Everyone is welcome at Handshake. We know diverse teams build better products and we are committed to creating an inclusive culture built on a foundation of respect for all individuals. We strongly encourage candidates from non-traditional backgrounds, historically marginalized or underrepresented groups to apply.
Your impact
Handshake is hiring a Sales Development Representative on the Employer SDR team. In this role, you will represent Handshake by helping our potential customers successfully navigate their journey with our all-in-one early talent recruiting platform connecting them to 12M+ students and alumni across 90% of top educational institutions in the US (and growing).
You will engage effectively in written form and conduct high-level conversations with early talent experts and senior business executives in prospect accounts to fuel our company's growth. You will work with our Marketing Team to improve our campaigns and messaging and partner closely with our Sales Team to create and execute a territory plan. This is a fun, fast-paced, and demanding environment.
Your role
With a mix of solid process and creativity, you will help drive new business revenue through both inbound and outbound opportunity generation, including:
- Prospecting and generating leads with employers
- Collaborating closely with Account Executives to develop strategies for target employers, prospects, and messaging/talk-tracks
- Establish exciting new relationships and opportunities, and meet with prospective Employers
- Follow up on the high volume of leads effectively and efficiently
- Qualifying new opportunities and handling complex objections
- Use research and data to prioritize and customize outreach
- Use Salesforce for lead and account management and forecasting
- Establish rapport with all levels of customers, including senior executives
- Creating significant outbound activity via targeted cold-calling and emailing
- Continuously improving your approach by using data-driven solutions to track your results
- Meeting - and exceeding! - your monthly quota to help the team hit our Employer growth objectives
- This will be a hybrid role, so you must be willing to work from our San Francisco/NYC office
You will have an opportunity to learn and grow in this role. We support our SDRs and seek to promote SDRs internally based on demonstrating success in the role, alignment with our values, and a passion for helping students.
Your experience
- Ambitious and self-motivated with comfort in a quota-carrying environment (prior sales experience isn't necessary, but it is a bonus!)
- Excellent interpersonal and presentation skills
- Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, high-growth, rapidly changing environment
- Willingness to lead a high volume of outbound calling and emailing activities every day - while maintaining a positive and energetic attitude
- Attention to detail and outstanding communication skills
We're looking for agile, goal-driven, team-centric professionals that demonstrate a high level of discipline, empathy, and high curiosity to learn. You will contribute significantly to Handshake’s overall business objectives and have the opportunity to build valuable, transferable skills to help grow your career on multiple paths. Additionally, we look for:
- Someone who is open to feedback and always looking for ways to improve
- Clear and concise written and verbal communication style
- Genuine curiosity around hiring, recruiting, diversity, and inclusion
- Consistent measurable overachievement in past experiences
- Creative, self-disciplined, and passionate about what you do
- Excellent organization skills and ability to prioritize in a fast-paced environment
- Driven by purpose and by winning with a team-first attitude
- Bachelor's Degree (preferred)
Bonus areas of expertise
- Prior experience using any of the tools in our tech stack: Salesforce, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Outreach, ZoomInfo, or Gong
Compensation range
- $90,000 -100,000 OTE (65/35 split)
**Note this role is based out of San Francisco, CA and required 3 days a week in office (Monday, Wednesday, Thursday)
For cash compensation, we set standard ranges for all U.S.-based roles based on function, level, and geographic location, benchmarked against similar stage growth companies. In order to be compliant with local legislation, as well as to provide greater transparency to candidates, we share salary ranges on all job postings regardless of desired hiring location. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors, including geographic location as well as candidate experience and expertise, and may vary from the amounts listed above.
About us
Handshake is the career platform for Gen Z. With a community of over 17 million students, alumni, employers, and career educators, Handshake’s network is where career advice and discovery turn into first, second, and third jobs. Nearly 1 million companies use Handshake to build their future workforce—from Fortune 500 to federal agencies, school districts to startups, healthcare systems to small businesses. Handshake is built for where you’re going, not where you’ve been.
When it comes to our workforce strategy, we’ve thought deeply about how work-life should look at Handshake. With our hybrid-work model, employees benefit from collaboration and shared team experiences three days per week in our vibrant offices, and enjoy the flexibility of remote work two days per week. Handshake is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in New York, London, and Berlin.
What we offer
At Handshake, we'll give you the tools to feel healthy, happy and secure.
Benefits below apply to employees in full-time positions.
- 💰 Equity and ownership in a fast-growing company.
- 🍼 16 Weeks of paid parental leave for birth giving parents & 10 weeks of paid parental leave for non-birth giving parents.
- 💝 Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision policies including LGTBQ+ Coverage. We also provide resources for Mental Health Assistance, Employee Assistance Programs and counseling support.
- 💻 Handshake offers $500/£360 home office stipend for you to spend during your first 3 months to create a productive and comfortable workspace at home.
- 📚 Generous learning & development opportunities and an annual $2,000/£1,500/€1,850 stipend for you to grow your skills and career.
- 💰 Financial coaching through Origin to help you through your financial journey.
- 🛜 Monthly internet stipend and a brand new MacBook to allow you to do your best work.
- 🚃 Monthly commuter stipend for you to expense your travel to the office (for office-based employees).
- 🥗 Free lunch provided twice a week across all offices.
- 🤝 Referral bonus to reward you when you bring great talent to Handshake.
(US-specific benefits, in addition to the first section)
- 🏦 401k Match: Handshake offers a dollar-for-dollar match on 1% of deferred salary, up to a maximum of $1,200 per year.
- 🏝 All full-time US-based Handshakers are eligible for our flexible time off policy to get out and see the world. In addition, we offer 8 standardized holidays, and 2 additional days of flexible holiday time off. Lastly, we have a Winter #ShakeBreak, a one-week period of Collective Time Off.
- 🍼 Family support: We partner with Milk Stork to provide comprehensive 100% employer-sponsored lactation support to traveling parents and guardians. Parental leave coaching and support provided by Parentaly.
(UK-specific benefits, in addition to the first section)
- 🏦 Pension Scheme: Handshake will provide you with a workplace pension, where you will make contributions based on 5% of your salary. Handshake will pay the equivalent of 3% towards your pension plan, subject to qualifying earnings limits.
- 🏝 Up to 25 days of vacation to encourage people to reset, recharge, and refresh, in addition to 8 bank holidays throughout the year.
- 🤝 Regular offsites each year to bring the team together + opportunity to travel to our HQ in San Francisco.
- 🛍️ Discounts across various high street retailers, cinemas and other social activities exclusively for Handshake UK employees.
(Germany-specific benefits, in addition to the first section)
- 🏝 25 days of annual leave + 5 days of a winter #ShakeBreak, a one-week period of Collective Time Off across the company.
- 🤝 Regular offsites each year to bring the team together + opportunity to travel to our HQ in San Francisco once a year.
- 🧘 Urban sports club membership offering access to a diverse network of fitness and wellness facilities.
- 🛍️ Discounts across various high street retailers, cinemas and other social activities exclusively for Handshake Germany employees.
Looking for more? Explore our mission, values and comprehensive US benefits at joinhandshake.com/careers.
Handshake is committed to providing reasonable accommodations in our recruitment processes for candidates with disabilities, sincerely held religious beliefs or other reasons protected by applicable laws. If you need assistance or reasonable accommodation, please reach out to us at [email protected].
Top Skills
What We Do
Handshake is the #1 place to launch a career with no connections, experience, or luck required. The platform connects up-and-coming talent with 650,000+ employers - from Fortune 500 companies like Google, Nike, and Target to thousands of public school districts, healthcare systems, and nonprofits. Earlier this year, we announced our $200M Series F funding round. This Series F fundraise and new valuation of $3.5B will fuel Handshake’s next phase of growth and propel our mission to help more people start, restart, and jumpstart their careers.
Why Work With Us
How someone builds their career is foundational. We believe in working with the higher education community to help students build meaningful careers. We are at the nexus of universities, students and employers— and we’re able to connect the very best pieces of each side. We’re proud to create a community where students can be more successful.
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