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Handshake Updates

Creating Access to Opportunity Starts With Us

As part of Handshake's commitment to diversity and inclusion, it is our goal to build a workplace and a team that reflects the world around us. In this update, Chief Legal Officer Valerie Capers Workman announces the latest initiative Handshake's Recruiting team has launched to progress our inclusive hiring practices.

At Handshake, we are on a mission to democratize access to opportunity. Our motivation, drive, and urgency to do this work guides the way we work internally and how we build diverse, inclusive teams.

However, to make meaningful progress toward our diversity, equity, and inclusion commitments, we must hold ourselves accountable at every step of the journey. That means putting the proper internal systems and tools in place to track, measure, and analyze our progress.

Today, we’re announcing a new way to hold ourselves accountable. The Handshake recruiting team is launching a voluntary demographic questionnaire, which will be included in all U.S.-based Handshake job applications.

Candidates applying to roles at Handshake will have the opportunity to self-disclose how they identify regarding race/ethnicity, gender, and disability status. This demographic data will play a key role in helping us assess how candidates from all backgrounds move through our recruiting pipelines and get hired. Along the way, we will continue to refine our hiring practices – amplifying the processes that align with our goals and iterating on those that do not.

What does this mean for candidates who apply for open opportunities at Handshake?

Privacy is a top priority across every aspect of our business, and it’s not something we take lightly. Any demographic information collected through our job applications will remain confidential and will never impact any candidate’s current or future opportunities at Handshake. Demographic data will be analyzed in aggregate, allowing our team to identify trends at a higher level. Handshake will not be able to tie any responses back to individual candidates who have applied to specific roles.

Our team is committed to building a workplace that reflects the world around us, and we are excited to take this next step in our journey toward creating more inclusive recruiting practices. We are proud to share this update as we take our mission within, truly live our values, and seek to democratize opportunity for all.

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