This edition of the REACH Toolbox continues a series of articles that detail the services that are offered by the REACH Program and University Career Services to help students with disabilities achieve their career goals. Although most of these services may appear to be more general in nature, it is important to remember that all students, regardless of the presence or absence of disabilities, have exciting opportunities to explore their career interests, apply for jobs, prepare for interviews, and engage in their chosen fields of employment. Therefore, REACH and University Career Services endeavors to provide the following services to assist students for each of these phases:
- Take assessments to identify potential careers based on personality preferences and interests.
- Partner with Career Directors in respective colleges to learn about industry-specific internship/employment opportunities.
- Create a Handshake (BYU’s platform connecting students to employers) to receive opportunities tailored to specific interests and skills.
- Prepare for Career and STEM Fairs.
- Prepare application materials (e.g., cover letters, resumes, references, thank-you notes).
- Prepare for job interviews.
- Determine if and when disability disclosure to employers is appropriate.
- Learn strategies to request accommodations.
What is Handshake?
Handshake is BYU’s exciting new platform to connect students to employers. Currently, Handshake is the nation’s number one tool for recruiting new college graduates to employment and internship positions. When you create your profile you have the ability to engage in a number of activities:
- View on-campus fairs and events.
- Receive customized notifications for internships and employment opportunities (requires a completed Handshake profile).
- Apply for internships and jobs.
- Publicize your profile and resume to be discovered by employers.
- Connect with fellow classmates who have similar academic/career interests.
How do I Create my Handshake Profile?
- Visit http://handshake.byu.edu/.
- Click the “Current Student” icon.
- Sign in to your BYU account.
- If this is your first time logging into Handshake, you will be directed to your profile page (otherwise click the “View Profile” link near the top of the page).
Tips for Creating my Handshake Profile:
- Upload your resume to quickly fill in information about your education and employment (please review the information after inputting it to be sure that it is correct – you may need to change the order of certain activities/events or revise some of the data).
- When writing your bio in the “Get To Know Me” section (on the right side, halfway down the page), you will want to showcase your goals and passions, the most important skills to employers, and give two fun facts about yourself.
- Include any clubs or organizations in which you have participated, even if nominally, in the “Organizations/Extracurriculars” section.
- When including your courses in the “Courses” section, be sure to highlight those that showcase the most relevant skills for your chosen employment industry.
- Be sure that your profile photo shows you dressed professionally (at least from the chest up) with a clean and simple background.
Caution:
Handshake was launched during July 2018. Since that time, University Career Services has successfully recruited STEM-focused and liberal arts-focused companies to use the platform. Although you will likely find more STEM positions on Handshake, the department is working to increase the number of liberal arts positions. In the interim, consider using LinkedIn if you do not find the types of positions or employers for which you are searching on Handshake. When searching for jobs or specific people on LinkedIn, consider joining the “BYU Network” or the “Brigham Young University Alumni Network” because alumni will be more willing than general LinkedIn users to assist you with your employment search. If you decide to reach out to alumni, do not message them with a request to find employment! Instead, you can contact them to seek information about their background, the industries in which they work, or their potential contacts who could act as informational resources during your job search. For tips on composing an appropriate networking message visit this link.
Although LinkedIn has a messaging tool, some users do not check their messages. If you are not successful reaching a particular contact, you may try searching for the contact information on CareerShift. Please note that you will be required to create a free account in order to access information on this site. After you have created your account, you can search for people by clicking the “Contacts” link in the second column of menu items on the page.