Mistakes are inevitable, especially for college students. The University of Portland Career Center aims to eliminate these mistakes by offering professional resources to students, such as help with résumés and cover letters, advice for interviewing and networking, as well as general career counseling to help students consider all their options.
The Career Center also has resources available for students online through its website, its blog, and through its new career portal, Handshake. This new program, which launched in May, replaced College Central Network.
Getting started on Handshake is easy for students because every student already has an account. Students activate their accounts by accessing Handshake via the Career Center website. They will be prompted to enter their username and password, just like if they are signing into Moodle.
“It’s super easy to use,” said Danielle Desalvo. A psychology major, Desalvo has worked at the Career Center as a student associate for over a year. She’s using Handshake to lock down an internship for her senior capstone project next semester. She thinks that Handshake functions well for her generation and makes career opportunities easily accessible.
“It’s nice the way they have it laid out. You can see between what dates (a potential employer) wants you (for employment). That’s really nice for internships for people who just have a semester,” Desalvo said.
The Handshake web page is divided into four different categories: the “For You” tab lists trending jobs and internships catered to the student based on their majors and interests. The “Jobs” tab allows students to search through job postings and apply filters to find their best fit. The “Events” page lists upcoming events like job fairs and career seminars relevant to UP students.
There is also a profile page for students, which they can customise with a profile photo, their skills and projects, and descriptions of previous employment and education. These profiles can be made public, allowing employers to view UP student profiles.
Finally, there is a tab for the Career Center, in which students can schedule appointments with the Career Center directly. This system allows students to seek career advice at any time of the day, rather than being bound to business hours to make an appointment.
“If it's 10 at night and you suddenly feel motivated and you have a question, schedule an appointment (via Handshake) and we'll confirm typically the next (business day) morning,” said career and program adviser Max Kalchthaler.
While over 200,000 employers have connected with Handshake, a little over 5,000 have connected with UP specifically. Each employer undergoes a vetting process in which the Career Center staff considers their quality and legitimacy.
“All the jobs and internships that are posted on Handshake that you can see, are companies that have reached out specifically and asked for the University of Portland,” said Karissa Bent, an internship and engagement coordinator at the Career Center. “We have a huge vetting process, so (if an employer isn’t available to UP students), that either means we haven’t connected with them, or they just don’t fit our mission.”
So far, over 1,400 students — about 25 percent of the student population — have activated their accounts, said Career Center Director Amy Cavanaugh. The Career Center hopes to increase student engagement with the system by spreading awareness through social media.
Desalvo said that its next plan is to introduce Shake Tips, which will be informational postings about Handshake and its features on their social media accounts like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
“We’re here to help and we don’t judge,” said Desalvo. “Anybody at any point in time, at any point in their career search is welcome to come in. We also help a lot of alumni as well, so the Career Center is here for you along your entire career path.”
