By Laura Brent ’18, Staff Writer
Lebanon Valley College now features a new intuitive and engaging career management platform to help students find jobs and internships within their career path.
It’s called Handshake. As of July 1, Handshake replaced JobCenter, the previous career management system that the College utilized.
Sarah Bartz, Associate Director of Career Development, believes that JobCenter was effective, but not as technologically up-to-date.
“JobCenter had a database feel that students weren’t as comfortable with,” Bartz said. “Handshake looks like the Facebook version of job searching. The interface is easy to use and it also engages students in a way that JobCenter just didn’t before.”
Handshake is a one-stop shop for students to build their own profile, upload résumés and search for jobs, internships and events. The user-friendly interface connects students with more than 105,000 opportunities, and more than 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies use Handshake to recruit.
“Students are really excited about the feedback [from Handshake],” Bartz said. “They seem to really appreciate the ease of use while searching for jobs and opportunities.”
Brynn Mason, Assistant Director of Career Development is impressed with the ability to connect students to employers on a national and international level through Handshake.
“Students who want to move to Florida or Texas after they graduate now have opportunities and connections that we never used to have,” Mason said.
Each day the Center for Career Development receives 50-100 employer requests and 25-100 job postings to be approved on Handshake.
“We hope that Handshake will re-engage the LVC community in the internship and job search process with its easy-to-use interface, easy to navigate opportunities and the sheer number of opportunities available within the system,” Bartz said.
As students personalize their profile and update their interests and career goals, Handshake will filter more jobs, internships and opportunities that are the best match for the student. These postings will appear on the student’s Job Center home screen for easy access.
“I really appreciate the way the students can engage and personalize the system,” Bartz said. “The more the student utilizes the system and what they’re interested in doing, the more the system is going to work for them. I really like the way the system is intuitive in that way.”
Within the next year, the Center for Career Development hopes to integrate the ability to request appointments with career counselors online via Handshake.
The Center for Career Development encourages all students to log-in to Handshake through MyLVC or the Handshake app. Students can use their log-in information that they use to access all LVC platforms.
“One of the biggest things students should know is they should access it sooner than later,” Bartz said. “Spend time personalizing your account, even if you are a first-year student; that way when you are approaching graduation, Handshake is something you’ll feel comfortable with.”