Students unaware of ‘Handshake’

Written By Hunter Duwall

Last year proved to be a productive and successful one for the career services software Handshake, Point Park’s primary career service software, which provides a wide variety of networking abilities for students and faculty alike.

Students can go onto the app and look for internships, jobs and events not only in the Pittsburgh area, but all over the country.

The app allows internal communications between students and employers, or students and faculty members. Résumé templates, mass emails, scheduling appointments and event planning are also possible on the app.

Director of Career Development Angela Scaramucci says students should be signing up and creating a profile as soon as possible.

“When you create a personalized profile in the app, it populates with the most relevant jobs and internships that you may be interested in,” Scaramucci said.

For a year and a half, Handshake has been Point Park’s go-to software for getting students connected to potential employers all over the country. 50 to 80 new employer accounts are created on Handshake every day, as well as 100 new internship postings daily.

As of 2016, Handshake saw 5,675 total employers, 2,425 new job and internships and 1,187 students and alumni logging on and using the software.

Most jobs come from the nonprofit sector accounting for a large portion of the total jobs on the website, followed by healthcare as the second largest and internet and software services being the third.

Handshake thrives by getting as many people in the app as possible. If more students and faculty use the app, more opportunities will be posted and filled. This quickly growing community of employers and students is what inspired Point Park to implement the app into the university.

However, spreading the word about this software is one of the major challenges the university has faced. Students are supposed to be introduced to Handshake at Pioneer Experience, an orientation week that students attend in the summer.

During orientation, an instructor is supposed to encourage students to sign up and explore the application. Although, it is apparent that not all students have been introduced to the app, which leaves some students wondering what it is.

Students such as Caleb Czuszak are confused or uninformed when it comes to the subject of Handshake.

“I’d love to use it to get more jobs on film crews, but I wasn’t even told about Handshake until you just told me about it,” Czuszak said.

As the new year unfolds, Point Park is hoping to expand the member base of Handshake by promoting it in and out of the classroom.

Career Development employees are introducing the app in city-university life classes, as well as at orientation and local events. Faculty is hoping to help as many students as possible by getting the app out to as many people as possible.

For more information on Handshake, students can go to the Career Development page on Point Park’s website, pointpark.edu.