Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) – Pre-onboarding
1. What is Cognizant internship program?
Cognizant’s internship program aims to rapidly upskill Cognizant’s campus hires to improve their skill expertise per industry standards and gain
business readiness during their 8th semester before onboarding them as full-time employees into Cognizant.
2. What are the internship eligibility requirements and how can one self-nominate?
All Cognizant campus selects are eligible for internship. GenC, GenC Elevate,DN GenC PRO & DN GenC Next campus selects are given a Letter of
Intent (LOI) and an internship nomination survey as part of the LOI process for them to self-nominate.
3. How will the updates on the internship program be communicated and what will be the mode of communication?
Information and updates will be sent to the candidate personal email ID registered with Cognizant at the time of application. Hence, Cognizant
campus select candidates should not change their personal email ID or Superset registered email ID until the onboarding process is completed.
4. Where will the internship be held?
Internship training will be conducted in-person at one of the Cognizant offices located as per your preference submitted in the survey.
5. Are the candidates expected to follow a dress code while reporting to Cognizant office?
Yes, the interns are expected to follow Cognizant dress code (business casuals / business formals) and align to the Cognizant internship policies
and guardrails.
6. Do candidates have the option to choose their preferred internship training location?
Yes, they can choose up to 3 different Cognizant locations in the order of their preference.
7. I have opted for internship, but my college is not allowing to take the internship.
Please note that for all the Digital Nurture Pro tracks, completing internship successfully is a mandatory criterion to join Cognizant as full-time
employees (FTEs).
8. I have accepted the offer letter what would be the next steps?
After accepting the internship offer, you must upload all the mandatory documents which is required for the background verification (BGV) process
and complete all the pre-joining formalities. This must be completed at least 7 days before the onboarding date– failing which the internship offer
shall stand withdrawn and will be considered as cancelled.
9. I have received the date of joining but I have exams scheduled on that date. What should I do to change my date of joining?
You need to raise query in the Campus to Cognizant (alias C2C) portal, indicating that the DOJ and exams falls on the same date. We will validate
with your TPOs and would revert on further actions after receiving their response.
10. When will I receive the internship offer?
Internship timelines are aligned to business requirements and planned based on the training duration. Your internship opportunity will be between
February and May 2023 and aligned internship offer and pre-onboarding activities would be scheduled and communicated accordingly.
11. When will I be onboarded into internship?
Internship timelines are aligned to business requirements and planned based on the training duration. Your internship opportunity would be beyond February 2023 and aligned internship offer and pre-onboarding activities would be scheduled and communicated accordingly.
Additionally, your internship onboarding will be prioritized based on the below aspects:
- 7th semester completion and your availability
- Internship offer acceptance
- Background verification (BGV) and pre-joining completion
12. What are the documents required for BGV process?
- PAN card in your name
- Letter of Authorization (LOA) format of Cognizant
13. What if the candidate does not have a valid PAN card?
PAN card is a mandatory document which the candidate should have. If they don’t have one, then they should apply for the same. If the
documents required for BGV are not provided, intern offer shall stand withdrawn and will be considered as cancelled.
14. What is the deadline to complete background verification process (BGV)?
Documents should be submitted timely to enable Background Verification process (BGV) to be completed at least 7 days before your
onboarding date.
15. I have completed the background verification (BGV) process and I haven’t received the onboarding pass yet?
The onboarding pass will be generated successfully for candidates who have met the below:
- Accepted internship offer
- Completed BGV successfully
- Completed the pre-joining formalities
16. What is the duration of internship?
Our internship program is aligned to the skill tracks and the curriculum duration ranges from 3 to upto 6 months. Technical and professional
development skill building would be completed within the internship period.
17. What are the timings of the internship program?
Internship timings would be for 10 hours per day from Monday through Friday aligned to the working timings followed in Cognizant, which based
on the need could also be operated on a shift model.
18. Is attendance compulsory on all days?
Attendance is mandatory on all the days to stay active in the internship program. The internship offer would be terminated if the mandatory
requirement of minimum 90% attendance at office is not met in a month.
19. What exactly will the intern undergo during internship?
An intern will undergo a technical learning curriculum based on the technical skill track assigned and the business demand role mapped.
The internship duration would be based on the skill track curriculum plan. The learning path will include in-depth sessions, hands-on exercises,
and project work.
There will also be a series of webinars, quizzes, SME interactions, mentor connects, code challenges etc., to accelerate your learnings. A
professional development program as well would be offered to support in the campus to corporate skill building.
There would be evaluations scheduled to test your knowledge and bench mark your performance to graduate you from the internship program.
The outcome during Internship would be monitored through formal evaluations.
20. What are the expectations from an intern?
We expect you to:
- Report to your assigned training location and ensure you are present during the internship days and timelines. Attendance per the Cognizant internship policy and guidelines would be mandatory
- Be available for all training and connect sessions as organized under the internship training program
- Complete your learnings / assessments / hands-on and assignments per the given schedule
- Ensure to equally prioritize and stay on top of the internship program scope, progress and performance alongside your academia priorities
- Adhere to Cognizant internship policies and guidelines. Ensure there is no breach to the policies specifically on a few to mention such as communication policy, misconduct covering behavioral, values and ethics of the organization etc., malpractice policies and Cognizant internship program dress code guidelines. Any breach would lead to de-enrollment from the internship program, hence disqualifying the eligibility for your employment with Cognizant
- Ensure to have uninterrupted access to Cognizant office mail and are always reachable on your mobile numbers and MS Teams
21. Can I take leave for semester exam during the internship period?
You can take up to a maximum of 5 days of leave for your 8th semester exams. Prior approvals are a must towards any unavoidable leave or break
requests during the program and internship would be terminated if leaves are availed without prior approvals.
22. Are the interns entitled to receive stipend during the Internship?
The training on the technical skill track is structured with curriculum across milestones with completion monitoring through formal evaluations.
Stipend will be paid based on successful completion of milestones as defined in the curriculum and internship performance criteria being met.
More details on the stipend payment process shall be provided to you post onboarding and during your induction.
23. Can I change the Date of joining (DOJ) once the onboarding process for day 1 has been completed?
No, you cannot change the DOJ date once the onboarding process for the day 1 has been completed. Any changes should be informed via C2C by
raising a query or to the respective college campus partners through your TPO prior to your onboarding.
24. Can I change the mode of training from internship to CSD post onboarding process for the day 1 has been completed?
No, you cannot change the mode of training once the onboarding process for the day 1 has been completed. Any changes should be informed via
C2C by raising a query or to the respective college campus partners through your TPO prior to your onboarding.
25. I am a Digital Nurture GenC Pro hire, when will my internship start?
Internship timelines are aligned to business requirements and planned based on the training duration. Your internship opportunity would be
between February and May 2023 and aligned internship offer and pre-onboarding activities would be scheduled and communicated accordingly.
Prerequisites are that you should accept the internship offer and complete all the other background verification process, pre-joining formalities
successfully.
26. I am a Digital Nurture GenC Pro hire. What are the prerequisites for me to get onboarded as an Intern?
Prerequisites are that you should accept the internship offer and complete all the other background verification process, pre-joining formalities
successfully. If you meet the above-mentioned prerequisites, then your onboarding pass will be generated which is mandatory for your successful
onboarding on a specific date of joining.
27. I am a Digital Nurture GenC Pro hire. What would be the structure of Internship for me?
Internship is mandatory for all the Digital Nurture tracks, as it’s the only skill-building mode and acts as one of the qualifying criteria for your full-time
employment with Cognizant.
You will go through stipulated technical training sessions aligned to the specific product or advanced skill track for which you have been hired and
identified for a client project. Along with that required client domain training are also included in the internship curriculum.
28. What is the relevance of MDU (Market Delivery Units) specific curriculum in internship?
Industry orientation and domain enablement is key in fresher learning as it covers the assimilation into client projects after business deployment.
Hence, for higher order roles (like GenC Next / Pro), there will be a domain specific curriculum included as part of the internship, which will provide
knowledge to interns on Cognizant MDUs (like HealthCare, Life Sciences, Consumer Goods etc.).
29. How do I access and complete MDU learnings?
During internship, there will be a learning path shared with relevant links specific to the Cognizant MDU (like HealthCare, Life Sciences, Consumer
Goods etc.) for which you are mapped. You are expected to access the learning path and complete the individual courses provided. These courses
would cumulatively take around 40 hrs. of self-paced learning.