How I secured a job at Cognizant -By Aaditya from IMT Ghaziabad

The panelist was searching for a zeal to learn, and the capability to think on feet. This was made clear to us after the selection procedure was over that why were we selected. I believe that this is what was required by the role that I have been offered. Here is an account of my placement experience and how I secured a job at Cognizant.

One of the many things that I really like about Cognizant is its agility in response to the changing environment. The company surely knows when to remove its feet from an area, and where to put it, as was displayed by it when it moved out of the content moderation business, and instead, began putting a major chunk of its investment in AI and Analytics, something which is picking up pace, and carries a promising potential. Moreover, Cognizant values the talent that it recruits, and has full confidence in its decision to recruit, as has been corroborated by its promise to fulfill the commitments that it has made during this pandemic.

The selection process of Cognizant

The shortlisted students were called for the pre-placement talk of Cognizant. Immediately after the session, all the students were required to go through 3 rounds of personal interviews to secure a job role at Cognizant.

The interview panel consisted of 2 panelists, who took their chances to interview me through the 3 rounds. The panelists, though quite strict in their selection process, were patient enough to respect the candidates, and listen to their complete answer before interrupting them in middle, something that made the grilling process a lot easier. More than the knowledge of the candidates, the panelist valued openness to learning, traveling, and the capability to think on feet.

Importance of a well-pruned CV

The key areas of my preparation included learning well about Cognizant, its latest news updates, and the latest trends that were going on in the industry. Apart from these areas, I was well prepared for a few obvious HR questions. But, more importantly, I made sure to not just simply extend my CV to a 2 page one, filling unimportant stuff where I had not worked to my best capability. Instead, I just included those points in my CV that were actually true, and where I had shown results, something which a lot of people understand later on.

Winning through the interview rounds

As I mentioned, there were 3 rounds of personal interviews that one has to go through in order to bag a job at Cognizant. In my case, however, the panel had selected me in the first round itself, which I got to know after the third round of the interview. 

I was able to crack the first round by virtue of the expertise that I had gained during my engineering to understand the technical aspects of any industry. Also, my sincere efforts during engineering and past work experience played to my advantage. As far as the second round is concerned, it ended quite soon and seemed to be a cakewalk, something which could have proven detrimental to my odds of getting selected because of the long interviews that other applicants were going through.

However, in my case, the third and last round was conducted to discuss the salary. Whereas, as far as most of the other applicants are concerned, they were still being grilled, and despite that, rejected.

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst

The experience of securing a job at Cognizant was a mix of different feelings. During the first round, I was grilled like anything. But after coming out of the room, I was filled up with a feeling of content that I had given the best possible answers to the best of my knowledge and capability, and I could not have performed better with the knowledge that I had. 

After the second round, which was just a cakewalk, I took the odds of me getting selected with a pinch of salt, seeing the plight of other students who were being grilled even in the second round, which could have been an indication of the HR being interested in them, rather than me. However, it was the third round after which I was confirmed of my selection. On the whole, my interview experience was quite subtle, and something that makes me even happier is getting placed on day negative (before the start of the placement week).

For D-Day, I just made sure to not get worked up by the overwhelming pressure of not getting selected even after sitting at one place, confined to the same room, for the entire day. Instead, I took the example of my seniors and prepared myself for the worst. Being prepared for the worst gave my mind the much-needed peace while tackling the questions, and came up with the best possible answers.

Garner the attitude of being flexible and adaptable

As I went through the placement process, I had more inclination towards sales profile, something which quite a lot of people avoid. However, I thought of sales as an opportunity to further enhance my personality and the capability to think on feet. Gradually, it became clear to me that one should be open to opportunities, and not be headstrong or too stringent with what one plans. 

Moreover, interacting with people a little more gave me clarity on the importance of my role, and I began to realize that once one master the art of forming a sales strategy, then pitching it is not that difficult than coming up with the content. This is because sales pitch and strategy are more of science than art or a result of a personality trait (although, having done an internship in sales, I believe that Sales is a different ball game, and personality and patience are two things that play a huge role to get success).