At Handshake, the Marketing Analytics Specialist plays a pivotal role in driving data-backed decisions across the entire marketing ecosystem. Handshake is dedicated to democratizing opportunity for early-career talent, connecting millions of students with hundreds of thousands of employers and educational institutions. To scale this three-sided marketplace efficiently, the marketing team relies on robust data, precise attribution, and actionable insights to acquire, engage, and retain users on all sides of the platform.

As a Marketing Analytics Specialist, you will not simply be compiling weekly performance reports; you will be the strategic engine behind multi-channel marketing campaigns. You will analyze user journeys, optimize marketing funnels, and build the foundational analytical processes that allow the business to scale. Your insights will directly influence where the company invests its marketing budget, how product marketing managers (PMMs) position new features, and how growth teams target specific demographics.

This role requires a unique blend of technical expertise, marketing intuition, and stakeholder management skills. You will work in a fast-paced environment where data can sometimes be messy or unstructured. Your ability to transform complex datasets into a clear, compelling narrative is what will make you successful and highly influential across Handshake's product, engineering, and business operations teams.

The following questions are representative of what you can expect during the Handshake interviewing loop. They are drawn from real candidate experiences and are designed to assess your technical capability, strategic marketing mindset, and behavioral alignment. Use these questions to identify patterns in how Handshake evaluates talent, rather than memorizing exact responses.

Marketing Strategy & Case Studies

This category tests your ability to translate data insights into high-impact marketing initiatives. Interviewers want to see how you approach campaign design, target audience segmentation, and performance measurement.

• How would you design a bespoke marketing strategy to increase employer engagement on a job board platform?
• If a key marketing channel's conversion rate dropped by 15% week-over-week, what steps would you take to diagnose the issue?

To stand out in the Handshake hiring process, you must prepare across several core dimensions. The hiring team evaluates candidates not just on their technical execution, but on how they communicate their findings and align with the broader company mission.

Analytical Rigor & Process Building – You must demonstrate a highly structured approach to data. Handshake values candidates who do not just run queries, but who build repeatable, scalable analytical processes. Be ready to explain how you structure databases, ensure data integrity, and design clean tracking frameworks.

Strategic Communication & Presentation Skills – A significant part of this role involves presenting your findings to stakeholders who may not be analytical. You need to show that you can translate complex statistical findings into clear, actionable business recommendations. Focus on structuring your presentations with a clear executive summary, methodology, and concrete next steps.

Stakeholder Management – You will collaborate with diverse teams, including product managers, creative designers, and executive leadership. Interviewers will assess how you handle conflicting priorities, manage pushback, and build collaborative relationships across departments.

Mission Alignment – Handshake is a mission-driven company. You should have a genuine interest in the education technology and career services space. Be prepared to discuss how marketing analytics can be leveraged to create more equitable hiring outcomes for early-career professionals.

The interview loop for the Marketing Analytics Specialist position at Handshake is comprehensive and typically spans several weeks. The process is designed to evaluate both your immediate technical capabilities and your long-term potential to grow within the organization.

The journey begins with an initial recruiter screen to assess basic alignment and your interest in the role. This is followed by a call with the hiring manager, which dives deeper into your relevant experience and understanding of marketing analytics. If you pass these initial stages, you will be asked to complete a practical assignment or business case. This assignment culminates in a panel presentation where you showcase your strategic recommendations to key stakeholders. The final stage is an executive screen focused on leadership, culture fit, and long-term vision.

The timeline above outlines the typical progression of the Handshake interview loop from application to final offer. While the exact duration can vary based on candidate availability and hiring urgency, most candidates complete the loop within four to six weeks. You should use this timeline to pace your preparation, ensuring you allocate sufficient time to research the product and refine your presentation before the panel round.

To excel in the core stages of the Handshake interview process, you must understand exactly how you are being evaluated in each key area.

Campaign Analytics & Data Interpretation

This area evaluates your ability to dissect marketing performance and extract meaningful insights that drive business growth. Interviewers want to see that you understand the nuances of different marketing channels (organic, paid, email, social) and can accurately measure their impact.

Be ready to go over:

• Multi-touch attribution models – Understanding the pros and cons of first-touch, last-touch, linear, and W-shaped attribution models.
• Funnel conversion analysis – Identifying bottlenecks in the user journey from initial awareness to active platform engagement.
• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) and Lifetime Value (LTV) – Calculating and optimizing these critical unit economics across different user segments.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Predictive churn modeling, cohort analysis, and media mix modeling (MMM) to optimize high-budget allocations.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "If our paid acquisition channel shows high click-through rates but extremely low sign-up conversions, what underlying issues would you investigate?"
• "How would you set up a measurement framework to track the long-term impact of a brand awareness campaign versus a direct response campaign?"

Strategic Marketing Presentations (The Case Study)

The presentation round is often the most critical stage of the loop. You will be given a prompt or dataset and asked to build a bespoke marketing strategy presentation for a panel of stakeholders.

Be ready to go over:

• Data storytelling – Crafting a cohesive narrative that connects data findings directly to business outcomes.
• Slide design and structure – Creating professional, easy-to-read slides that highlight key takeaways quickly.
• Q&A handling – Defending your assumptions and methodology calmly when questioned by cross-functional stakeholders.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Integrating market expansion frameworks, competitive analysis, and long-term scaling projections into your case study.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Based on the provided dataset, present a 12-month marketing strategy to accelerate student sign-ups in underrepresented regions."
• "How would you defend your recommended budget allocation if a product director argued that the funds should be redirected to product development instead?"

Process Optimization & Scalability

Handshake is growing rapidly, and the marketing team needs to build scalable infrastructure. This evaluation area focuses on your ability to design workflows, automate reporting, and establish data governance.

Be ready to go over:

• Data pipeline familiarity – Understanding how data flows from marketing platforms (e.g., Marketo, Google Ads) into data warehouses (e.g., Snowflake) and BI tools (e.g., Looker, Tableau).
• Process documentation – Creating clear guidelines and templates so that other team members can replicate your analytical frameworks.
• Dashboard automation – Reducing manual reporting tasks by setting up dynamic, real-time tracking solutions.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Walk us through how you would establish a standardized naming convention and tracking protocol for all marketing campaigns across the company."
• "Describe a time you automated a highly manual reporting process. What tools did you use, and how much time did it save the team?"