Handshake has launched AI Skills Studio, a free, project-based learning hub within its career network that lets job seekers build and showcase applied AI capabilities, accessible today on Handshake's website and mobile apps.

The AI Skills Studio positions Handshake as infrastructure for the AI economy, aligning with leading AI labs and enterprises seeking broader AI fluency and scalable talent sourcing.

Missions are organized by career and topic, with more than 40 initial projects spanning areas such as AI in marketing, sales, data analysis, assistants, research, apps and sites, data analytics, images and video, and design.

The platform offers short, structured missions using tools from partners like OpenAI, Google, and Salesforce, producing outputs such as automated workflows, software prototypes, or marketing tools that can be attached to a Handshake profile and viewed by over one million employers.

Partnerships with Clay, Figma, Gamma, Google, Lovable, Notion, OpenAI, Replit, Salesforce, Southern New Hampshire University, and Vercel provide hands-on projects and tools for learners.

The program emphasizes hands-on learning over lectures, aiming to build practical AI experience rather than theoretical knowledge.

The program offers personalized, ten- to forty-five-minute missions that result in a verified skill badge and a showcased project in the user’s Handshake profile and AI Showcase, visible to over one million employers.

Each completed project earns a verified skill badge and can be included in Handshake’s AI Showcase, giving hiring managers tangible evidence of real-world AI proficiency beyond resumes.

Employers gain a direct way to assess emerging AI skills through project-based evidence of capability beyond traditional résumés.

The initiative leverages Uplimit, Handshake’s AI-native learning company, and integrates learning, work evidence, and hiring within Handshake’s ecosystem, connecting 30 million job seekers, 1,600 institutions, and around one million employers.

A key audience is college students and graduating seniors, with research indicating many need stronger AI skills and limited integration of AI in formal programs.

Overall, the move deepens Handshake’s engagement by expanding from job matching to skill development and evaluation, potentially increasing employer reliance on the platform for early AI hiring.