About us

The new place for careers

A note from our CEO:

A letter from our CEO:

If you are, or know, a college student, you know Handshake. In 2014, we changed how, where, and why the next generation of talent builds their career—starting with their first day of college. My belief that talent is everywhere and shouldn’t be limited by who you know and where you go to school fixed a broken and selective recruiting system.

Now, Gen Z is taking over the workforce. This is a generation that has grown up with social media and expects a platform that ‘gets’ them—a platform that is authentic, trusted, and actually helpful for starting their career.

So we’ve challenged the status quo again. We’ve built a new social network where opportunity and inspiration meet. We connect our 15 million students from 1,500 universities with nearly 1 million employers who offer jobs and internships that aren’t found anywhere else.

This is the Handshake early career network—the new place for careers.

Garrett LordCEO, Handshake

Company overview

Handshake’s mission is to democratize access to opportunity, and Handshake is the best place to start or accelerate a career—no connections, experience, or luck required.

Handshake is the career platform for Gen Z. With a community of over 17 million students, alumni, employers, and career educators, Handshake’s network is where career advice and discovery turn into first, second, and third jobs. Nearly 1 million companies use Handshake to build their future workforce—from Fortune 500 to federal agencies, school districts to startups, healthcare systems to small businesses. Handshake is built for where you’re going, not where you’ve been.

Students

The best place for jobs, career guidance, and community for 15M+ students.

Find your next job

Employers

The way almost ~1M employers of all sizes find qualified talent fast.

Hire top talent

Career centers

The #1 college to career network for 1,500+ colleges and institutions.

Support student careers