HANDSHAKE: Virtual Career Fairs & Networking Nights

Profile Settings

  • Set your account visibility to “Community” or “Employers” for the duration of the event.
  • Review your notification settings and reminder preferences. 
  • Check that your graduation date, school year, major, GPA, and work authorization status are accurately reflected.

Resume Preparation

  • Assess your resume for necessary updates and have it reviewed by a Kelley UCS career coach. 
  • Ensure your updated resume is uploaded and marked as “Featured on Profile” to allow employers to view your resume after you sign up for their sessions. 

Registration

Handshake’s virtual career fair interface allows for students to engage with employers in either a group setting (by attending a 30 minute group discussion/presentation) and/or an individual setting (by attending a 10-minute 1:1 session with a representative from the host organization).

However, event registration is just the first step; you must subsequently sign up for 1:1 and/or group sessions.

1:1 and Group Session Sign-up

  • Research the list of attending employers and sign up for open sessions.
  • “Follow” employers of interest to receive an alert when schedules are added. You can sign up for 1:1 sessions until the end of the event.
  • Attend all sessions you sign up for during the reserved time period. The employer can see the list of registrants and readily shares the names of those who did not attend with UCS.

Bonus Resume Tip

Employers do not have access to your resume through the Handshake event platform; they only have access to your Handshake profile. A quick workaround is to have a link created to a PDF of your resume that you can share in the chat during a 1:1 session. Here’s how you do it!

  1. Upload a PDF version of your resume to your google drive (or any other cloud-based storage you use).
  2. Copy the share link to a word document or some other place you can easily access during your 1:1.
  3. If you choose to rename the link to a shortened version, use Bitly or another similar application. (Renaming the link in the word document will not copy correctly to the chat feature on Handshake).
  4. Have the link copied to your clipboard and ready to share when attending your 1:1 sessions.

Additional Tips

    • Test your technology well in advance of the event day.
    • Web Browsers: Google Chrome and Firefox are the recommended browsers to utilize to interface with Handshake’s career fair platform.
    • I-Pad’s: Handshake virtual events will not work on an iPad.
    • Virtual Backgrounds: Virtual backgrounds do not work with the Handshake career event video platform.
    • Networking: Handshake has functionality that allows you to connect and network with students from other schools who may have interned and worked for companies that may be of interest to you.
    • Employer Messaging: Employers can message you directly through the Handshake tool. Make sure you check your message center (upper right hand corner).