Recognized for Excellence
Cognizant received a Campus Forward Award for Excellence in Recruitment Strategies, Tech Innovation, Candidate Experience, and Internship Programming.
This reflects Cognizant's unwavering excellence and commitment to providing the best experience for the next generation of talent. Cognizant invests in multi-faceted recruitment strategies, innovative technology, thoughtful candidate experience, and standout internship programs. See below for the highlights of their strategies in each one of these categories.
Excellence in Recruitment Strategies
Cognizant's approach to sourcing and recruiting early career talent includes several standout programs. The First Year Explorer’s Program offers first-year students a chance to explore various technical roles. The Sophomore Leadership Summit is a virtual event for second-year students to explore career possibilities. Cognizant's GenAI Externship is an eight-week immersive experience for rising seniors, where 89% of interviewed participants were recommended for technical interviews. The COIN rotational program develops business analysts into well-rounded consultants. The Fusion internship is a project-based paid internship for top university students worldwide. Cognizant Skills Accelerator awarded 150 emerging Software Developers with self-paced training, resulting in 12,625 hours of training. Cognizant's Apprenticeship is a year-long, full-time "earn-and-learn" job, where 30 IT Support apprentices completed 4,320 training hours.
Excellence in Tech Innovation
Cognizant seamlessly integrates technology into its early career talent programs to boost engagement and enthusiasm. Asynchronous first-round interviews enable Cognizant's high-volume hiring. Cognizant Skills Accelerator is hosted on an external Learning Management System (LMS), upskilling 150 prospective software developers online. AI tools, like co-pilot, summarize Cognizant case studies, blog posts, news articles, and podcasts into bite-sized content for 300 GenAI externs. Virtual convenings bring together senior leaders, apprentices, first-year associates, and learning & development professionals for 17 hours of engagement with learners worldwide. Additionally, a virtual convening platform hosts immersive and engaging info sessions, like the First-Year Explorer Program, and the Sophomore Leadership Summit, reaching candidates nationwide. This strategic use of technology ensures Cognizant's success in sourcing and recruiting top early career talent.
Excellence in Candidate Experience
Cognizant’s Campus Recruitment team creates a positive candidate experience by upholding one of the company's core values, “Do the Right Thing.” Cognizant holds information sessions for each program and maintains a designated email inbox for queries. Cognizant Skills Accelerator learners and GenAI externs access Udacity’s “Circle” platform for cohort engagement and supplemental materials. Participants receive welcome bags with Cognizant-branded items and are highlighted upon program completion. The recruitment team conducts coffee chats and interview prep sessions for candidates before their final interviews with the Business Unit. This open communication approach includes prompt text message conversations, phone calls, etc. Post-interview, the team provides follow-up communication to clarify details and answer questions before candidates accept roles, ensuring a thorough and supportive hiring process.
Excellence in Internship Programming
Cognizant offers its interns a world class experience. Projects are carefully selected to ensure they have meaningful work, with supportive teams sharing real-time feedback encouraging interns to learn and grow. Mentors are chosen for each intern, to support, set goals and deliver feedback. Cognizant has crafted an internship experience with touchpoints and events throughout the summer to keep their interns engaged with the recruiting team, the practice they’re assigned to and their respective intern cohort. The internship experience ends with Spirit Week, consisting of specific themes each day, connecting with top leaders, like our Chief People Officer, and an interactive networking event on National Intern Day. The last week includes interns presenting their capstone projects to leaders, their support teams as well as their cohort.
