In today’s ‘back to university’ webinar, Handshake’s David Shull (Head of UK), and Clare Adams (Head of University Success), gave their university and industry partners a sneak preview of the new tools and features they can leverage for the academic year ahead.
These new developments build on a successful year for Handshake, which has seen the company double the number of HE customers in the UK, as well as launching a £1million Early Careers Development Fund and hosting an innovation bootcamp for future careers services leaders. Importantly, all of the new features announced today focus on furthering Handshake’s mission - to increase student access to opportunity, facilitate relationships and build career equity.
So what’s new?
Handshake Journeys
Clare and David kicked off the session by giving attendees a live demo of Handshake Journeys - a new tool which promises to transform structured processes for students and institutions alike.
Originally designed to track awards programmes, Handshake Journeys helps students to structure their road to employment, automatically updating steps they’ve taken towards reaching their SMART careers goals. For example, if a student attends an event, interacts with an employer or gains a qualification, their success will be logged in Journeys, helping them track their own progress, and ensuring careers services have a clear and current picture of how their students are doing.
Virtual Appointments
Improved video integration with the Handshake platform means that users no longer need to manually generate virtual meetings or links for appointments. Handshake’s Virtual Appointments feature allows career services to interact with more students, and for students to build relationships with businesses outside of and beyond careers fairs.
Available now, Virtual Appointments is free to use within the Handshake platform, and IOs. And excitingly, integration with Android - helping students and employers interact wherever and whenever suits them best.
Virtual Info Chats
The Virtual info chat feature offers students a new way of connecting with employers - 15 minute one-to-one sessions hosted through the Handshake platform. Born out of a student desire to connect with employers outside of careers fairs at a time that is right for them in their career journey, Virtual Info Chats allows students to foster employer connection in a less intimidating environment, and helps employers take a more personalised approach to recruiting.
Launching in the Autumn, this feature will be available to all Handshake employer users; core and premium.
In addition to these landmark new features, Clare and David revealed a number of other updates - including virtual fair support rooms - allowing institutions to provide attendees with help and support as part of their careers fair offerings. Handshake’s mobile homepage is also getting a refresh - with prompts for users to be more action orientated on the platform. An Alumni Hub is currently in beta testing, promising to provide new ways for career services to leverage alumni connections.
So plenty to watch out for as Handshake continues to support student, employer and institution journeys, building new ways for them to get connected. To watch the complete recording, please CLICK HERE.
