Our Journeys tool, introduced in 2021 and built exclusively for our European partners, has helped career service teams guide and support tens of thousands of students throughout their career journey. Journeys empowers careers services to provide a personalised careers experience to each one of their students, at scale. With Journeys, careers teams can target specific groups of students and lead them down step-by-step paths to set them up for success on their career path and ultimately, secure their dream job.
Each student has their own career aspiration, requiring personalised guidance and advice from their university to set them up for success. However, due to team sizes and student numbers, it's not always possible for careers services teams to provide hands-on, individual advice for every step each student should take to achieve their goals. Students juggle priorities and may not recognise the importance of careers’ support alongside their studies throughout the entirety of their university experience.
This is where the Handshake Journeys feature comes in.
Introduced in 2021, the Journeys feature empowers careers services to target specific student groups, outlining steps that guide students through their career paths. This feature is exclusive to our European partners and was built from their input, with their challenges and objectives in mind. It unlocks personalised content at scale, ensuring resources are used efficiently for the greatest impact. Students receive a roadmap of bite-sized content and tasks, leading them through each step of their job search or university life. By identifying student groups and matching them with custom Journeys, careers services can deliver content that resonates with each student, boosting their engagement.
It’s all about making career planning simple, engaging, and personal for every student, no matter what help they need.
“The introduction of Journeys has created a number of efficiencies in the way the University operates, from helping the team track student engagement to supporting students in setting milestones and tracking their progress through these opportunities. This has also created capacity within the University for other activities, whilst also helping students to take some ownership of their career development.” - Loughborough University London
With Journeys, careers services teams can create tailored action plans for students. Journeys can be fully built to fit both the university’s and the student’s needs, helping guide them through their career path without needing constant supervision. All content and tasks can be personalised to match the student’s career interests and the guidance they need, at the right time. Plus, each Journey can be designed with specific groups of students in mind, based on a wide range of criteria. This level of customisation encourages students to tackle tasks that will set them up for success throughout their job search, all within Handshake.
Journeys was designed to help students navigate their job search with resources, tasks and opportunities tailored just for them. Careers services have a wide range of options to pick from when building personalised Journeys for students. This includes everything from events and surveys to career fairs and appointments, plus any content deemed beneficial for students to explore.
Journeys are flexible, to fit the diverse needs of careers services and students alike. Simple Journeys can walk a student through an onboarding process, outlining the necessary steps to set up their account. Event-oriented Journeys can support students through interview processes, outlining advice and steps for success, such as updating a CV or reading a guide. The feature can also help careers services connect with target groups by creating steps that address their particular challenges. For instance, international students, who might be concerned with work permits or improving their language skills, will find customised action plans targeting these areas invaluable in their job search Journey.
Monitoring student progress throughout their Journeys is essential to offer better support. Careers services teams can easily track how students are advancing along the Journeys they have set up. Reaching out and giving students a gentle push is straightforward with the Handshake targeted email tool that seamlessly integrates with the Journeys feature. This enables career services to gauge student engagement with the content they've received and follow up accordingly. They can congratulate students who have finished a Journey, guide them to the next one that fits their needs, or motivate those who haven't started or completed their Journey yet.
Students complete Journeys directly through their profile, ensuring a user-friendly and smooth experience. Completing tasks within their Journeys brings a sense of achievement and allows them to delve into the career world in manageable, bite-sized steps via the Handshake platform. Embarking on Journeys sets them up for success, requiring minimal effort from career services teams.
Over the last 3 years, Handshake Journeys has changed the way careers services can accompany students along their career planning, by making it personalised, engaging and straightforward. It allows careers teams to offer custom content at scale, meaning they can give the personalised support they deserve. Journeys ensures students are not just prepared for their job search; but also actively engaged in shaping their future, step by step. Journeys also offers flexibility with robust analytics on engagement, and integration with Handshake’s emailing tool to ensure careers services can easily support all your students with an all-in-one solution.
It’s a win-win: students get a tailored roadmap to success and careers services can efficiently support every student’s career goals. Book a demo to discover how Handshake can empower your careers services team today.
