Employer FAQs

• Click into the fair you registered for; if your registration has been approved, you will see a prompt to add your schedule:
• Click the blue Add schedule button to begin setting the schedule.

There are two modes of virtual fair engagement:

• 30-minute group sessions (limited to 3 per employer registration)
  • Handshake video: can support up to 50 participants total
  • External video platform link: if the employer prefers their own video platform for large group sessions or expects to engage with more than 50 participants in group sessions 
• 10 minute 1:1 sessions

The length of both of these sessions cannot be updated in the first version of virtual fairs.

Students can leave sessions up until the time that it is scheduled. Handshake will show them a warning whenever they cancel a session, to promote professional behavior. For the initial release, students will not be able to join a session after it has started.
 

The employer will need to cancel any specific sessions for that representative and add a different person to the fair for 1:1s. For group sessions, they could just add the new person and remove the former representative.
 

We’ll have a way for all users to easily report technical or trust and safety issues directly from Handshake (web or mobile app). This reporting from will provide a fast and easy way to report issues, and it will provide key info to us for faster triage and resolution, and we’ll be able to monitor issues across multiple schools or users if needed.

• Participants or hosts can report any user (including the host) for fraudulent, spam, or other inappropriate activity. 
• When a user is reported the session host will receive a notification, and hosts can decide whether to remove the participant from the meeting.
• Hosts and attendees will all need to have Handshake accounts and be on the participants (registration/attendee list) to access your fair. So if someone doesn’t have either of those they can’t access your fair or sessions.
• Participants can turn video on/off and leave sessions at any time, and hosts can also turn video on/off and end sessions at any time. Once the host as ended the meeting and the scheduled start time has passed, the meeting cannot be re-started
• Participants or hosts can’t edit participant names in sessions
• Hosts can mute or remove participants from a session and once removed they can’t rejoin
• Group and 1:1 sessions will be encrypted via DTLS/SRTP protocol

Handshake will be monitoring for this and exploring solutions in the coming weeks and months. Career Services staff will be monitoring employer activity as well and will reach out to students to suggest sessions for them.

Handshake will be monitoring this and exploring solutions in the coming weeks and months. A Career Services staff member will be monitoring student engagement to help them find sessions they can attend. Group sessions don't have any qualifications, so those will be promoted as well. Career Services may be reaching out to employers to encourage them to adjust their qualifications as well. 

Text based chat will be an option for students that don’t have access to video. Minimizing bias will be accomplished using existing best practices and educating employers. Handshake is putting together a virtual recruiting and diversity and inclusion guide for best practices. 

For virtual fairs, Employers will have the opportunity to set preferences on their 1:1 meetings to efficiently use virtual interaction time. Specifically, employers will be able to qualify students by GPA, work authorization, major, and graduation date. The Handshake product research has shown 1:1 virtual meetings are far more effective when they are more focused, which is more likely when preferences are shared in advance. That said, we also strongly believe in the power of technology to democratize opportunity, so group options are also available for general networking and conversation. Handshake will also be monitoring this feature for concerns regarding limitations to any student groups. At the end of each session we will ask participants to complete a brief survey sharing how their experience was and we’ll be monitoring use of video, mic, and chat to understand and uncover concerns regarding limitations to any student groups.