NEW YORK, April 7, 2026—Education nonprofit and leadership development organization Teach For America (TFA) was recently announced as a 2026 Handshake Early Talent Award (ETA) winner. For the third consecutive year, TFA was selected as an employer in the education industry that offers exceptional opportunities for early career job seekers.

In its sixth year, the Handshake ETAs celebrate workplaces at the forefront of early talent hiring practices that provide meaningful opportunities for those starting out their careers. TFA was recognized among 17 similar organizations in education for recruiting emerging talent and providing career pathways and advancement for early-career professionals.

“We’re honored to be recognized again for our commitment to build meaningful pathways for early‑career talent,” said Darin Lim Yankowitz, Senior Vice President of Recruitment at Teach For America. “Our partnership with Handshake has been instrumental in helping us connect with students who are seeking purpose‑driven careers by strengthening our ability to recruit and develop the next generation of educators and leaders. We focus on meeting students where they are to advance our mission and the impact we can have in our classrooms and communities.”

Winners are selected based on four key metrics with data pulled from the Handshake platform:

• Brand resonance: how appealing an employer's brand and jobs are to students, based on application rates and brand page followers.
• Engagement: how well an employer's outreach and content prompt job seeker action, based on message click rates and interactions with feed posts.
• Event participation: how actively and effectively an employer shows up in events, measured by RSVPs and attendance as well as how many 1:1 career fair sessions are filled.
• Relationships: how consistently an employer builds early-talent pipelines, measured by outreach during off-peak months and the share of messages sent to first-and second-year students.

“Teach For America continues to set a high standard for how organizations can authentically engage early‑career talent,” said Diane Melchionne, VP, Customer Success at Handshake. TFA has been intentional on Handshake about curating connections to students and highlighting purpose‑driven opportunities that align with long‑term impact—showing what’s possible when mission and early‑talent strategy align.”

Over the past year, Teach For America has seen an increase in applications to their corps member and Ignite high-dosage tutoring programs from a significant number of Gen-Z graduates and undergraduates who have expressed a desire for making an impact within a sense of community. Approximately 71 percent of recruited corps members and 78 percent of current Ignite tutors engaged with Handshake during the recruitment process, marking an evolving partnership aimed at developing solutions for individuals entering the workforce in an AI-powered economy.

“Handshake is a dynamic tool that helps us shape our early talent pipeline with the creative solutions of technology,” said Lim Yankowitz. “Together, we are doing more than posting jobs; we are curating space for lasting connections through intentional talent matching."

About Teach For America

Teach For America works in partnership with communities across the country to reach One Day when every child has access to an excellent education. Founded in 1990, Teach For America finds, develops, and supports a growing network of leaders who expand opportunity for children from classrooms, schools, and every sector and field that impact a young person’s education. Today, Teach For America is a force of over 70,000 alumni, corps members, and Ignite fellows working in pursuit of profound change so that one day every child has the opportunity to learn, lead, thrive, and co-create a future filled with possibility. Teach For America is a proud member of the AmeriCorps national service network. For more information, visit www.teachforamerica.org and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Threads.

About Handshake

​Handshake is the career network for the AI economy. As the only three-sided job marketplace connecting 20 million knowledge workers, 1,500 educational institutions, and 1 million employers, Handshake powers career discovery, hiring, and upskilling—from first internships to full-time roles, freelance work to gig work, and beyond. The Handshake platform combines dynamic profiles, intelligent job matching, and interactive skill-building to connect talent with opportunity and help the workforce stay ahead in the AI economy.

Contact:
Mercedes Blue
706-566-1452
mercedes.blue@teachforamerica.org