Career Services held a sign-up event in the University Center on Jan. 29 to encourage students to get started on their profiles in the Handshake system, which is the replacement for the old MavJobs system. Students who could prove they had at least two pieces of their profile finished were entered to win a 32-inch flat screen TV, donated by Student Life.

Coordinator of Career Services Amanda Nicksic claimed the new system is an improvement on the old system, which wasn’t as easy for students to use. Nicksic likened Handshake to Facebook and LinkedIn.

“Visually, I think students understand it easier. It’s a lot easier to navigate,” Nicksic said.  “Your profiles are already pre-built into the system. You just have to go in and activate your account and fill it in with your information, so you can put in your resumes and your skills and that sort of stuff, and then employers can look right at your profile if you’ve applied for a job.”

Handshake is the exclusive source for Colorado Mesa University to post on-campus jobs, but it is not limited to CMU careers. Students can also use Handshake to search for local and national jobs. Nicksic described the new system as one-stop-shopping.

Career Services held the event in the UC to bring awareness to the new system and help students set up their profile. Once students were started satisfactorily, they were entered to win the flat screen TV.

“Participation is always driven through prizes,” Director of Student Life Shane O’Neill said. “This happens pretty frequently across the board. I don’t know if we can necessarily put an exact number on how many times we do it per year, but a lot of the times we have different individuals or different departments amongst campus approach us and be able to ask us for support and that’s one of the things that we’re always kind of here for.”

Whether they were motivated by the prize or jobs, an hour after the event began, over 1,000 students were on their profiles according to Nicksic.

Students can log into Handshake through their MAVzone account. Student email addresses are already pre-populated in the system, so it will recognize them and prompt them to get their profiles set up.

“Actually put some time into your profile because you can apply to jobs from there and employers are looking at it,” Nicksic said. “So take the time to have your profile look good because it’s going to be representative of you.”

All CMU students are able to begin using Handshake. CMU graduates are not excluded from the job-searching service it provides. Career Services provides assistance to all alumni for free. For more information, contact Career Services in the UC.