Handshake Job Watcher Bot 🤖🔔

A Java + Selenium bot that monitors Handshake job postings and sends Telegram alerts when new jobs appear. It reuses an authenticated Chrome profile/session, tracks state in a local JSON file, and can run continuously (e.g., on an AWS EC2 instance).

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Features

• ✅ Reuses SSO login using a persistent Chrome user profile
• ✅ Scrapes job cards (title/company/pay/link) from the Handshake job search page
• ✅ Saves last-seen state to ~/.handshake_state.json
• ✅ Sends Telegram alerts (top newest jobs)
• ✅ Runs in a scheduler loop (default: every ~120 minutes)

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Tech Stack

• Java 17+
• Maven
• Selenium WebDriver + WebDriverManager
• Jackson (state persistence)
• Telegram Bot API

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Quick Start

1) Prerequisites

• Java 17+
• Maven
• Google Chrome installed

2) Configure environment variables (recommended)

Set these before running:

Required

• TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN — your bot token from @BotFather
• TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID — chat ID to send notifications
• HANDSHAKE_PROFILE_DIR — local path used to store the Chrome profile/session

Optional

• HANDSHAKE_JOBS_URL — job search URL with your filters applied
• CHECK_INTERVAL_MINUTES — polling interval (default: 120)
• HEADLESS — true/false (default: false)

macOS / Linux

bash export TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN="xxx" export TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID="123456789" export HANDSHAKE_PROFILE_DIR="$HOME/handshake-profile" export HANDSHAKE_JOBS_URL="https://gmu.joinhandshake.com/job-search?per_page=50&sort=posted_date_desc&page=1" export CHECK_INTERVAL_MINUTES="120" export HEADLESS="false"

Windows

PowerShell $env:TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN="xxx" $env:TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID="123456789" $env:HANDSHAKE_PROFILE_DIR="$env:USERPROFILE\handshake-profile" $env:HANDSHAKE_JOBS_URL="https://gmu.joinhandshake.com/job-search?per_page=50&sort=posted_date_desc&page=1" $env:CHECK_INTERVAL_MINUTES="120" $env:HEADLESS="false"

Run Modes

A) Login Once (first time) Opens Chrome so you can complete SSO, then saves the session to your profile directory. mvn -q exec:java -Dexec.args="login-once"

B) Run One Check (manual) mvn -q exec:java -Dexec.args="check"

C) Daily Summary (manual) mvn -q exec:java -Dexec.args="daily-summary"

D) Scheduler (recommended) Runs continuously and checks every CHECK_INTERVAL_MINUTES. mvn -q exec:java

E) One-Command Run (Example) After setting env vars: mvn -q exec:java

Configuration Notes

Handshake Job URL / Filters Set HANDSHAKE_JOBS_URL to the Handshake job-search URL you want (include your filters + sort order). Example: sort newest, 50 results per page

Headless Mode

If HEADLESS=true, the bot runs without opening a browser window. Tip: Keep login-once non-headless so you can complete SSO.

State File

The bot stores state at: ~/.handshake_state.json This is used to detect new jobs between checks.

Disclaimer

Use responsibly and respect Handshake’s Terms of Service. The default interval is intentionally conservative.