Advertise your opportunities
Learn about Handshake, a free-to-use platform that connects you to our wide network of students and graduates.
We encourage our students to use Handshake when browsing for opportunities. Handshake will enable you to source candidates, track applications and promote your brand.
Using Handshake
We ask that all employers agree to and follow our terms and conditions when advertising vacancies.
Register as a new employer
You'll need to register with Handshake to post opportunities, sign up for events and source candidates.
As a minimum to be approved with us on Handshake, you'll need to include:
- A full description of your organisation
- A contact phone number
- Your company’s address
- A link to an active company website
- Contact information for at least one employee with a company email address that matches the domain on your company’s website.
Existing Handshake users
To link your existing Handshake account to York, follow these steps:
- Log in to Handshake.
- Click on “Institutions” in the left-hand navigation menu. Click on the “More institutions on Handshake” tab, select the University of York and click “Request”.
- Read Handshake's guide to adding institutions (support.joinhandshake.com) if needed.
Posting opportunities
Use Handshake's Help Centre to find helpful tips on how to edit your profile, post vacancies, register for or set up events, message students, and advertise interviews. We also ask that you read Handshake's terms of service for users.
We'll check your opportunity and contact you through Handshake if we need further details from you.
Our top tips
To help you use Handshake effectively, we've compiled our top tips:
- Make sure your profile has a logo, full company description and any relevant social media links.
- Filter students based on their interests or course and personally reach out to them.
- Recruit the right level of study. Level 4 students are in their first year of their degree, Level 5 students in their second, and Level 6 students are in their third year of their degree. Find out more about working with international and postgraduate students.
- Encourage students who have completed an internship or placement year with you to add a review to your company profile. This will give other students an insight into your organisation.
- Create a public staff list so students can view employee profiles and engage with you.
- Add the University of York as a ‘favourite’ institution to keep us at the top of your recruitment list.
When you post an opportunity, you'll be prompted to add a job type label. These labels enable students to filter the searches and find specific opportunities. In case you're not sure what would best suit your organisation, we've created a handy glossary of terms:
- Jobs
Includes permanent or fixed-term contracts, full- or part-time roles, and graduate schemes. - Internships
a project-based piece of work, which can be completed within a defined period of time for a maximum of 12 weeks. - Placements
A nine to 12 month opportunity which offers students professional experience. A placement year or a year in industry is generally undertaken in the student’s penultimate year of study. - Apprenticeships
A paid opportunity that offers students on-the-job training alongside a programme of study. - Experiential learning
Opportunities that offer students an insight into your company, for example insight days, webinars and virtual experiences. - Fellowships
A funded programme that allows researchers to use their knowledge and skills to carry out specific projects. - Volunteering
Unpaid voluntary opportunities with no contractual obligation.
The University advertises most international vacancies and graduate schemes via Handshake. However, we receive large numbers of requests to promote certain types of opportunities such as:
- Teaching abroad programmes (including TEFL),
- International Volunteering/Voluntourism,
- International placement services,
- Other related international opportunities.
Due to the volume of requests and the difficulty in determining the quality of opportunities on offer, we have a system of approved providers. To be considered, you are required to complete our due diligence form and have been accepted as a third party provider by Global Opportunities. Email global-programmes@york.ac.uk to find out more. Forms submitted will be reviewed annually.
If you are a University of York staff member and want to recruit students to work for your department, please read the following guidance document, before setting your team up on Handshake:
- Using Handshake to recruit student workers (Google Doc)