Sumedha Sobti, Cognizant Summer Internship Experience, April – June 2011
Cognizant helped in setting the goal posts right from the start. The summer internship was an enthralling experience wherein I learnt finer nuances of business consulting. An exhaustive project on life insurance not only generated interest in consulting further but also helped me in honing analytical skills.
The comprehensive project during summer internship was based on 'Data Modeling and Predictive Analytics’ in Life Insurance'. It was an unaddressed space within the company and the model developed was considered to lay the basic foundation for Cognizant Insurance Practice to tap opportunities in the market. Ranging from Analytics to Strategy and Market research analogies like hypothesis testing and decision tree analysis, the project helped in applying the finer nuances of curriculum a student learns at a B-School.
The project was presented to Raj Dharmaraj, Director at Cognizant Business Consulting – Insurance. It was chosen among Top 9 projects in Cognizant B’Hive (Summer Internship) and a Pre Placement Offer was made in August 2011 itself.
Summer Internship Interview Process
The summer internship interview constituted of 2 stages.
Stage1:
The first stage was elimination on the basis of resume and Statement of Purpose which constituted of 3 sections:
Section 1: Personal Particular
Describe yourself to us?
What matters to you and why?
Section 2: Situational Essay
Describe a situation in which you devised and implemented a creative or unique solution to a difficult problem. What obstacles did you face and how did you overcome them?
Section 3: Aspiration Questions
In what role do you see yourself working in Cognizant? Why? How will your past and present experiences help you achieve this?
Stage 2:
Thereafter, the second was an interview round wherein the interview questions were posed in a sequential manner starting from educational and professional background, a mini-case study which in my case was on mergers and acquisitions and finally HR related personal background questions.
Cognizant helped in setting the goal posts right from the start. The summer internship was an enthralling experience wherein I learnt finer nuances of business consulting. An exhaustive project on life insurance not only generated interest in consulting further but also helped me in honing analytical skills.
The comprehensive project during summer internship was based on 'Data Modeling and Predictive Analytics’ in Life Insurance'. It was an unaddressed space within the company and the model developed was considered to lay the basic foundation for Cognizant Insurance Practice to tap opportunities in the market. Ranging from Analytics to Strategy and Market research analogies like hypothesis testing and decision tree analysis, the project helped in applying the finer nuances of curriculum a student learns at a B-School.
The project was presented to Raj Dharmaraj, Director at Cognizant Business Consulting – Insurance. It was chosen among Top 9 projects in Cognizant B’Hive (Summer Internship) and a Pre Placement Offer was made in August 2011 itself.
Summer Internship Interview Process
The summer internship interview constituted of 2 stages.
Stage1:
The first stage was elimination on the basis of resume and Statement of Purpose which constituted of 3 sections:
Section 1: Personal Particular
Describe yourself to us?
What matters to you and why?
Section 2: Situational Essay
Describe a situation in which you devised and implemented a creative or unique solution to a difficult problem. What obstacles did you face and how did you overcome them?
Section 3: Aspiration Questions
In what role do you see yourself working in Cognizant? Why? How will your past and present experiences help you achieve this?
Stage 2:
Thereafter, the second was an interview round wherein the interview questions were posed in a sequential manner starting from educational and professional background, a mini-case study which in my case was on mergers and acquisitions and finally HR related personal background questions.