $80M funding round valued the company at $1.5B+ and indicates the potential success of this industry-changing technology.
