Handshake is our careers platform and you can use it to connect with the Careers and Placements team, employers and other University of York students. Here’s a quick guide on how you can get started.
Login and activate your account
The link to Handshake is york.joinhandshake.co.uk but you can also find links to it on our website or you can download the Handshake app to your phone. To log in, use your UoY ID and corresponding password.
Customise your account
One of the first things you might want to do is customise your settings. You can set your profile visibility and alter what notifications you receive in the settings and privacy section by clicking on the circle containing your initials in the top right of your screen (see the orange arrow below)
Your profile can also be found via the menu. It will be pre-populated with your UoY email, degree programme and year of study but you can add to and build your profile much like a CV. By adding work experience, your career interests and courses you have taken, you will stand out more to employers on Handshake and it will also serve as a record of your employability skills and experiences to refer back to when completing job applications.
There is also a section where you can update your preferences for the type of roles and industries you’re interested in so that Handshake can highlight particular roles and employers to you.
Connect with employers and find vacancies
Use Handshake to browse employer profiles and job vacancies, from graduate roles and internships to part time work in York. If there is a particular employer you are interested in you can click to follow them and get updates when they post new jobs and events.
To see the job search function, click on jobs in the upper left of the Handshake screen. Use the filters to narrow down the results by location, full time role, internship, part time and placement. If you see something you like, you can bookmark it to save it and if the search you’ve set is one you will use again, you can save the search criteria too by clicking on save your search on the left of the screen.
Register for careers events and fairs
Handshake is also the place to find out what events we’ve got coming up and to sign up for them. Every year we run a programme of events, some involving employers who want to meet York students and some hosted by our very own Careers Consultants. You can see what’s on by clicking on Events on your Handshake homepage. When you click on an event you can read more about it and register for it or you can bookmark it if you’re not ready to register yet. Careers fairs are also listed under events and you can see all of the employers due to be at the fair.
Book Appointments and contact Careers and Placements
From the top right of the Handshake homepage you can click on Career Centre. From here you can book appointments with a member of the Careers and Placements team. When you schedule an appointment, you will be prompted to choose your year of study and the type of appointment you need. To see a list of the different appointments on offer and a brief description of each, see our webpage: Appointments
You can also send us a message from the Career Centre page, just scroll down to the contact details for Careers Information Team.
We’ve put together some quick video guides on some of the common functions in Handshake. Take a look below:
University of York Careers and Placements 