Employers FAQs

Handshake is the primary job and internship platform used by Santa Clara and hundreds of other universities in the US. If you’re interested in hiring students from SCU for roles at your organization, the very first step is creating your account on Handshake. Follow this link to create your employer account. (https://joinhandshake.com/employers/) 

For questions about creating your account, here are some helpful resources from Handshake.  (https://support.joinhandshake.com/hc/en-us/articles/115011431228-Getting-Started-With-Handshake-Employers?mobile_site=true) 

Typically it takes 1-3 business days for an employer to get approved in Handshake.  The timeframe is similar for individual job postings.

On-campus interview dates can be requested in Handshake. It is important to note that OCI is available only during specific times of the year after our career fairs (Fall, Winter & Spring) and those dates will show up in Handshake once they are available for registration. Please note: accounting OCI is only available during 1 dedicated period (approx 10 days in Fall and Winter). 

We recommend that employers fill out the posting with as many details as possible and make sure they have selected all applicable majors and class levels so their target students can view the posting and feel like they are qualified. The timing of job postings is also an important factor to consider when posting an opportunity. Most companies (85%) complete their recruiting in the Fall and Winter and many students (though not all) have already made their summer commitments well before the Spring quarter.

Unfortunately, Santa Clara does not offer a resume book feature.  However, employers with trust scores above 80 (with the exception of 3rd party recruiters) have the ability to utilize the “Search & Message” feature in Handshake, which allows them to conduct a filtered search and proactively message students whose profiles meet that filtered criteria.

There are a number of different ways that an employer can get involved on campus.  Employers can attend Career Fairs (up to 9 fairs are offered throughout the year), career-specific Meet-Ups, employer-specific Coffee Chats, and/or work with the Career Center to create a customized event.

Over the last several years we have noticed a significant decline in student attendance at employer information sessions. After further investigation, the feedback we received from students was that this was not the way they wanted to connect with employers. They wanted less formal more conversational ways of connecting. As a result, we have introduced meetups, as well as coffee chats, which meet that need.

If you’re interested in participating in or hosting an event on campus, please email scuemployers@scu.edu.

Student attendance varies at each fair, but on average we have 500-1300 students at our larger fairs, with the Fall Career Fair being our largest of the year.

3rd party recruiters are welcome to attend the career fair to recruit for their internal positions only (positions within their own company). They are not able to recruit on behalf of their employer clients as we expect the employer to attend to recruit for themselves.

We do not impose specific deadlines on offers, however, we do ask that you give students ample time to make an informed and thoughtful decision - we recommend at least 2 weeks from the written offer.  If a student requests an extension, we ask that you consider that request whenever possible.

Exception: If you are a recruiter hiring for accounting roles, please see the Accounting Association website for specific accounting recruitment guidelines.