Recent Graduates and Alumni

Thinking about a career change? Meet with one of our career counselors during Career Center Virtual Drop-Ins to help you through the process.​

Take a free, self-service career assessments and meet with a counselor to understand how your results inform your understanding of personal interests, skills, values, and lifestyle preferences, which impact your academic and career decisions.​

One of our team members can review your resume and cover letter and provide feedback over email. If you need face-to-face support, you can attend Career Center Virtual Drop-Ins.

Learn strategies and tips for your job search including information on networking, LinkedIn, and navigating job offers and salary negotiation.

Learn interview techniques to prepare and practice future interviews.

Learn strategies to help you decide whether to accept a job offer and how to negotiate for the best salary, benefits and other perks.

Get support building or improving your LinkedIn profile and growing your professional network.

Handshake is a recruitment platform for college students and graduates. Alumni can use Handshake for a variety of reasons:​

• You’re a recent graduate looking for a job​
• You’re getting your master's degree, and want to find an internship or job​
• You want to change careers and research career paths and employers​
• You want to attend virtual and in-person career fairs​
• You want to attend virtual info sessions offered by local, regional and national employers​
• You’re interested in connecting with fellow alumni

• Visit app.joinhandshake.com/login​
• Below the "Students & Alumni" option, select Western Washington University from the drop-down menu.​
• Enter the email associated with your Handshake account and click the blue button.​
• On the following page, click the blue "Get Started" button

• Sign up by following the steps outlined in this Handshake support article.​
• Create your account by entering your current email address and clicking continue.​
• Select Western Washington University from the drop-down menu and click continue.​
• Create a password and agree to Handshake's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.​
• You will be asked to confirm your email address and enter a phone number for verification purposes.
• Enter your first and last name, education level, and graduation month & year to finish creating your account.​
• Your account request will be reviewed to ensure you are an alumni of WWU and either approved or declined by the Career Center.
• Please note that you'll be able to start using Handshake right away, but you won't be connected to WWU and its services until your account request has been approved.

GoinGlobal is a resource to help job seekers learn about working and living in new locations. Here are some reasons you may want to use it:​

• ​Learn about country-specific visa regulations, job application/interview advice, and more through the Country Guides and Global City Guides.​​
• Access job postings in other countries through a multi-lingual job feed that incorporates both posts in English and the country’s native language.​

Alumni retain free access to this program! Just go to the GoinGlobal log in page.

Parker Dewey is a platform with opportunities for alumni to complete micro internships (short-term, paid professional projects). Here are some scenarios where completing a micro internship would be helpful:  ​

• ​You’re seeking paid, small-project experience to build your resume​
• You’d like to explore a career path through hands-on experience​
• You’d like to learn more about an employer by completing a project for them​

​Micro-Internships can be done at all stages of your academic career and let you learn about different companies, roles and career paths! Visit Parker Dewey to learn more about micro internships and sign up for an account or log in to your existing account.

• SkillsFirst is a platform that includes a Resume and Cover Letter Builder, allowing you to:​
• ​Choose from a variety of templates to craft persuasive resumes​
• Incorporate suggestions with pertinent keywords identified with AI Technology​
• Gain confidence to navigate the hiring process with customized support! ​
• Upload your personalized resume to “your documents” in Handshake! ​

Alumni retain free access to this program. If you didn't use this resume-building tool as a student, you can still sign up:​

• From the SkillsFirst homepage, select "Alumni, click here to join."​
• Enter your name, email, and this code: WesternWash1
• Then create a password
• Activate the confirmation message received from SkillsFirst.

If you used SkillsFirst as a WWU student and have now graduated, all you need to do is reset your account email. You’ll just log into your SkillsFirst account, using your WWU email and existing password, then go through the step-by-step instructions and screenshots outlined in the Updating Email and Password in SkillsFirst User Guide.​

Please see Handshake’s instructions on How to Change Your Email for step-by-step instructions.

Save relevant files from your WWU email account and cloud storage, as well as Canvas​

Don’t lose the network you’ve been building here at WWU—send them a connection request on LinkedIn!​

If you graduated after 2019, you already have an existing account associated with your former student email. The Career Services Center will send instructions on how to update your student email in Handshake, as graduates lose access to their student email approximately 6 months after graduation. Failure to respond to requests for additional verification information may result in a denial of your Handshake account request.​

If your graduation date was less than 6 months ago, you can likely log in using your former student email:​

• Log in at wwu.joinhandshake.com, then click on your account icon in the upper right corner and choose "Settings."​
• Scroll to the bottom of the Account Information section to "Emails" and click "+ Add another email."​
• Enter the email you'd like to use and click "Add" on the far right of the text box.​
• The page will update to reflect the pending email address. Confirm the email within 7 days.​
• If you don't receive a confirmation email, select the three dots menu to the far right of your email to resend it.​
• If you want to use a different email, remove the address and add your preferred one.​