GetJobzi vs HandShake
GetJobzi vs Handshake
GetJobzi vs Handshake
What Handshake actually is
Handshake launched in the US in 2014 and has operated in the UK since 2020, partnering with well over a thousand universities worldwide. Its model is university-mediated: your careers service adopts Handshake, employers targeting early-career talent post roles and attend virtual or in-person fairs on the platform, and students access it free through their institution. The employer side is curated — companies come to Handshake specifically to hire students and graduates, which is its core strength: the roles there want people like you.
What GetJobzi is
The Jobzi Jobseeker Support System takes the opposite approach. Instead of curating a subset of employers, it aggregates the entire live UK job market across every major board, matches roles against your CV and preferences, and applies automatically — up to 20 applications per day, each with a CV and cover letter optimised for that specific job description, within hours of the role going live. For universities, GetJobzi also operates as a white-label career centre with funnel analytics: applications, responses, interviews and outcomes per student, mapped against graduate outcome benchmarks.
Side by side
| GetJobzi | Handshake | |
|---|---|---|
| Model | AI assistant applying across the whole open job market | Curated network of early-career employers, mediated by your university |
| Job coverage | All active UK posts across major and niche boards — graduate and non-graduate, entry to senior | Roles employers choose to post on Handshake, mostly internships and early-career |
| Who applies | The system, automatically, within your criteria — up to 20/day | You, manually, per role |
| Speed to apply | Boards checked twice a day Mon–Fri; applies within hours of posting | Whenever you next browse the platform |
| CV support | Per-job optimised CV and cover letter, plus CV-to-job fit feedback | Profile-based; CV guidance typically comes from your careers service |
| Events & employer contact | Recruiter replies forwarded to one message board; no fairs | Career fairs, employer events, direct recruiter messaging — its standout feature |
| Access & cost | Direct sign-up; free trial, then from $5/month — or free to students where their university partners with GetJobzi | Free to students via a partner university |
| For employability teams | Funnel analytics per student: applications, responses, interviews, outcomes against sector benchmarks | Engagement analytics: event attendance, appointments, platform activity |
| After graduation | Works identically at any career stage | Focused on students and recent graduates |
Where Handshake genuinely wins
Credit where due. If an employer is on Handshake, they are there specifically to hire students — you are never competing against a 15-year veteran for the same role. Virtual and in-person fairs create face time no application engine can replicate. And because it's embedded in your careers service, advisers can see your activity and coach you around it. For structured graduate schemes and internships at brand-name employers, Handshake is a strong front door.
🎓 Employers who want students
No competing against a 15-year veteran — every employer on Handshake is specifically hiring early-career talent.
🎪 Real face time
Virtual and in-person fairs create employer contact no application engine can replicate.
🧑🏫 Adviser coaching built in
Embedded in your careers service, so advisers can see your activity and coach you around it directly.
Where the walled garden runs out
The limitation is the same one we quantified in our job board salary gap analysis: any single platform is a slice of the market. Most UK vacancies — including a large share of well-paid roles at SMEs, in the NHS, and across sectors that don't run graduate schemes — never appear on an early-career network. They appear on the open boards, get hundreds of applicants, and reward whoever applies within the first 48 hours. Our data on student behaviour also shows the deeper problem: students stop applying long before they stop needing a job, because manual applying is exhausting. A curated platform doesn't fix application fatigue; automation does.
🎯 Engagement metrics vs outcome metrics
Handshake tells you which students attended events and booked appointments — engagement. GetJobzi tells you which students are applying, at what rate, with what response and interview rates, against benchmark — outcomes. Graduate outcomes are measured on employment, not attendance, and demonstrating that employability work is working requires funnel data that engagement platforms don't produce. The two datasets are complementary: one shows who you're reaching, the other shows whether it's converting.
The honest bottom line
If your university offers Handshake, use it — go to the fairs, meet the employers, apply to the curated schemes. Then let an application engine cover everything Handshake doesn't: the 90%+ of the market on the open boards, applied to within the window that matters, while you focus your human energy on the interviews both channels generate.
Use both — start with the open market
Students: start the free trial. Employability teams: see what GetJobzi offers for institutions.
👉 Start the free trial GetJobzi for institutions