What Dilly is, in one paragraph
Dilly is an AI career-readiness app for verified college students. You build one living Profile — your projects, coursework, internships, skills — and write it once. From there, three Moves do the work: Scout turns any role into a fit read (what's strong, what's missing, where you stand), Forecast maps where you pull ahead of AI in your field and where AI is catching up, and Craft tailors a resume to one specific role using only real facts from your Profile. The grounding layer, called the Truth Ledger, is what stops Dilly from inventing achievements you never had.
Dilly vs Handshake at a glance
Handshake is a campus recruiting platform with a deep employer network and on-campus job listings. It is excellent at one job: connecting students to companies that recruit at their school. Dilly is not a job board — it is the preparation and tailoring layer that sits next to wherever you find roles. Here is an honest comparison.
| Capability | Dilly | Handshake |
|---|---|---|
| Profile-first (write once, reused everywhere) | Yes — one Profile powers every Move | Profile exists for applications, not AI reuse |
| AI grounding / anti-hallucination | Yes — Truth Ledger limits output to real facts | Not an AI generation tool |
| Resume tailoring to a specific role | Yes — Craft, exports PDF/DOCX | No resume tailoring |
| Field forecasting (you vs AI) | Yes — Forecast field map (unique) | No |
| Student (.edu) focus | Yes — verified students | Yes — via school career services |
| Pricing | Free Starter; $8.99 or $12.99/mo | Free for students through school |
When to choose Handshake
If your main goal is discovering employers who actively recruit at your campus, Handshake is the right tool and there is no real substitute for its network. Use it when you want to browse company listings tied to your school, apply to on-campus postings, sign up for career fairs and employer events, or get in front of recruiters who specifically target your university. Handshake's reach with employers is its core strength, and Dilly does not try to replicate that marketplace.
When to choose Dilly
Choose Dilly when the question shifts from "where do I apply?" to "how do I actually compete for this role?" Dilly is for the part Handshake leaves to you: reading a job description honestly, understanding your gaps, deciding whether a role is worth your time, and producing a resume that is tailored and true. If you have a stack of Handshake listings and no idea which to chase or how to position yourself, Dilly is the layer that turns that pile into a plan.
Concrete ways students use Dilly
- Triage a Handshake feed. Paste a role into Scout to get a fit read before you spend an hour on the application.
- Tailor per posting. Run Craft for each serious role so your resume mirrors the exact job, drawn only from your real Profile facts.
- Decide a major-defining bet. Use Forecast to see which skills in your field are AI-proof before you commit a semester to them.
- Close a gap fast. When Scout flags a missing skill, you know exactly what to add before the next career fair.
- Keep one source of truth. Update your Profile once after an internship and every future Move reflects it.
The honest takeaway
Handshake and Dilly are not really competitors — they are complements. Handshake gets you in the room with employers; Dilly makes sure you walk in prepared, with a resume that is tailored, grounded, and yours. If you are a student searching for a "Handshake alternative" because you want fit analysis and real-fact resume help rather than another job board, Dilly is built for exactly that. Learn more at hellodilly.com.