Maya Hall
Editor-in-Chief
For some college students, finding jobs and internships that connect with their major can be tough, but Handshake is there to directly aid in that. Aletra Chaney-Profit, director of career services, leads the work with the platform and gives insight into what Handshake does and what she hopes it will achieve.
“In 2013, while studying at Michigan Tech University, three students discovered the glaring inequality in career opportunities for students across the country,” Chaney-Profit said. “Believing that software had the potential to bridge this opportunity gap, they built the foundations of Handshake. The friends took their idea on a cross-country road trip to better understand the challenges students face when applying to jobs and to persuade college career centers to partner with them. Handshake was created to ensure that all college students have equal access to meaningful careers. Within a few years, Handshake has become the leading early career community in the US.”
According to Chaney-Profit, Butler had started the implementation of Handshake in February 2020 and launched it on Friday, June 30. The platform was also presented to the Board of Trustees where they ratified its approval.
“I had done some research on it because I was beginning to have more employers ask if we were on Handshake to post jobs,” Chaney-Profit said. “Some employers even said they would not post on a college job board if the school was not using Handshake and I did not understand why. After seeing how robust the program was, and the benefit to connect our students to such a vast network of employers and other universities for employment and internship opportunities, I asked if it was in our budget to acquire it. Our fantastic Information Service department also took a look at it and thought it would be a good investment and not a disruption to our systems.”
Chaney-Profit also mentioned that she has been at the head of the platform for Butler, and with the help of other staff they are doing what they can to advertise to students through emails, digital signs and flyers throughout campus.
“I am primarily leading the work with Handshake, but I am happy to have faculty and staff that support and help me champion this new resource,” Chaney-Profit said. “I am also hoping that our media staff will help encourage students to take advantage of this tool.”
Handshake has a network of over 500,000 employers and 3.5 million jobs and internships listed across the industry. Chaney-Profit hopes that more students will get connected with the platform.
“I absolutely recommend Handshake to all students at Butler,” Chaney-Profit said. “No matter where a person is with their job search, Handshake can be a resource. It is a community, so if a person just wants to research information or a specific employer, they can do that. If they want to talk to professionals that are working in the fields that they are interested in, they can do that. There are internships, fellowships, and jobs in diverse places and of unique career fields.”