Handshake is not just an early careers management platform, we are a true partner to each one of our universities. This is why ensuring a simple implementation and outstanding service and support is at the core of our offering. Read more about what it is that made the University of Central Lancashire switch to Handshake, and why the features are just one of the reasons they stick with Handshake.
About the university
- Name: University of Central Lancashire
- Location: Lancashire
- Career services staff: 15 people
- Enrollment: 38,000 students
The switch to Handshake
University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) decided to explore career management systems when it began to feel as though students needed a system that could offer more innovations and developments to keep them engaged. Ideally a system that would make it easy for students to view and apply for vacancies and that would respond quickly to improvement suggestions. This culminated in the team at UCLan beginning the search for something new and ultimately led them to Handshake.
“After seeing the demo of Handshake we were instantly captivated as everything was better and there were features that we didn’t yet have.”
– Gary Elliot
Careers Technologist, University of Central Lancashire
Implementation process
Careers Technologist at UCLan, Gary Elliot, led on the implementation process for UCLan. With the support of Handshake, the team at UCLan were up and running in a matter of weeks. To ensure the implementation process is as smooth and simple as possible in every university, the Handshake team are on-hand every step of the way to support where necessary.
“The implementation was straightforward - there wasn’t much work to be done and the process itself only took a couple of weeks.”
– Gary Elliot
Careers Technologist, University of Central Lancashire
On-going support
When switching providers at any institution, it’s key to remember that the implementation process is simply the first step on this journey. After a successful implementation it is critical that the university receives ongoing support and guidance to ensure that the launch of the platform is successful, and that the key stakeholders are actively engaged and using the system. This is why, each university that comes on board with Handshake is assigned a dedicated relationship manager who the careers team can turn to for support, and that careers and students have unlimited access to our in-house support team.
“With Handshake you can rely on a higher level of communication and it does feel like they want us to succeed. I appreciate how Handshake consults with universities on developments so that we as partners do have a say in how things develop. With other careers systems features are usually just dropped into place without any communication with the careers services and so generally you just have to make do with what appears.”
“It was a breath of fresh air to actually have our relationship manager and the wider team spending time contacting us to see how things are going and asking if they could help in any way. It does very much feel like a ‘partnership’ rather than just being a standard client.”
– Gary Elliot
Careers Technologist, University of Central Lancashire
A true partnership
A key driver to UCLan leaving their previous provider was the lack of investment and development in the software. Handshake not only had more features that UCLan knew their students would benefit from but they also involve partners in the future of the platform and deliver on updates.
Handshake’s impact at UCLan
- Every feature has provided us with significant improvements
- Enhanced email functionality has been a game changer in communicating with students
- The stand out feature is the Analytics reporting as it is very easy to make any report you like against any data in the platform
- Managing events is now a great deal easier, especially careers fairs
- All features are much more ‘virtual capable’ making it easier to run a hybrid system
- The placements functionality is easy to set up and maintain
- A sophisticated built-in graduate destination survey tool
“With Handshake the pace of relevant change and reinvestment in the platform is phenomenal.”
– Gary Elliot
Careers Technologist, University of Central Lancashire