Gen Z hiring trends for 2026
Discover behind-the-scenes insights to help you hit the ground running in 2026.
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Want to embrace a more data-driven recruiting approach, but not sure where to start? We looked back at a year’s worth of Handshake platform data to uncover eight trends shaping Gen Z hiring in 2026 and beyond. Read on for insights you need to shape your strategy, including:
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Finance and engineering majors gain popularity
The number of finance and accounting students on Handshake continues to increase, with significantly more Class of 2026 than Class of 2025 students having declared these majors on the platform as of the fall of their senior year. Class of 2026 students on Handshake are also more likely than their predecessors to be majoring in electrical, mechanical, and civil engineering.
Employers increase outreach to business, education, and health majors
Among employer messaging campaigns that targeted specific majors in 2025, almost 5% were aimed at business students, an increase of more than a percentage point from 2024. Campaigns targeting communication, special and secondary education, and public health majors also made up a larger share of the total this year. Meanwhile, finance, marketing, and computer science students received less outreach in 2025, creating potential opportunities for employers to break through with recruiting messages to those groups.
Networking events capture student interest
Although general information sessions are by far the most common type of employer event hosted and promoted on Handshake, events focused on a specific job search goal—such as networking with hiring managers or workshopping a resume—saw significantly higher registration and attendance in 2025. Networking events had more than 3.5X as many attendees, on average, as information sessions, and workshops had more than 2.5X as many attendees.
Business, tech, and design students flock to the Handshake feed
While feed users come from all majors and demographics, some groups have played an outsize role in building this community. Business students have accounted for about a quarter of all feed posts from undergraduates this year, and computer science majors have accounted for almost 15%. Design and communications students have each accounted for close to 10%, despite making up only around 5% of undergraduate students on Handshake overall.
Entry-level salaries increase in most states
The median salary across all full-time jobs posted on Handshake rose to $67,500 in 2025, an increase of $2,500 from 2024. This trend was fairly consistent across the US, with only a handful of states showing median salary declines, and some seeing increases of $5,000 per year or more.
Employers step up salary transparency
Including salary information in job postings can go a long way toward landing a hire. Sixty-three percent of seniors say they’re more likely to apply to a job with a high starting salary, and interns who feel fairly compensated are more likely to be interested in full-time roles.
Not surprisingly, employers are increasingly recognizing the value of salary transparency. Seventy-seven percent of full-time jobs created on Handshake in 2025 included salary information, up from 73% in 2024. This trend was even more pronounced for internships, where salary disclosure increased from 70% of postings to 81%.
California cities regain search traffic
After declining last year, student searches for jobs in California cities rebounded in 2025. Major metro areas such as San Francisco and Los Angeles saw search increases of about 3-4% compared to last year, while smaller hubs—including Irvine and Sacramento—experienced even bigger gains.
Remote job availability stabilizes
Remote job availability peaked on Handshake in 2022, at about 7% of all full-time jobs posted, and declined steeply over the next two years. Now, it appears to be leveling off. Close to 5% of full-time jobs posted in 2025 have been listed as fully remote, a slight increase from 2024 and roughly even with 2023.
Although a majority of today’s college students want to spend time working in person, there is still significant interest in remote roles. Of students who used work arrangement filters to search for jobs on Handshake this year, 12% filtered exclusively for remote jobs, compared to about 6% who filtered exclusively for on-site.