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Alternatives to Handshake for career centers

Handshake is the largest network; the alternatives trade reach for control. This page lists the systems that replace Handshake as a career center's system of record, and the tools that sit alongside it, each in its own words.

Published 4 November 2026 · Sources re-read 4 November 2026

The short answer

If your students depend on a national employer network for postings and discovery, Handshake is hard to replace, and the tools below that sit alongside it add to it rather than replacing it. If your career center wants its own employers, its own approval rules, invoicing for its own fairs and data under its control, the systems that replace Handshake as the system of record are Career Forge, Symplicity CSM, 12twenty and GradLeaders.

Handshake, in its own words

What the alternatives are measured against.

Calls itself “the career network for the AI economy” and, on its About page, a “three-sided job marketplace” of knowledge workers, educational institutions and employers. Handshake: home and About pages
About 1,600 educational institutions and 1 million employers; its career-centers page says 1,500+ institutions, 300+ community colleges and 70 HBCUs. Handshake: Career centers
Employers post for free on its Basic plan; Pro is $450 a month. Its US pages do not say what schools pay; a page on its UK site says universities also contribute to its revenue. Handshake: Employer plans and pricing
For career centers it names events, curated jobs, post-graduation outcomes and reporting; appointments and experiential learning are not named on that page. Handshake: Career centers

The statement about universities contributing to revenue is from Handshake UK: about our business model, written for UK universities and undated.

Systems that replace Handshake

Each runs the career center's own employers, events, appointments and outcomes. Facts come from each vendor's own site, read on 4 November 2026.

This site

Career Forge

Career Forge is a career management platform supporting the full scope of career services work, with workflows as unique as your programs, in one configurable system.

Built for

Career centers at colleges and universities, one center or several on a campus, each configured for its institution: engineering and business colleges, two-year colleges and whole universities.

Names

Event Management
Check-in & Badge Printing
Coaching
Experiential Learning
Interviews
Jobs
First Destination & Outcomes
Reporting

Who pays

Paid for by the career center, by product and for a term, with onboarding once. No per-employer or per-posting fees.

Model

Configured per institution. One employer account works across every career center on Career Forge, a newer and smaller network than Handshake's.

Several centers

Each career center on a campus gets its own portal, employers, approvals, events and invoices; the institution's branding, picklists and single sign-on are set once.

Help centre

A customer help centre, and a standing call with the team for every customer.

Sources

The platform · How pricing works · Several career centers, one campus

Replaces the system of record

Symplicity CSM

“Brings career services, experiential learning, employer engagement, and student activity together”; its headline is “make career support bigger than the career center”.

Built for

“1,000+ institutions worldwide”, with Northeastern, William and Mary, Georgia Tech, Purdue and two law schools named. Its employer network of over 500 schools spans community colleges, four-year universities and graduate institutions.

Names

Appointment scheduling and virtual mock interviews
An experiential learning module
Virtual career fairs, interviews and fairs with employers
Curated jobs, pathways, a student CRM and a recruiting toolkit
Swipe-card kiosks and a mobile interface
Outcomes reporting and custom dashboards

Who pays

No school pricing is published. Employers pay to reach its Recruit network: posts from $55 per post per school for four schools or fewer, Pro from $329 a month.

Model

Configured per institution, with a separate paid employer network (Symplicity Recruit).

Several centers

Not described as a feature. A Florida State testimonial says CSM lets the university “centrally support colleges and departments”, and its Georgia Tech story describes consolidating career activity on one platform.

Help centre

No public knowledge base was found on the pages read; support is by contact form.

Sources

Symplicity: higher education · Symplicity CSM · Symplicity: employer pricing · Symplicity: Georgia Tech story

Replaces the system of record

12twenty

“Run your career center your way”: institutions, employers, students and alumni on a single platform, as a Career Services Hub with separate hubs for experiential learning, employer relations and outcomes.

Built for

University career centers “from specialized grad schools to renowned undergrad programs”; business and law schools are named audiences. Two-year colleges are not mentioned.

Names

A job board with curated jobs from 350k+ employers
Interview scheduling (auto-assign, lottery, rotational, swaps) with post-interview surveys
Career fairs with employer registration and payments
Events with QR check-in
Appointments with Google or Microsoft calendar sync and advisor notes
Outcomes with one-click NACE, MBA CSEA, ABA and NALP reports

Who pays

Not stated; demo request only.

Model

Branded to each institution, on a cross-school network of 4,000+ programs and 400K+ employers.

Several centers

“A custom, branded experience for career centers across campus” and “whether you serve a single college or the entire university”. Its help centre describes admin groups that limit a staff member to a slice of students.

Help centre

A public help centre at 12twenty.zendesk.com.

Sources

12twenty: home page · 12twenty: Career Services Hub · 12twenty for university career centers · 12twenty: Outcome Data Analytics Hub · 12twenty Help: Admin groups

Replaces the system of record

GradLeaders Career Center

“The world's leading career services management platform”, in its own words, from a company whose platform also serves health systems, workforce nonprofits and alumni associations.

Built for

“No school or career center is too big or small”. The site does not name two-year, four-year, graduate or business schools.

Names

Job boards, advising appointment schedules and an employer CRM
On-campus recruiting events and co-op programs
Surveys and evaluations
QR check-in, SMS and email, offer comparison and card processing
A standalone Outcomes Survey for NACE, MBA CSEA, ABA, NALP, CIRR and NCAA standards
Section 508 and WCAG 2.1 compliance, as claimed on its benefits page

Who pays

Not stated; demo request only.

Model

Not stated.

Several centers

Not stated.

Help centre

None found; the site's FAQ link returned a missing page on 4 November 2026. It describes a dedicated success manager instead.

Sources

GradLeaders: home page · GradLeaders: Career Center platform · GradLeaders: Career Center benefits · GradLeaders: The Outcomes Survey

Tools that sit alongside Handshake

By their own description, these add a layer to Handshake or Symplicity rather than replacing either.

Sits alongside Handshake

Prentus

“The Career Outcomes Platform”. It says it “can sit on top of Handshake instead of replacing it” and, of Symplicity, that “many institutions use both”: Symplicity runs the career center's operations and Prentus the student-facing side.

Built for

Career schools, for-profit and online universities, community colleges and career training programs.

Names

AI career agents and AI mock interviews
An advisor suite
Job scanning across 1M+ jobs a month
Outcome tracking by self-report and LinkedIn verification
SIS, Handshake, LinkedIn and LMS integrations

Who pays

One flat institutional fee sized to enrollment, with no per-seat or per-module pricing.

Model

Per institution, through the school's own employer partners.

Several centers

Not stated.

Help centre

None linked.

Sources

Prentus: home page · Prentus vs Handshake, in Prentus's words · Prentus vs Symplicity, in Prentus's words

Sits alongside Handshake

uConnect

“The first ever all-in-one virtual career center platform”, which “integrates with all major career services technologies”, Handshake included, and brings existing tools “out from behind authenticated logins”.

Built for

College and university career services offices, for students, alumni, employers, faculty and families.

Names

A white-labelled career site in the institution's brand
Integrations and content feeds, curated content and communities
Engagement analytics and ROI tracking
Add-ons: labor market insights, outcomes data visualization, Candid Career+

Who pays

Not stated.

Model

Per institution, white-labelled.

Several centers

Its modules can be embedded on any website across campus.

Help centre

A public help centre at support.gouconnect.com.

Sources

uConnect: home page · uConnect: product

Not listed: Purple Briefcase (its address now leads to Vault, whose schools page offers career content, exploration, mentoring and events, with no jobs, approvals, appointments or outcomes named.); CareerEco (a virtual and hybrid event vendor, not a system of record.)

How to choose

The questions that change the decision are on what a career services platform is. The head-to-head pages say where each product is the better choice: Career Forge vs Handshake, vs Symplicity and vs 12twenty. What a move involves is on switching from Handshake.

Questions people ask

Systems that replace Handshake as the career center's system of record: Career Forge, Symplicity CSM, 12twenty and GradLeaders. Tools that sit alongside Handshake rather than replacing it: Prentus and uConnect, by their own description.

Yes. Several career centers run check-in and badge printing at their fairs on Career Forge while their postings stay on Handshake; Career Forge imports a Handshake registration list for check-in. Others run one module, such as experiential learning or first destination surveys, beside another system.

Its US pages do not say. Employers post for free on its Basic plan and pay for Pro; a page on its UK site says universities also contribute to its revenue. Ask Handshake for the terms that apply to your school.

Career Forge gives each career center its own portal, employers, approvals, events and invoices, with the institution's branding, picklists and single sign-on set once. 12twenty says it serves a single college or the entire university. Handshake's help centre describes adding career centers inside one school instance, sharing employers, jobs, students and contacts.

A term, in most cases: employers, students and open postings move by file, staff learn the new system, and the first fair runs on it. The switching page sets out what moves over and two public examples.

Used byCareer centers from a single college to a whole universitySee who, and what they say