Handshake growth playbook

Redirect /ai/dp-redesign/ to /ai/data-partnerships/ and remove it from the sitemap; hide the site-wide recruiting banner on data pages; write a distinct title and description for the main, form and referral pages; put the trust facts ("You determine exactly what is shared", de-identified, the 20+ employees rule) next to the form button. Then tag every campaign link so pipeline can be traced from the first page.

A business owner deciding whether to hand over company records needs one clear, consistent page. Fixing the duplicate and the distractions now gives every campaign the new Marketing Lead launches a clean baseline to measure against.

[ ] /ai/dp-redesign/ 301 to /ai/data-partnerships/
[ ] Removed from sitemap
[ ] No hiring banner on data pages
[ ] Unique titles and descriptions (main, license, referral)
[ ] Trust facts beside the form button
[ ] UTM and CRM source on every campaign link
[ ] Baseline funnel saved before the first campaign

• The redesign was meant to replace the page

  Publish the better version at the main URL, then redirect.

• HiringMarketing Lead (Nashville, posted October 8, 2026): "the founding marketing leadership role for the supply side" of a new business that "helps companies securely license high-quality, non-public operational data to leading AI labs"; builds the funnel "across paid, outbound, referral, partner, product, and lifecycle channels", launches "the first campaigns, landing pages, nurture programs, messaging, and sales materials", is measured on "qualified pipeline and revenue", and sets up "enrichment, intent, automation, attribution, and reporting systems".Source
• HiringData Partnerships Representative (Nashville, posted October 20, 2026): "one of the first 5-10 reps on the floor" in "a zero-to-one build" going "directly to companies to license their proprietary data (workflow data, code, support transcripts, and more)"; "Companies are sitting on data that's genuinely valuable and they don't know it, or don't know who to trust with it"; the rep is "asking a business owner or their IT team to trust you with something sensitive". A Manager, Data Partnerships was posted October 6.Source
• Your websiteData partnerships pages (checked twice on October 22, 2026): /ai/data-partnerships/ ("Earn $100K to $4M+", "Talk to our team", "Refer a company") has a near-identical copy at /ai/dp-redesign/ that is live, listed in the sitemap and canonical to itself. The license form page carries a site banner about hiring software engineers for "AI-powered hiring". The three data pages share one meta description, and the section has no FAQ, industry or customer-story pages.Source
• Your websiteData license form page: "$250M Paid out to partners", "1M+ Handshake employers", "1K+ Partner companies"; "We're looking for companies with 20+ full time employees & 3+ years in operation"; "You determine exactly what is shared"; "All data is scoped, de-identified, and confidential"; example sources include Gmail, Slack, QuickBooks, NetSuite, ServiceTitan, AutoCAD and Figma, "+1K more".Source

Create one source for headline numbers with definitions and dates (job seekers, fellows, payouts, partner companies), update every page and the job-post boilerplate from it, and review it monthly.

Reporters, CHROs and AI assistants quote whichever number they find; consistent figures build trust and avoid corrections.

• Numbers change fast

  Date every figure.

• HiringDirector of Communications, Careers (posted October 21, 2026): owns the story of "the network 30 million students, graduates and professionals start on, the 1,600 institutions and million employers who rely on it", and turns "Network Trends, the Class of 2026 series, monthly labor-market data" into stories.Source
• HiringHandshake's description in its job posts: "we power 25 million job seekers, 1 million+ employers, and 1,600 educational institutions. In 2025, we started Handshake AI ... We've grown from $0 to ~$1B run rate and pay ~$60M to over 30K individuals every month."Source
• Your websiteHandshake AI page: "$500M+ payouts made", "188k+ fellows", "Earn up to $100/hr"; 245 /ai/opportunities/ pages in the sitemap. The homepage says "100K+ students, experts, and professionals" and "1M+ companies ready to hire".Source
• Your websiteData license form page: "$250M Paid out to partners", "1M+ Handshake employers", "1K+ Partner companies"; "We're looking for companies with 20+ full time employees & 3+ years in operation"; "You determine exactly what is shared"; "All data is scoped, de-identified, and confidential"; example sources include Gmail, Slack, QuickBooks, NetSuite, ServiceTitan, AutoCAD and Figma, "+1K more".Source

Render the gallery server-side with a title, description and a text list of data types, each with a short description, sample format and contact link. Add it to the Handshake AI navigation.

Lab researchers search and share; an empty page wastes the one asset built to show what Handshake offers.

• Revealing too much to rivals

  Describe types, not client work.

• HiringSenior Product Marketing Manager, Handshake AI (posted September 24, 2026): end-to-end product marketing for the frontier lab business, kept "unified with Handshake's broader career-network story"; turns research into market-ready content; builds "a Handshake AI website that is ready to be built out from scratch"; and will "Create and maintain a data gallery, a clear menu of the data types Handshake" offers.Source
• SitemapMain sitemaps (9,464 URLs): 5,348 salary pages, 929 find-jobs pages, 189 internship pages, 1,331 Early Talent Awards pages, 12 Network Trends reports, research benchmarks (StudentBench, CareBench, BankerToolBench and others) and three Handshake AI research posts. /ai/datagallery/ returns a page with no title and no text in its HTML.Source

Find the slow interactions (search box, role filters, sign-up buttons), split and defer the unused JavaScript, and add INP to the experiment dashboards so no test ships a slower page.

Slow taps lower sign-up rates on phones, where most students arrive, and blur experiment results.

• Regressions in other pages

  Track INP on top 20 pages.

• Google PageSpeedHomepage on mobile (October 22, 2026): performance 59/100, main content ("YOUR NEXT JOB") after 15.5s in the lab, 2.6 MB, about 1.3s of savings from unused JavaScript. Real visitors fail Core Web Vitals on responsiveness (INP 278 ms at the 75th percentile; the limit is 200 ms); loading (LCP 2.48s) passes just under the 2.5s limit and layout (CLS 0) passes. Desktop scores 75.Source
• HiringGrowth hiring: a Staff Product Designer, Growth owning "acquisition, onboarding, activation, referrals, and network growth" and experiments across "landing pages, onboarding flows, referral programs, viral mechanics"; a Senior Software Engineer, Growth (posted October 21, 2026) shipping experiments on "onboarding, activation, retention, notifications", with mobile growth as extra credit; and a Growth Operations Lead (India) for Handshake AI.Source

Rewrite pricing, employer page and plan descriptions around hiring across career stages and AI-fluent talent (the employer page already says "every career stage"), with proof such as 25M job seekers and 4M+ PhDs and Masters.

Pricing is where buyers decide; old framing there undoes the new positioning elsewhere.

• Losing early-talent buyers

  Keep early talent as a strength, not the whole story.

• HiringDirector, Product Marketing (posted October 15, 2026): owns how employers see Handshake "not as a college job board, but as the career network employers rely on to find and hire talent in the AI economy", so that "employers and CHROs see us as a strategic hiring partner rather than a college job board"; builds thought leadership for CHROs; leads 3-4 product marketers.Source
• Your websiteEmployers page: "25M job seekers", "Trusted by 97% of the Fortune 500 and over 1M small businesses". Pricing page: free posting, Pro at "$450 per month", Enterprise on request, promoted jobs "Starting from $34/day", and the feature table opens with "Unlimited job posting to the largest network of verified early talent".Source

Publish an FAQ and a one-page security overview: data scoping, de-identification, access controls, contract terms in plain words, payment timing and examples of what is not accepted. Link it from every data page and rep email.

Answering trust questions up front shortens sales cycles and lets reps send one link instead of repeating answers.

• Over-promising

  Legal approves every answer.

• HiringData Partnerships Representative (Nashville, posted October 20, 2026): "one of the first 5-10 reps on the floor" in "a zero-to-one build" going "directly to companies to license their proprietary data (workflow data, code, support transcripts, and more)"; "Companies are sitting on data that's genuinely valuable and they don't know it, or don't know who to trust with it"; the rep is "asking a business owner or their IT team to trust you with something sensitive". A Manager, Data Partnerships was posted October 6.Source
• Your websiteData license form page: "$250M Paid out to partners", "1M+ Handshake employers", "1K+ Partner companies"; "We're looking for companies with 20+ full time employees & 3+ years in operation"; "You determine exactly what is shared"; "All data is scoped, de-identified, and confidential"; example sources include Gmail, Slack, QuickBooks, NetSuite, ServiceTitan, AutoCAD and Figma, "+1K more".Source
• Your websiteData partnerships pages (checked twice on October 22, 2026): /ai/data-partnerships/ ("Earn $100K to $4M+", "Talk to our team", "Refer a company") has a near-identical copy at /ai/dp-redesign/ that is live, listed in the sitemap and canonical to itself. The license form page carries a site banner about hiring software engineers for "AI-powered hiring". The three data pages share one meta description, and the section has no FAQ, industry or customer-story pages.Source

Publish industry pages (field services, accounting firms, architecture and engineering, agencies) that explain which records are useful, typical payout ranges, and what is never shared. Use them in paid search and outbound.

Specific pages convert better and give reps and ads a relevant destination.

• Payout ranges set expectations

  Show ranges with clear conditions.

• Your websiteData license form page: "$250M Paid out to partners", "1M+ Handshake employers", "1K+ Partner companies"; "We're looking for companies with 20+ full time employees & 3+ years in operation"; "You determine exactly what is shared"; "All data is scoped, de-identified, and confidential"; example sources include Gmail, Slack, QuickBooks, NetSuite, ServiceTitan, AutoCAD and Figma, "+1K more".Source
• HiringMarketing Lead (Nashville, posted October 8, 2026): "the founding marketing leadership role for the supply side" of a new business that "helps companies securely license high-quality, non-public operational data to leading AI labs"; builds the funnel "across paid, outbound, referral, partner, product, and lifecycle channels", launches "the first campaigns, landing pages, nurture programs, messaging, and sales materials", is measured on "qualified pipeline and revenue", and sets up "enrichment, intent, automation, attribution, and reporting systems".Source
• Your websiteData partnerships pages (checked twice on October 22, 2026): /ai/data-partnerships/ ("Earn $100K to $4M+", "Talk to our team", "Refer a company") has a near-identical copy at /ai/dp-redesign/ that is live, listed in the sitemap and canonical to itself. The license form page carries a site banner about hiring software engineers for "AI-powered hiring". The three data pages share one meta description, and the section has no FAQ, industry or customer-story pages.Source

Promote the referral to opted-in fellows in the newsletter and to small-business employers in product, with clear rules and tracking. Pay fast and share totals paid.

Referrals from people who already trust Handshake start conversations faster than cold outreach.

• Low-fit referrals

  Show the 20+ employees and 3+ years rule up front.

• Your websiteReferral page: "Refer a company, get $10K"; "Our team directly reaches out within 1-2 days"; "Your $10K bonus is paid when their deal closes".Source
• Your websiteHandshake AI page: "$500M+ payouts made", "188k+ fellows", "Earn up to $100/hr"; 245 /ai/opportunities/ pages in the sitemap. The homepage says "100K+ students, experts, and professionals" and "1M+ companies ready to hire".Source
• Your websiteEmployers page: "25M job seekers", "Trusted by 97% of the Fortune 500 and over 1M small businesses". Pricing page: free posting, Pro at "$450 per month", Enterprise on request, promoted jobs "Starting from $34/day", and the feature table opens with "Unlimited job posting to the largest network of verified early talent".Source
• HiringSenior Marketing Manager - Fellows (posted October 9, 2026): builds the community of Fellows "who power Handshake AI's data work"; writes "a monthly newsletter, in a voice Fellows trust"; runs launch marketing for new programs; produces Fellow stories "including video"; partners on "negative sentiment response when issues surface".Source

Build a short estimator (industry, headcount, years, tools used) that returns a range and books a call with a rep. Keep ranges conservative and explain what drives value.

A personal number turns curiosity into a call and qualifies leads before reps spend time.

• Ranges disappoint

  Explain conditions and show the typical case.

• Your websiteData partnerships pages (checked twice on October 22, 2026): /ai/data-partnerships/ ("Earn $100K to $4M+", "Talk to our team", "Refer a company") has a near-identical copy at /ai/dp-redesign/ that is live, listed in the sitemap and canonical to itself. The license form page carries a site banner about hiring software engineers for "AI-powered hiring". The three data pages share one meta description, and the section has no FAQ, industry or customer-story pages.Source
• Your websiteData license form page: "$250M Paid out to partners", "1M+ Handshake employers", "1K+ Partner companies"; "We're looking for companies with 20+ full time employees & 3+ years in operation"; "You determine exactly what is shared"; "All data is scoped, de-identified, and confidential"; example sources include Gmail, Slack, QuickBooks, NetSuite, ServiceTitan, AutoCAD and Figma, "+1K more".Source
• HiringData Partnerships Representative (Nashville, posted October 20, 2026): "one of the first 5-10 reps on the floor" in "a zero-to-one build" going "directly to companies to license their proprietary data (workflow data, code, support transcripts, and more)"; "Companies are sitting on data that's genuinely valuable and they don't know it, or don't know who to trust with it"; the rep is "asking a business owner or their IT team to trust you with something sensitive". A Manager, Data Partnerships was posted October 6.Source

Each month: new opportunities by field, pay changes, one Fellow story with video, a product preview, and an honest note on any issues. Track opens, applications and active fellows.

Regular, honest updates keep experts active between projects and reduce negative sentiment.

• Over-promising work

  Never promise project volume.

• HiringSenior Marketing Manager - Fellows (posted October 9, 2026): builds the community of Fellows "who power Handshake AI's data work"; writes "a monthly newsletter, in a voice Fellows trust"; runs launch marketing for new programs; produces Fellow stories "including video"; partners on "negative sentiment response when issues surface".Source
• Your websiteHandshake AI page: "$500M+ payouts made", "188k+ fellows", "Earn up to $100/hr"; 245 /ai/opportunities/ pages in the sitemap. The homepage says "100K+ students, experts, and professionals" and "1M+ companies ready to hire".Source
• HiringHandshake's description in its job posts: "we power 25 million job seekers, 1 million+ employers, and 1,600 educational institutions. In 2025, we started Handshake AI ... We've grown from $0 to ~$1B run rate and pay ~$60M to over 30K individuals every month."Source

Make referrals field-specific: when a project needs PhDs in a field, ask active fellows in that field to refer peers with a tracked link and a bonus on first paid task.

Targeted referrals fill hard-to-staff projects faster and bring higher-quality fellows.

• Referral fraud

  Pay only after verified paid work.

• HiringGrowth hiring: a Staff Product Designer, Growth owning "acquisition, onboarding, activation, referrals, and network growth" and experiments across "landing pages, onboarding flows, referral programs, viral mechanics"; a Senior Software Engineer, Growth (posted October 21, 2026) shipping experiments on "onboarding, activation, retention, notifications", with mobile growth as extra credit; and a Growth Operations Lead (India) for Handshake AI.Source
• Your websiteHandshake AI page: "$500M+ payouts made", "188k+ fellows", "Earn up to $100/hr"; 245 /ai/opportunities/ pages in the sitemap. The homepage says "100K+ students, experts, and professionals" and "1M+ companies ready to hire".Source
• HiringSenior Marketing Manager - Fellows (posted October 9, 2026): builds the community of Fellows "who power Handshake AI's data work"; writes "a monthly newsletter, in a voice Fellows trust"; runs launch marketing for new programs; produces Fellow stories "including video"; partners on "negative sentiment response when issues surface".Source

Publish a short quarterly briefing for CHROs: hiring signals by field, AI skills demand, salary moves from the 5,348 salary pages, with an invitation-only roundtable. Use it in outbound by the Strategic AE.

Recurring, data-led content earns executive attention that product pitches do not.

• Too generic

  Show data by industry.

• HiringDirector, Product Marketing (posted October 15, 2026): owns how employers see Handshake "not as a college job board, but as the career network employers rely on to find and hire talent in the AI economy", so that "employers and CHROs see us as a strategic hiring partner rather than a college job board"; builds thought leadership for CHROs; leads 3-4 product marketers.Source
• HiringDirector of Communications, Careers (posted October 21, 2026): owns the story of "the network 30 million students, graduates and professionals start on, the 1,600 institutions and million employers who rely on it", and turns "Network Trends, the Class of 2026 series, monthly labor-market data" into stories.Source
• SitemapMain sitemaps (9,464 URLs): 5,348 salary pages, 929 find-jobs pages, 189 internship pages, 1,331 Early Talent Awards pages, 12 Network Trends reports, research benchmarks (StudentBench, CareBench, BankerToolBench and others) and three Handshake AI research posts. /ai/datagallery/ returns a page with no title and no text in its HTML.Source
• HiringPartnerships Lead - Integrations & Ecosystem (posted October 9, 2026): sets the ATS integration strategy across "Workday, Greenhouse, iCIMS, SuccessFactors, Oracle, Lever, Ashby" and closes "marketplace listings, API access, co-marketing, rev share, and data licensing". A Strategic Account Executive (posted October 22) hunts "net new Fortune 500 and Fortune 100 employers that do not yet partner with Handshake".Source

For each integration, publish a listing, a joint page, a webinar for shared customers and an in-ATS prompt where allowed. Measure partner-influenced pipeline.

Being visible where recruiters work makes adoption easier and lifts win rates.

• Partner priorities differ

  Start with the most-used ATS among customers.

• HiringPartnerships Lead - Integrations & Ecosystem (posted October 9, 2026): sets the ATS integration strategy across "Workday, Greenhouse, iCIMS, SuccessFactors, Oracle, Lever, Ashby" and closes "marketplace listings, API access, co-marketing, rev share, and data licensing". A Strategic Account Executive (posted October 22) hunts "net new Fortune 500 and Fortune 100 employers that do not yet partner with Handshake".Source
• Your websiteEmployers page: "25M job seekers", "Trusted by 97% of the Fortune 500 and over 1M small businesses". Pricing page: free posting, Pro at "$450 per month", Enterprise on request, promoted jobs "Starting from $34/day", and the feature table opens with "Unlimited job posting to the largest network of verified early talent".Source

List the Fortune 500 and 100 companies without a partnership, build one-page briefs with Handshake data (applicants from their target schools, competitors hiring on Handshake, salary benchmarks), and run executive outreach with the CHRO briefing.

A tiny named list rewards deep, personal work, and Handshake's data gives a reason to meet.

• Data sharing limits

  Use only aggregated, approved data.

• HiringPartnerships Lead - Integrations & Ecosystem (posted October 9, 2026): sets the ATS integration strategy across "Workday, Greenhouse, iCIMS, SuccessFactors, Oracle, Lever, Ashby" and closes "marketplace listings, API access, co-marketing, rev share, and data licensing". A Strategic Account Executive (posted October 22) hunts "net new Fortune 500 and Fortune 100 employers that do not yet partner with Handshake".Source
• Your websiteEmployers page: "25M job seekers", "Trusted by 97% of the Fortune 500 and over 1M small businesses". Pricing page: free posting, Pro at "$450 per month", Enterprise on request, promoted jobs "Starting from $34/day", and the feature table opens with "Unlimited job posting to the largest network of verified early talent".Source
• SitemapMain sitemaps (9,464 URLs): 5,348 salary pages, 929 find-jobs pages, 189 internship pages, 1,331 Early Talent Awards pages, 12 Network Trends reports, research benchmarks (StudentBench, CareBench, BankerToolBench and others) and three Handshake AI research posts. /ai/datagallery/ returns a page with no title and no text in its HTML.Source

Create one lab-facing hub: what Handshake AI does, benchmarks and papers, the data gallery, expert network size by field, security, and a lab contact path. Keep it linked to the career-network story.

Researchers judge vendors by their research and data; one hub makes the case quickly.

• Splitting the brand

  Keep one Handshake identity.

• HiringSenior Product Marketing Manager, Handshake AI (posted September 24, 2026): end-to-end product marketing for the frontier lab business, kept "unified with Handshake's broader career-network story"; turns research into market-ready content; builds "a Handshake AI website that is ready to be built out from scratch"; and will "Create and maintain a data gallery, a clear menu of the data types Handshake" offers.Source
• SitemapMain sitemaps (9,464 URLs): 5,348 salary pages, 929 find-jobs pages, 189 internship pages, 1,331 Early Talent Awards pages, 12 Network Trends reports, research benchmarks (StudentBench, CareBench, BankerToolBench and others) and three Handshake AI research posts. /ai/datagallery/ returns a page with no title and no text in its HTML.Source
• Competitor researchRivals' own homepages: Mercor is "organizing human intelligence to power the AI economy" for "the top AI labs and enterprises"; Scale "delivers proven data, evaluations, and outcomes to AI labs, governments, and the Fortune 500"; LinkedIn sells "Powerful Recruiting Tools" for hiring.See the research Source

Test app prompts after a saved job or an application on the web, with a deep link to that job in the app, and measure 30-day retention for web-only vs app users.

App users are reachable by notifications and stay active, which raises applications per student.

• Annoying prompts

  Show once per session and only after intent.

• App StoreiOS app "Handshake: Jobs & AI work": 4.85 stars from 139,254 ratings.Source
• HiringGrowth hiring: a Staff Product Designer, Growth owning "acquisition, onboarding, activation, referrals, and network growth" and experiments across "landing pages, onboarding flows, referral programs, viral mechanics"; a Senior Software Engineer, Growth (posted October 21, 2026) shipping experiments on "onboarding, activation, retention, notifications", with mobile growth as extra credit; and a Growth Operations Lead (India) for Handshake AI.Source

Package aggregated salary data by role, region and degree as a benchmark in Pro and Enterprise plans, with a public summary for press and SEO.

It adds a reason to upgrade and supports the "strategic hiring partner" positioning.

• Thin data for some roles

  Show sample sizes and hide small groups.

• SitemapMain sitemaps (9,464 URLs): 5,348 salary pages, 929 find-jobs pages, 189 internship pages, 1,331 Early Talent Awards pages, 12 Network Trends reports, research benchmarks (StudentBench, CareBench, BankerToolBench and others) and three Handshake AI research posts. /ai/datagallery/ returns a page with no title and no text in its HTML.Source
• HiringDirector of Communications, Careers (posted October 21, 2026): owns the story of "the network 30 million students, graduates and professionals start on, the 1,600 institutions and million employers who rely on it", and turns "Network Trends, the Class of 2026 series, monthly labor-market data" into stories.Source
• Your websiteEmployers page: "25M job seekers", "Trusted by 97% of the Fortune 500 and over 1M small businesses". Pricing page: free posting, Pro at "$450 per month", Enterprise on request, promoted jobs "Starting from $34/day", and the feature table opens with "Unlimited job posting to the largest network of verified early talent".Source
• HiringDirector, Product Marketing (posted October 15, 2026): owns how employers see Handshake "not as a college job board, but as the career network employers rely on to find and hire talent in the AI economy", so that "employers and CHROs see us as a strategic hiring partner rather than a college job board"; builds thought leadership for CHROs; leads 3-4 product marketers.Source

Let fellows opt in to show verified AI work skills (fields, task types, quality levels) on their Handshake profiles, and let employers filter by them.

It links the two businesses into one network story and gives fellows a career benefit beyond pay.

• Client confidentiality

  Show skill types only, never project details.

• HiringSenior Product Marketing Manager, Handshake AI (posted September 24, 2026): end-to-end product marketing for the frontier lab business, kept "unified with Handshake's broader career-network story"; turns research into market-ready content; builds "a Handshake AI website that is ready to be built out from scratch"; and will "Create and maintain a data gallery, a clear menu of the data types Handshake" offers.Source
• HiringDirector, Product Marketing (posted October 15, 2026): owns how employers see Handshake "not as a college job board, but as the career network employers rely on to find and hire talent in the AI economy", so that "employers and CHROs see us as a strategic hiring partner rather than a college job board"; builds thought leadership for CHROs; leads 3-4 product marketers.Source
• Your websiteHandshake AI page: "$500M+ payouts made", "188k+ fellows", "Earn up to $100/hr"; 245 /ai/opportunities/ pages in the sitemap. The homepage says "100K+ students, experts, and professionals" and "1M+ companies ready to hire".Source

Publish an aggregated yearly report: fields, pay ranges, hours, student vs professional fellows, and what work grows. Launch with press and universities.

It earns coverage in careers and AI press, recruits fellows and supports the career-network story.

• Lab confidentiality

  Aggregate by field only.

• HiringHandshake's description in its job posts: "we power 25 million job seekers, 1 million+ employers, and 1,600 educational institutions. In 2025, we started Handshake AI ... We've grown from $0 to ~$1B run rate and pay ~$60M to over 30K individuals every month."Source
• Your websiteHandshake AI page: "$500M+ payouts made", "188k+ fellows", "Earn up to $100/hr"; 245 /ai/opportunities/ pages in the sitemap. The homepage says "100K+ students, experts, and professionals" and "1M+ companies ready to hire".Source
• HiringDirector of Communications, Careers (posted October 21, 2026): owns the story of "the network 30 million students, graduates and professionals start on, the 1,600 institutions and million employers who rely on it", and turns "Network Trends, the Class of 2026 series, monthly labor-market data" into stories.Source

Publish India-focused opportunity pages (eligible fields, pay in context, how payment works), run campus partnerships and track fellow quality by source.

A dedicated path recruits experts where the team is growing.

• Pay expectations

  Show conditions clearly.

• HiringGrowth hiring: a Staff Product Designer, Growth owning "acquisition, onboarding, activation, referrals, and network growth" and experiments across "landing pages, onboarding flows, referral programs, viral mechanics"; a Senior Software Engineer, Growth (posted October 21, 2026) shipping experiments on "onboarding, activation, retention, notifications", with mobile growth as extra credit; and a Growth Operations Lead (India) for Handshake AI.Source
• Your websiteHandshake AI page: "$500M+ payouts made", "188k+ fellows", "Earn up to $100/hr"; 245 /ai/opportunities/ pages in the sitemap. The homepage says "100K+ students, experts, and professionals" and "1M+ companies ready to hire".Source

Create a badge kit (image, embed code linking to the award page, press template) and email winners. Track embeds and links.

Employer badges earn links and reinforce Handshake's authority with recruiters.

• Old awards look dated

  Badge shows the year.

• SitemapMain sitemaps (9,464 URLs): 5,348 salary pages, 929 find-jobs pages, 189 internship pages, 1,331 Early Talent Awards pages, 12 Network Trends reports, research benchmarks (StudentBench, CareBench, BankerToolBench and others) and three Handshake AI research posts. /ai/datagallery/ returns a page with no title and no text in its HTML.Source
• HiringDirector, Product Marketing (posted October 15, 2026): owns how employers see Handshake "not as a college job board, but as the career network employers rely on to find and hire talent in the AI economy", so that "employers and CHROs see us as a strategic hiring partner rather than a college job board"; builds thought leadership for CHROs; leads 3-4 product marketers.Source