WashU Schools and Departments should post student positions in Handshake – the only university-wide jobs database.
Accessing Handshake
In order to post an on-campus job on Handshake your department will need an employer account and you will need a staff account that is connected to your department’s account.
Fill out this Handshake account form to request a personal account for yourself to be connected to your department’s existing account, or to create a new department employer account. Check this WashU On-Campus Employers directory to see if your department already has an account.
Account requests are fulfilled in 1-2 business days. Email hiretalent@wustl.edu for urgent requests. Once your account is linked to your department account, you may follow the steps below to post a job.
Posting an On-Campus Position in Handshake
Step 1
Ensure you have necessary department and budgetary approval to hire a student, and have your job description ready to paste into Handshake. Visit the Recruit and Hire Student Employees page to find a Student Employee Job Description Guide and Template.
Step 2
Log in with your WashU email at https://app.joinhandshake.com/login. If you are or were a WashU student you may also have a student Handshake account, so make sure you are logged in as an employer.
Step 3
Navigate to the Create job button at the top.
Step 4
Handshake will now take you through several screens each asking you different information about the job. The screens are shown in detail in steps 5-14 below. The most important screen is the first, where you input the job description.
Copy and paste your full job description into the text field. The information you put here will show up first to students viewing your job.
Supervisors are invited to reference this Student Employee Job Description Guide and Template to create a job description that is aligned with: Federal Work-Study regulations; the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ Career Readiness Competencies; WashU’s Handshake job posting platform; and details of the student employment experience that may be different from post-graduation professional jobs.
You can save a draft at any time by clicking the save as draft button in the top right corner.
Step 5
Ensure that the automatically generated job title matches the title you have in your job description.
Ensure that On Campus Student Employment is selected under position type.
Selecting Work-Study Program will restrict viewability and applications to students who have a Federal Work-Study award.
If your position is open to both work-study and non-work-study students, please create duplicate posts – one with the work-study program box checked and one with it unchecked.
Step 6
Set the location as onsite if the student is working from your department office all the time, or to hybrid if they have the ability to work from various locations on and around campus.
Please note that remote work, meaning that the employee is conducting the work activities outside the state of Missouri, is not permitted for on-campus student employees.
Step 7
Set the time requirement to part time. Student employees are part time and may not work more than 19.6 hours per week when classes are in session.
For employment duration, the temporary or seasonal option requires you to put in a start and end date. If the student job you are posting is ongoing (until the student graduates) you can select permanent.
Step 8
You are encouraged to share the pay for the position.
All student employees must be paid at least the Missouri state minimum wage.
Student employee positions do not earn benefits so you can skip this section.
Step 9
Tagging your position with job role groups will allow students to search by those categories, but is not required to post the job. Since WashU student positions are already grouped as on-campus jobs, and are pre-filtered on the student employment website and in Handshake, further tagging is not necessary.
Step 10
International student can work on campus as long as they have the proper work authorization.
You will need to check the box that says this job requires U.S. work authorization. Do not check this job is eligible for US visa sponsorship or this job is open to candidates with Optional Practical Training (OPT). You may check this job is open to candidates with Curricular Practical Training (CPT) if applicable to your particular role.
You are also encouraged to write in the position description text that “international students with work authorization are encouraged to apply.”
Adding other qualifications such as desired skills, current school year, major groups, and minimum GPA can help students further search for your job within Handshake, but is not required for posting. We recommend that this information is included in your job description that you pasted in the first section.
Step 11
WashU should automatically show up as the school where you would like to post your job. Since this is an on-campus role and only open to WashU students, do not add any other schools.
Step 12
Set the application duration – this determines how long the job will remain visible on Handshake. 30 days is typically long enough to get a good pool of applicants. You can extend or shorten the application duration as needed after the job has been posted. Decide how you want students to apply for the job.
Indicate how many students will be hired into the role.
Provide instructions for how students should submit their application. If you select on Handshake you will then choose what documents you require students to upload and will be able to see and manage all applications in within the Handshake platform. If you choose on a separate website, you will then add a link your applicant web form and any instructions for how to apply. If you choose to take applications on a separate website, you will not be able to view any applicants in Handshake.
Step 13
Make selections about communications you want to receive from Handshake related to this post.
Add any other team members who need to be able to review the job and applicants. They must first have a Handshake account linked to your department employer account.
Step 14
Review your job and post! The review page will show you how your post will appear to students and allows you to edit each section. Note, that the job description you copied and pasted in the first step is at the top. As the first piece of information that students see, it is important to have a complete and thorough job description written out before your create your job post.
