Career Exploration and Development

Privacy Policies

The Oberlin College office of Career Exploration and Development uses an online database, called Handshake, to provide career information, job postings, and networking opportunities. We are committed to maintaining the privacy of personal information for users ("you" or "user") of Handshake ("Site"). Because collect certain types of information about our users, in this privacy statement, we will describe the terms and conditions surrounding the capture and use of that information, including what we collect, how we use it, and how users can make changes.

Employers post employment opportunities directly on Handshake through the Career Exploration and Development website. Oberlin College uses Handshake to provide a web-based system for job postings, event listings, career advising notes, and interview scheduling for its jobseekers and for the employers who recruit on campus. Students and alumni use Handshake though their college/university career centers to post resumes and review job opportunities. Handshake's commitment to all users-schools, employers, and students/alumni-is that Handshake will maintain the confidentiality of all information collected on Handshake and Handshake will not sell, transmit, or disclose in any fashion this information to any other organization.

Handshake is the host server, storing and maintaining the data. Handshake only has access to the data in aggregate form.

How Will Handshake or Career Exploration and Development Use Personally Identifiable Information Collected?

  • To enable employers to access and use various tools, features, and functionality of the Handshake system, such as posting jobs and interview schedules.
  • To enable students and alumni to access various tools, features, and functions of the Handshake system, in particular, job postings, resume databases, and job-search agents.
  • To communicate with employers regarding use of Handshake, advice of Site changes, or to inform you of other possible events/activities associated with recruiting.

Handshake receives and collects personally identifiable information about you, a student/alumni user, (name, contact information, demographic information, academic history, G.P.A, employment history, etc.) from you via Handshake after you subscribe for services and when you upload resumes, cover letters, and other documents which contain personal information.

The Oberlin College Career Development Center may access some of the jobseeker's personal information to send email to a job seeker using communication tools on the Site and to send resumes to employers on behalf of a student/alumni.

Employers/search firms that use Handshake through the Oberlin College Career Development Center will have access to your resume, if you approve your resume to be submitted to an individual job listing or on-campus recruitment program, and the personal information contained therein for recruiting, interviewing, and hiring purposes. Handshake and Oberlin College Career Development Center is not responsible for what they do with personal information about you that is available or accessible to them on this Site. While Handshake and Oberlin College Career Development Center endeavor to restrict access to this data base to eligible employers, Handshake cannot guarantee that other parties will not, without our consent, gain access to the database.

Oberlin College, the Career Development Center, and Handshake will collect information from employers utilizing the Site. This information includes contact information (such as your phone number or email address); unique identifiers (such as your password to Handshake); and demographic information (such as location, type of organization, size of organization). 

Handshake will receive and collect from employers job postings (including job descriptions, employment qualifiers, and salary information) and interview schedules posted to Handshake through the Oberlin College Career Development Center web site.

Employers agree that all user information obtained through Handshake is to be used for the sole purpose of recruiting users for employment.

Updating Account Information: Handshake allows you to change or correct your personal information at any time. To do so, simply login to your account, go to your profile, and you will find options for editing the information.

Internet Protocol (IP) Addresses and Aggregated User Data: Handshake collects IP addresses from all users of the Site, and collects and monitors other data and information about the activities of our users on the Site collectively. We only use such data anonymously and in the aggregate.

Cookies: Cookies, which are small text files recorded in a user's hard drive, are employed by thousands of sites to enhance users' web viewing experience. Cookies cannot damage user files, nor can they read information from a user's hard drive. Cookies in and of themselves do not personally identify users, although they do identify a user's computer. Cookies allow sites to "remember" users across pages of a site and across multiple visits to a site. However, when you use Handshake, it will set a cookie while you are on the site. Once you log out of the site or close your browser window, the cookies are deleted. Thus, Handshake will not be storing information as to the number of times that you used the site and you will have to log in each time that you use Handshake.

Security: Handshake takes precautions to protect the user's information. When users submit sensitive information via the website, the information is protected both online and offline. When students/alumni submit resumes or information about their academic record, that information is encrypted and protected.

In addition, jobseeker and employer data is password-protected, so only the user can access this information. All personally identifiable information Handshake collects about you is stored in limited-access servers. Handshake has technical, administrative, and physical security measures and safeguards in place to protect against the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information under Handshake's control. This site uses firewalls to protect from loss, misuse, and alteration of the information under our control.

Oberlin College has associated itself with Handshake in order to provide improved career services to Oberlin students and alumni. Many of the provisions contained in this Statement are based upon representations made by Handshake. While Oberlin believes that Handshake provides a valuable service to our Oberlin job seeking community, Handshake is not related to Oberlin College. Therefore, Oberlin cannot guarantee - nor does it otherwise accept responsibility for - any portion of this Statement that depends upon Handshake's representations and its compliance with those representations. Please also review the Handshake Privacy Policy.

Career Exploration and Development adheres to the aforementioned policies and guidelines to ensure the quality of our services and reserves the right to modify these terms and conditions at any time.