Introducing: States of Handshake

By Garrett Lord, Co-Founder and CEO of Handshake

In just a few months, the Class of 2018 will be putting on their caps and gowns and preparing to walk across graduation stages on college campuses across the country. As graduation day nears, the number one question on student’s mind (likely, their family’s mind too) is: What’s next? Students spend their college career preparing to enter the real world. From first-year students to graduating seniors, navigating the career path early with internships, co-ops, and ultimately, full-time positions, is part of the college experience.

The job landscape is constantly changing. The hopes and career aspirations of each graduating class is always evolving as new companies spring up and new roles develop. Twenty years ago, employers associated with bitcoin or the ‘cloud’ were not top of mind. College students today are joining the workforce with different skills, interested in new employers, and looking to live in cities big and small across America.

Today, we are proud to bring you the States of Handshake. This is a new series that takes a deeper dive into trends we’re seeing state-by-state across the Handshake community. Looking at the Handshake community at the local level shows the remarkable breadth and diversity of the American economy and what the Class of 2018 and beyond are looking for in a career.

Since Handshake was founded in 2014, our mission has been consistent: Help democratize opportunity for all students — regardless of zip code, major, or background. Our team helps achieve this by connecting our 475+ partner universities and their 8 million students and young alumni to our network of 200,000 employers searching for young, diverse talent to fill jobs and internships.

Today on Handshake you will find students from my alma mater Michigan Tech to Stanford University to Delaware State University. These students are engaging with employers from J.P. Morgan Chase to Apple to your local city government or K-12 school district.

When we created Handshake, this was our goal — to break down the barriers to opportunity for students on college campuses across the country. This year, the average school switching to Handshake saw a 3x increase in opportunities and a 60% increase in student engagement in the first 3 months of being a part of the Handshake network.

Throughout the States of Handshake series, we’re going to show you the top trends and insights across the Handshake community.

• Employers: From Fortune 500 to non-profits, we go state-by-state to breakdown the top employers popular among today’s college students.
• Skills: From top chefs to budding actors, we breakdown the top skills among students both nationally and locally.
• Majors: From philosophy to social innovation, we take a dive into the majors popping up on college campuses across the country. (Coming Soon)
• Locations: From Boston, MA to Wichita, KS, we will highlight which cities and industries are attracting the most college grads. (Coming Soon)

Today’s college students are diverse, talented, and eager to kick-start their career. It’s my hope that the Handshake community can help today’s students navigate their unique career path and help employers across every industry discover the up-and-coming young talent in every corner of our country.

States of Handshake: Employers

We kick things off with insights into what employers are attracting the most applications from college students across the Handshake network. These aggregated and anonymized insights are based on the millions of job and internship applications submitted by students at Handshake’s 475+ partner colleges in the 2017–18 school year. Stay tuned for future insights on skills, majors, and location preferences.

Top Employers Coast to Coast: Dive in state-by-state to see who has risen to the top as the most popular employer among Handshake students.

Opportunities for All: From the Fortune 500 to your local city government, take a look at which employers are attracting talent across the Handshake community.

Countrywide Favorites: See why Tesla, IBM, Amazon, J.P. Morgan Chase, and Deloitte consistently land in the Top 5 employers across multiple states.

The Headquarter Effect: As we wait for the anticipated announcement of Amazon’s HQ2, see how the top local companies are attracting — and retaining — local young talent.

Stay tuned! Coming this April: Deep dive into the top skills of today’s college students.

Follow along with the complete #StatesOfHandshake series on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram: @JoinHandshake.