Handshake

Handshake @ Illinois is the new career services platform to discover postings for jobs and internships, sign up for on-campus interviews, access event information for workshops and info sessions, and schedule MCS advising appointments. Handshake is used at over 400 schools nationwide and by 230,000 employers around the globe, exposing students and recent alumni to more employers and job postings than ever before.

Handshake @ Illinois provides personalized job recommendations and career information, based on a student’s profile, career interests and site usage, similar to Netflix and Spotify.  In other words, the more information provided to Handshake, the more useful it will be. Given this, it is very important to have a complete and accurate profile—including career interests—to maximize discovery on the site.

We have already preloaded some of your basic profile information (for current students only), so claim your Handshake @ Illinois account today! Log in and complete your profile at handshake.illinois.edu.

For training videos and more information on getting started with Handshake, visit go.illinois.edu/HandshakeHelp.

While students are not required to have a Handshake @ Illinois account with MCS, they must have a Handshake @ Illinois account to access our career advising services, job and internship postings, on-campus interviews and event information for workshops and info sessions. Given these benefits, Handshake @ Illinois use is strongly encouraged.

Before applying to jobs and internships on Handshake @ Illinois, students must have an approved resume by Media Career Services on the career services platform. While we strive to review resumes within 24 hours on business days, it may take up to 72 hours during high traffic time periods. Given this, students should plan to upload their resumes for review many days in advance of posting deadlines that they are trying to meet.

Handshake for Employers

Handshake @ Illinois is the new career services platform used across the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus, as well as at over 400 schools nationwide. It connects 230,000 employers to over 6 million students. This free-to-use recruitment management system allows employers to access student profiles and resumes; post job, internship, and job shadow opportunities; schedule on-campus interviews and information sessions; and register for career events.

With this new platform, employers are able to establish broader and deeper connections with students, increase recruiting efficiency by managing all of their Handshake campuses in one place, reach a pool of cross-discipline applicants, and have a mobile experience for updating job postings, viewing applicants and more.

After creating an account, an employer can create a profile to allow students to learn more about the organization. An approved employer can have an unlimited number of users that can access the system, and it can set up divisions to easily associate jobs with different groups within the organization. 

To create a Handshake @ Illinois account, or log in to an existing account, visit handshake.illinois.edu.

For information on getting started, company/user settings, 2-minute training videos and more, visit Handshake's Help Center at go.illinois.edu/Handshake-EmployerHelp

Note: Employer account approval usually occurs within one to two business days. If more information is required before we can approve the request, we will contact the employer. If we do not hear back from the employer within two weeks regarding our inquiry, we will decline the request, and the employer will need to start the approval process over again.