JMU announces partnership with Handshake

San Francisco tech company connects college students with job and internship listings

Published January 28, 2020 by Sydney Lake

James Madison University has partnered with San Francisco-based jobs listings tech company Handshake to produce a live feed of job and internship opportunities on its website, JMU announced Tuesday. Although more than 900 colleges and universities use Handshake, JMU says it’s the first school in the nation to fully integrate Handshake into its website, making live jobs and internships listings available for each major it offers, for example.

“Our recent ranking as the best college in Virginia for getting a job says a lot about how we do career services at JMU,” JMU President Jonathan Alger said during a news conference held at the ChamberRVA office in Richmond on Tuesday. “We owe it to our students to increase their career prospects. This partnership with Handshake merely serves to match that preparation with opportunity in a new and innovative way.”

Visitors to JMU’s website can access a live feed of job and internship opportunities for JMU students without having to log in with account credentials. The feed can be accessed directly through the academic page on the university’s website. 

Employers who post opportunities to Handshake can target the schools where they want their job postings to appear. Additionally, students can post and read reviews of companies and can message peers and alums through Handshake’s platform.

Graduating JMU senior Avery Archibald says she used the platform to land her “dream job” at Amazon.com Inc.

“There I was, a new hire for Amazon, waiting to graduate, sitting down with one of the most powerful people at one of the most powerful companies in my own backyard of Harrisonburg, Virginia,” she said, recalling her meeting with an Amazon executive.