UTEP and the university career center have been using the student job searching platform Handshake for nearly a year with measurable success.
The switch to Handshake replaced Job Mine which was used by the university for about 10 years.
Handshake functions similarly to LinkedIn or Indeed helping prospective employees and employers connect through their websites and apps.
However, the site allows employers to connect with students even if they cannot meet on campus at events like the job fair.
Currently, the site hosts over 1,000 job opportunities available to UTEP students across all schools and majors.
Students are encouraged to fill out the site’s biography section with previous internships and jobs, relevant skills, graduation date and resume to help employers identify suitable candidates.
The career center vets prospective employers before allowing them onto the site.
University Career Center Associate Director Craig Thompson has been with the department since 1988. Thompson has seen students find jobs through various methods starting with the use of fax machines and binders full of job descriptions.
Thompson acknowledges that Handshake does not differ all that much from sites like LinkedIn, but he does not see it as a downfall.
“It gives (students) another option,” said Thompson. “It’s like when you order the same burger over and over because you don’t know there’s anything else out there. We’ve got something else out there for you.”
Handshake, unlike other sites, also allows for universities like UTEP to reach employers asking for opportunities. As Thompson explains, if a student comes to the career center asking for a job at a specific company, the career center can ask the employer to connect via Handshake.
“One of the responsibilities of the Career Center is to reach out to (a company) and say ‘Hey, we’re on this platform called Handshake. We’ve got some students that are really interested. Would you consider connecting with us?’” said Thompson. “Then there’s some (companies) that say, ‘We want to come to your career fair, how we do that?’ We tell them ‘Go ahead and create your handshake account and let us connect with you.’”
The career center also works closely with departments across UTEP to connect students with opportunities based on a student’s major and interests, including jobs on campus.
“I think there’s over 100 and maybe 200 different departments on campus,” said Thompson. “So, we reached out and invited them to participate in the ‘Work at UTEP’ job fair. Anyone who is a currently enrolled student can go in and they can find their job if they meet the criteria that the employer’s looking for.”
Thompson urges students to use the platform to complete their bios as soon as they can.
“Complete as much information as (students) can, because what that does is that gives the employer the opportunity to search,” said Thompson. “The employer can just do a blind query of people that are graduating this semester that may have this kind of background in terms of academics.”
The career center will host its Career Expo Sept. 19 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sept. 20 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Don Haskins Center.
Emmanuel Rivas Valenzuela is the editor-in-chief and can be reached at [email protected]; @rivasemmanuel2 on Instagram.
