Handshake Milestone: Our University Community is Now 500 Strong
By Ben Christensen | Co-founder at Handshake
A little less than four years ago the early team at Handshake made a promise to one another: We wouldn’t give up on our idea if we were partnered with five universities within three years.
Well, we have some big news to share today.
As a Handshake co-founder and head of our university partnerships, I wanted to be the first to tell you that our Handshake community has now grown to 500 universities.
5–0–0! I have to admit, as I think back to our early days in my dorm room at Michigan Tech, it makes me so proud that our team here at Handshake has been able to expand our community to 500 campuses across all 50 states.
That’s 9 million students and young alumni that have the opportunity to connect with more than 250,000 employers actively recruiting on Handshake. From every Fortune 500 company to thousands of local mom and pop shops, non-profits, startups, and more — Handshake has opportunities for all students. Every major, every skill, and every passion.
As our community grows, students and universities continue to benefit. With more universities on our network, more employers and recruiters are turning to Handshake as the go-to spot to discover young, up-and-coming talent. And with more students joining our community, we see students are learning from one another and sharing advice on the career search with new features, like Reviews and Q&A.
We Owe a Big ‘Thanks’ to our Career Service Partners
These milestones would not be possible without the support of our partners in career services. On behalf of all of us Handshake, I can’t thank you enough for the thoughtful partnership you’ve provided us over the years.
We’re not your average vendor and we’re very proud of the relationships and partnerships we build with you to ensure we’re supporting the needs of your campus community — and likewise, deeply appreciate everything you do with us to make an impact on students.
No two universities are alike. No two students are alike. It’s why we focus heavily on the personal touch of Handshake. Whether that’s working together to develop new features like Reviews and Q&A or the day-to-day support to help students succeed with our customer success team. Handshake as a product and community has evolved over the last four years thanks to the ideas and honest feedback we’ve received from our partners on campus.
“As the Handshake community continues to grow, the more valuable the network of career advice will be to Wellesley students and their peers at campuses big and small across the country.” — Christine Cruzvergara, Wellesley College
Year One
As we celebrate our 500th university partner, I want to take you back to the days where Handshake was just an idea Garrett, Scott and I kicked around in between classes. It began with the barriers we faced personally as students in search of jobs and internships. Despite a school with a great technical education and strong, desirable skill sets as engineers, we had a hard time realizing what roles were out there for us and thought that most jobs were out of reach from our campus in northern Michigan. We knew there was a way technology could help bridge the gap and connect talented students to open opportunities at companies across the country, and ensure they had the right information to find their dream job.
Cue: The beginning of Handshake.
We knew right away we had a great solution to a problem many students experienced, but we had to get the idea off the ground and on to campuses. So, we piled into a used car and crisscrossed the country to meet with the innovators and influencers in career services.
We wouldn’t have made it very far that first year without the support of our very first group of university partners: Valparaiso University, Hillsdale University, Eastern Michigan, Wabash College, and Aquinas College.
I have to share a special shout out to the amazing partnership we received from our first schools — you were a constant source of thoughtful feedback, great insights, and understanding. I always hold a special place in my heart for you — especially Sarah, Crystal, Tom, Holly, Michael, Joanna, and Annmarie (enjoy your retirement Annmarie — well deserved!) for everything you did to support and influence us in our first year.
Growing Together
As our community grows, our team at Handshake continues to grow as well. In the last year, our team has nearly doubled — adding more customer service staff and dedicated university leads to help support the day-to-day needs of students and career service staff. This means faster response rates on support tickets. More webinars. More tutorials. It’s important to us that we keep the same personal touch that we had with a network of 5 schools to 500 schools.
Again, thank you! Thank you for helping us grow to 500 and we’re excited to continue to grow together in this next chapter of our Handshake community.
