In 2022, technology company Cognizant decided to launch a new graduate scheme from scratch. The early talent team recognised that onboarding would be key to the success of the scheme, ensuring every new graduate – no matter what their background – would thrive. They needed to develop a passion for technology among grads, as well as embed the values Cognizant lives by. And, they needed to be able to deliver a training curriculum that was underpinned by the same core themes, but with bespoke training to ensure each graduate had the knowledge and skills they needed for their particular client.

Managing the whole process and delivering an exceptional experience is the onboarding portal cognizantprogrammes.com. Here graduates are greeted with engaging, personalised content, and interactive tools that create a sense of community, reduce anxiety and support their transition from study to work. They can access pre-learning content and videos, find out more about what’s expected of them in the first 10 weeks of the role, as well as connect with other graduates in their cohort, their line manager, buddy and development manager. A checklist helps them see their progress throughout their whole 10-week onboarding journey.

Since July 2022, Cognizant has welcomed three highly engaged cohorts, with 100% of grads accessing the onboarding portal that’s by their side for the whole of their two-year scheme. 96% rated their wellbeing as positive, and reneges were way below the graduate technology industry benchmark. Pre-learning helped graduates in the UK perform better than those in other countries, and 84% would recommend the experience to a peer or friend. All graduates in the first and second cohorts passed their six-week technical training and all started live client work at week 10. Throughout the process, Cognizant gathered data and evaluated the results at every step, enabling them to build a better and more successful experience every time.