Handshake I created my Handshake account about a year ago at the encouragement of my career advisor. Handshake is a LinkedIn related social media platform specifically for students attending a university. In my case Kennesaw State University (KSU). Throughout the year, KSU has thousands of companies’ ln state, nationally, and abroad post jobs and internship opportunities offered directly to students, and some only for students. These companies are dedicated to giving you a chance to get hands-on learning.
My experience with Handshake has been one of positivity and encouragement. A year ago, I began my search for knowledge in my career field of public relations. I chose Handshake because they help you by not allowing you to be your own worst enemy. They do this by preventing you from posting bad writing samples, resumes, and cover letters on your account. Employers receive hundreds of resumes and include cover-letters, and one error can send yours to the trash can.
KSU’s Department of Career Planning and Development does not want you to fail, so they offer templets you can use to format your career content correctly. A proofreader reads each piece of writing before being posted to your account. If they flag something, they will notify you to make the necessary changes and resubmit it. These checks and balances gave me confidence that I needed to begin my job search in the right fashion.
After establishing my account and uploading all of the required content, I began searching for internships. The first internship I applied for was a public relations internship with the Center for Excellence and Teaching and Learning (CETL) at KSU. I got the job and worked there until January of 2020. Being hired by CETL built my trust in Handshake and the KSU Department of Career Planning and Development. I believed in their system so much I went back and applied for more internships and once again found my self in another public relations internship. This time with marketing and public relations firm, Calysto Communications. I started with Calysto in January of 2020, and I am still working for them.
Overall, Handshake is a well-developed platform and has served me well. I encourage all college students to create an account today.
LinkedIn Skills Test
LinkedIn is a great social media platform to build a network of people in your career field and a great way to find employment opportunities. I have had an account for quite some time now and recently revived it with updates to my experiences and other content.
Something fascinating that LinkedIn offers are skills test that you can take. These test your abilities in with applications such as Adobe products, Microsoft products, and much more. I tried my hand at a couple of office software applications and was surprised at the toughness these tests have.
I tried my hand at was one for Adobe InDesign. I recently had a branding course where we used this product, and I felt that I could handle a 15 question test about the software. Well, I was wrong, you have to score in the 70th percentile to pass the test, and I scored to low. It was hard and for a good reason. These skills test are posted to your profile for all to see, at your approval, of course. The purpose of them is to show employers that you are qualified to use this software, and your not just putting it on your resume because you have opened the application up once or twice.
LinkedIn Job Alert
LinkedIn is a great social media platform to build a network of people in your career field and a great way to find employment opportunities. I have had an account for quite some time now and recently revived it with updates to my experiences and other content. After scrolling through a list of jobs and re-wording my searched a thousand times, I decided to evaluate how I was conducting my job search.
Like I stated before, LinkedIn is a great platform and provides users with many services. One of those services is the ability to set job alerts. Instead of sifting through lists of jobs, you will never apply for, you can set a job notification. I did this by having the social media platform alert me for “public relations” positions within my state, and I set one for those jobs nationally. Using the feature has saved me time. One other thing you can do with LinkedIn is set your resume up for quick apply, so when that job comes up, you can click once and apply for the position.