Handshake for Employers
Recruitment marketing platforms
Candidate relationship management software
Job search sites
Recruiting automation software
Virtual career fair platforms
Recruiting software
Talent acquisition suites software
- Features
- Ease of use
- Ease of management
- Quality of support
- Affordability
- Market presence
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What is Handshake for Employers
Handshake for Employers is an employer-facing recruiting platform used to source and engage early-career talent through partnerships with colleges and universities. It supports job and internship posting, campus event promotion, candidate search and messaging, and virtual and in-person career fair participation. The product is primarily used by campus recruiting teams and employers hiring students and recent graduates, with workflows oriented around university recruiting cycles and school-specific targeting.
Strong early-career talent access
The platform is built around connecting employers with students and recent graduates through participating educational institutions. It supports targeting by school and student attributes typically used in campus recruiting. This focus can reduce reliance on general-purpose job boards for entry-level and internship hiring.
Integrated events and career fairs
Handshake supports employer-hosted events and participation in school career fairs, including virtual formats. Event workflows (registration, promotion, and attendee engagement) are integrated with employer recruiting activity. This is useful for organizations that run structured campus programs and need event-driven pipelines.
Employer messaging and engagement tools
Employers can search for candidates and communicate through in-platform messaging and outreach features. These tools support relationship-building with prospects over time, which aligns with campus recruiting timelines. The engagement model is more CRM-like than a basic job posting workflow.
Not a full ATS replacement
Handshake for Employers focuses on sourcing, outreach, and campus recruiting workflows rather than end-to-end applicant tracking. Many organizations still need a separate ATS for requisition management, interview scheduling, offer management, and compliance reporting. This can add integration and process overhead for teams seeking a single-system approach.
Best fit for campus hiring
The product is optimized for early-career recruiting and may be less effective for experienced-hire pipelines or specialized roles. Organizations with broad hiring needs may find that Handshake covers only one segment of their talent acquisition strategy. Value depends on the employer’s volume of student/intern hiring and the schools relevant to their programs.
Institution participation affects reach
Candidate access and event opportunities depend on which colleges and universities participate and how each school configures employer engagement. Coverage can vary by geography, institution type, and program. Employers may need additional channels to reach target populations not active on the network.
Plan & Pricing
| Plan | Price | Key features & notes |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | Free | Company presence, unlimited job postings, up to 10 candidate messages per month (some pages list up to 25 in partner docs), access to up to 100 talent matches, access to virtual and in-person career fairs. (Free to all employers). |
| Plus | Flexible payment plans per job (price not listed publicly on site) | Automated talent matches and outreach for up to 10 roles; ~200 candidate messages per month; unlimited talent matches for up to 10 jobs; job promotion to highly qualified candidates; school recommendations for up to 10 jobs; eligibility-limited upgrade shown in-account. |
| Talent Engagement Suite (Premium/Enterprise) | Custom pricing — annual billing based on program size (contact sales) | Unlimited messaging, unlimited large-scale event/job/career fair campaigns, advanced sourcing filters (50+), analytics & ROI/DEI reporting, dedicated Customer Success Manager, ATS integrations and access to additional paid modules (Events, Insights, Advanced Brand Pages). |
Seller details
Handshake
San Francisco, CA, USA
2014
Private
https://joinhandshake.com/
https://x.com/JoinHandshake
https://www.linkedin.com/company/handshake/
