Handshake

Students and alumni automatically have Handshake accounts for life. Login by going to umn.joinhandshake.com and entering your UMN ID and password. If this doesn’t work, see our troubleshooting steps.

*CCAPS, CDes, CEHD, CFANS, CLA, and CSE require your first submitted resume to be reviewed and approved before applying to positions.

By logging into your Handshake account and selecting to post at the University of Minnesota, you agree to abide by the Handshake at the University of Minnesota Student & Alumni User Agreement.

For Alumni

As a graduate of the University of Minnesota, you have lifetime access to Handshake with your UMN ID and password. You will be able to continue logging into Handshake with your UMN ID and password even after you lose access to your UMN gmail account. However, your primary email account in Handshake will need to be updated to a personal email address to continue receiving notifications, employer messages, and outreach from other students and alumni. You also have the option of setting up new login credentials with Handshake when you graduate. See details below.

Updating Your Email

Update your email with the University, and your primary email in Handshake will be updated as well. You will receive a confirmation email from Handshake when this takes place. This may take about a month to process after you graduate. If you do not want to wait, you can update your email in Handshake directly.

To update your email with the University:

1. Go to the My Info tab in MyU. If you no longer have access to MyU, visit update.umn.edu.
2. Select Edit in the Email block.
3. Select Add an Email Address.
4. Select Home as the Email Type.
5. Enter your personal email address in the Email Address field.
6. Select Save.

Logging into Handshake

Handshake is the best place to start when recruiting UMN students and alumni. Sign up for an account and request to connect with the University of Minnesota. All of our five campuses share one instance in Handshake.

If you have trouble during your account setup, see Handshake’s support articles or contact us at [email protected] or 612-624-7577:

• Create an Employer User Account, Join a Company, and Connect with Schools
• How to Create a New Company Profile
• Employer Validation
• Signing Up for an Employer Account with a Different Email Domain than Your Company
• Registering for an Employer Account with a Generic/Non-company Email Address (Gmail, Yahoo, etc)
• Register for an Employer Account on Behalf of Another User
• Pending Approval to Join Company
• Canceling a Request to Join the Wrong Company
• What if I accidentally signed up for the wrong account type?

Find and search more help articles in Handshake’s Help Center.

To post positions as an individual or private household, create an employer account using a personal email address (such as @gmail or @yahoo) following the steps in ‘How to Post Personal Babysitter Household or Caretaker Jobs.’

Tips to Attract Candidates

To ensure you attract candidates, include as much information as possible in your postings. Here are some recommendations of what to include:

• At least 3 Qualifications
• 3 – 5 Responsibilities, be as detailed as possible
• Hours to be worked (ex. 10am -2pm, or 4hrs between 8am and 4pm)
• Whether or not they will need a drivers license or vehicle. If not, provide bus lines that are near your home
• Pay

Contact your college or campus’ Handshake contact if you have additional questions.

We encourage you to use Handshake for open positions in your department or as an individual (ex. a nannying position for your child). In addition to departmental and college communications, Handshake is the best way to promote jobs and internships to UMN students and alumni.

How to Set Up an Account

To Post Jobs for Your Department

As a best practice, we encourage you to use a UMN departmental email when setting up an employer account in Handshake to prevent extra work in the case of employee turnover. If a departmental account is not available, use an individual staff member’s UMN email address.

Go to app.joinhandshake.com and click ‘Sign up here’ in the upper right-hand corner. The employer registration link is in grey under the more prominent student registration field. We follow a company model for UMN department accounts, meaning you will create a separate organization (company) for your department, rather than connecting to the University of Minnesota broadly. First, search to see if your department has already created a profile before creating a new one.

• Departmental naming: University of Minnesota – [Name of Department] OR University of Minnesota [Name of Department].
  • Labs sometimes name themselves “[Name of Lab] at the University of Minnesota”.

Special Instructions for Alumni

If you are both a staff/faculty member and an alumni, you automatically have a student/alumni Handshake account linked to your UMN email address. To avoid issues when setting up an employer account, follow the instructions for How to Create an Employer Account Linked to Your Student Account. You will need to do this even if you have never logged into your student/alumni Handshake account. Alternatively, you can set up an employer account linked to a departmental email address (see the general instructions for setting up an account).

To Post Babysitter, Household, or Personal Care Jobs

Faculty and staff often use Handshake to post personal, babysitter/nanny, caretaker, and household jobs. To do so, create an account using a personal email address (such as @gmail or @yahoo) following the steps in ‘How to Post Personal Babysitter Household or Caretaker Jobs.’