Handshake reviews

3.1

41% would recommend to a friend

(289 total reviews)

Garrett Lord

41% approve of CEO

35% positive business outlook

Handshake has an employee rating of 3.1 out of 5 stars, based on 289 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Handshake employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Education industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

289 reviews
1.0
Apr 8, 2026

You will burn out

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Very young but extremely smart team - Extreme autonomy, probably unlike any other job aside from being a founder (could be a pro or a con depending on the person) - Great culture among SPLs, people genuinely try to support each other when someone is underwater, even if they’re underwater themselves (literally everyone is usually underwater) - Merit based culture, you can progress quickly if you can survive and still do well in extremely dire conditions

Cons

- Not exaggerating when I say you should expect to not really have hobbies, exercise consistently or have dedicated time with your family unless you’re taking PTO - Toxic culture where long work hours are glorified (and I mean beyond 9-9-6). Totally understand the need to hustle in this market, but even people coming from PE/IB/consulting/VC, industries that already have brutal hours, join as SPLs and start second guessing their decision to join - Comp is okay if you’re straight out of college, but overall it’s undermarket compared to competitors, especially the benefits and bonuses. Relative to how much you work it's not worth it - Burn and churn feels like part of the operating model - every few days someone is on the verge of quitting. No one is really speaking up in a meaningful way, Lots of bandages being passed around to duct the team together. Nothing is being done to address a structural issue with how leadership views SPLs as a disposable resource, and don't know how to manage clients, staff projects, and scale teams - Retention seems like its irrelevant, aside from a few select managers/HR team members doing what little they can

Viewing 13 - 15 of 289 Reviews

Glassdoor has 459 Handshake reviews submitted anonymously by Handshake employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Handshake is right for you.