Original post by BossGibedaJobPlsSure! I'll try to reconstruct from memory as much as I can.
I think I applied during the Easter holiday. I then received an email saying that they want do a phone interview with me. I think it happened some time in mid-May. The phone interview is really just a filtering device. They don't want to hire people who apply just because. Show them that you know stuff about their company, and they'll like that. Tell them that you know it's a Fortune 500 company; tell them you know that it's "well respected amongst its competitors such as Infosys, Accenture, IBM," and so on. You could also mention a couple of products of theirs.
Another question was about my motivation. Why did I choose the university subject that I did? If you're doing a technical degree, you can just tell them that you like solving problems. Or something else. It's really up to you. Just show that you're motivated; maybe be a little pretentious. But just a little.
And... well that's all I remember. I think half of the interview was that and a couple of more questions, and then they basically provided me with loads of information about the role and the process I'll have to go through. I was so nervous at that point that I didn't take anything in! Hah. At the end of the interview they told me they thought I was suitable for further interviewing and invited me to their assessment centre in Canary Wharf. Great place. Boats and the like.
I don't remember when it happened. I think it was in early June. By the way, they run a reimbursement scheme of up to 80 pounds. So if you spend money travelling to Canary Wharf, you can get it back. The whole day was pretty long, and it consisted of the following tasks: lunch (very important, even though I didn't touch the food), presentation, the interview where they ask you to provide examples of when you did X and showed skill Y, information interview, group debate. Each session lasted around 45 minutes.
Lunch
We were basically waiting for everybody to arrive. I don't know if it affected anything, but one of their managers came to chat with us during the lunch period. I think I made a good impression on him. Not sure.
Presentation
I think this is what got me the place. Before assessment day, we had been given some information about a fictitious company. It was essentially a brief. The company wanted to upgrade its website, do some data analysis and so on. My task was to come up with some recommendations. I didn't know much webdesign, so I googled the hell out of it. In the brief they recommended spending about an hour preparing for this presentation. Pro tip: spend much more. Also read all the hints in the brief carefully. If it mentions handouts, come up with some handouts. If it mentions a chart. Draw a chart (oh and you can't use powerpoint. You'll have to reproduce it all on paper once you're there) When you're done, they start asking questions. Try to predict them beforehand would be my advice.
Competency-based interview
Tell me about a time when you showed leadership qualities? When did you find a mistake in your project that saved your group lots of time in hindsight? Tell me about project X, Y, Z that you did at university/school. Be prepared to talk about EVERYTHING you put on your CV. I was really OCD about the whole thing, so I wrote a 4000 word essay trying to prepare for this. I tried to cover everything. I... didn't. I had no choice but to improvise. Apparently, it worked.
Information interview
This is where a manager comes to talk to you about his or her department in Cognizant. It was quite relaxing after the barrage of questions I had been subjected to. I mostly listened. I don't know if it was relevant in the end, but I tried asking appropriate questions. I asked them about their division's culture; I asked them about the work hours; I asked them if they did any work for company X because I'd heard something about company X being involved with Cognizant. It was a good break. Take a breather while you can.
Group debate
Phew. Haha... I don't do debates. I was so incredibly scared. But it turned out fine. What they do is they give you a question sheet and 10 minutes. In that time you're supposed to digest the question, come up with an opinion, and try to support it with a couple of opening statements. Then you start debating, and they observe. I think it lasted 30 minutes. We had to argue our points. I had to prove that I was right and they were wrong. Pro tips:
1. Watch your time. They're not going to stop you. Time management is important.
2. Don't be an ********. While it is important to show them that you can argue your point, they want to see that you're respectful towards your opponents. You want to show them that you can work with other people, and that you're cooperative.
And that's it. I really wanted to have leftover lunch at that point, but it was pretty stale to be honest. I went to Nando's instead.
After a couple of weeks, they invited me for one more interview. That one was with a manager also, and, again, it was a listening-mode interview sprinkled with some relevant questions. Apparently if you're invited to the last interview, that means that you're pretty much in; it's just a formality. Not sure if that's true or not.
And then there was the wait. I'd almost forgotten about them whey they contacted me. I think a month had passed -- or even more. They told me I was right for them, and that they were going to send me the contract by post. I almost cried. I mean I didn't, obviously, because... because men don't cry...
Not that long ago, I've received some additional correspondence, mainly related to the induction in Spain. And hoo, let me tell you, this is going to be a treat. They're sending us to a 5-star hotel in Spain (North of Madrid) for 3 weeks in mid-September. Instead of explaining it, I'll just copy what the document says.
"During the 3 week induction you will participate in a number of sessions designed to give you an overview of Cognizant (history, vision, values, working practices etc), and a better understanding of the business and the various business units. There will also be practical sessions on behavioural competencies (communication, working globally and presentation skills workshops) and business tools that you will need in the workplace."
Take whatever you want from it. I don't know any details yet myself.
And there's more! Boy am I not looking forward to this.
"Please note that on Thursday 29th September you will be presenting to senior leaders from across Europe that will fly in..."
Parties, networking events, team-building exercises will be included.
And that's it. Sorry for being so verbose. I wish you all the luck!