As early talent hiring scales, complexity scales with it.

For Cognizant, internships, apprenticeships, and new graduate hires are a core part of their workforce strategy. These programs ensure candidates are client-ready from day one and help build a long-term talent pipeline across North America.

But as hiring volumes increased year over year, the operational model behind the candidate experience began to strain.

The team needed to scale early talent recruiting without sacrificing the high-touch, “white-glove” experience that drives offer acceptance and long-term brand equity on campus.

The Challenge: Scaling Early Talent Without Breaking the Team

Prior to partnering with Abode, Cognizant’s North American emerging talent team managed pre-onboarding and candidate communications manually.

A small but high-performing recruitment coordinator team handled:

• Thousands of candidates across the U.S. and Canada
• 30+ manual email templates
• Status tracking across multiple systems
• Complex timelines unique to early-career hiring

While the team consistently delivered a strong candidate experience, the process carried clear risk.

1. Manual Overload

Managing dozens of email templates and tracking candidate milestones manually created operational friction and left room for inconsistency.

2. Risk at Higher Volumes

With projected headcount increases, Senior Manager of Emerging Talent Tria Charnis recognized the existing process would eventually break under scale. What worked for smaller cohorts would not support sustained growth.

3. Enterprise Tooling Gaps

Global enterprise systems were not built for the extended, high-touch timelines of campus recruiting and pre-onboarding. Early talent candidates often wait months between offer acceptance and start date. During that time, communication quality directly impacts renege rate and candidate engagement.

The team needed an operating system purpose-built for early talent hiring and Gen Z communication preferences.

The Solution: A Centralized Early Talent Pre-Onboarding Platform

After evaluating multiple options, Cognizant selected Abode as its centralized early talent resource hub and pre-onboarding platform.

The decision centered on three criteria:

• Mobile-first, Gen Z-native communication
• Automated candidate journeys across the full pre-start timeline
• Cohort-level visibility into engagement and risk

From 30+ Manual Templates to Automated Candidate Journeys

Cognizant mapped the full early talent candidate journey, from offer acceptance through day one.

By eliminating redundant emails and “excess noise,” the team replaced manual templates with structured, automated communication flows designed to be:

• Warm
• Concise
• Consistent
• Thoughtful

This shift reduced operational burden while improving clarity for candidates navigating internships, apprenticeships, and new graduate roles.

Real-Time Visibility Into At-Risk Candidates

One of the most meaningful changes was the ability to see a bird’s-eye view of entire cohorts.

Instead of reacting when a candidate reneged, the team could proactively identify individuals who showed signs of disengagement during the pre-onboarding period. This enabled early intervention and relationship-building long before start dates.

For early talent programs, where renege rate can range from 7–10% industry-wide, proactive engagement is critical.

Humanizing Complex Pre-Onboarding Tasks

Background checks, I-9 documentation, and onboarding paperwork can be overwhelming for first-time job seekers.

Cognizant used structured templates and guided task lists to provide clear, succinct instructions. The result was fewer missed steps and less confusion, while maintaining a high-touch candidate experience.

The Results: Sub-5% Renege Rate and 99% NPS

By implementing a purpose-built early talent operating system, Cognizant achieved measurable improvements across offer acceptance, satisfaction, and team efficiency.

Impact Highlights

Sub-5% Renege Rate
Over the past two years, Cognizant reduced its renege rate to under 5%, outperforming the industry benchmark of 7–10% for early talent programs.

99% Net Promoter Score (NPS)
End-user feedback for the pre-onboarding experience reached a near-perfect 99%, reflecting strong candidate engagement and satisfaction.

80%+ Satisfaction Across Platform Features
Cohorts consistently report high satisfaction with structured task lists, peer forums, and centralized communication.

Increased Team Capacity Without Additional Headcount
By automating manual workflows, the recruitment coordination team reclaimed significant time, enabling focus on higher-value initiatives such as campus partnerships and program growth.

As Tria Charnis explains:

“I see Abode’s role on our team as an extension of our team members. It gives us that opportunity to really extend a warm welcome and maintain that high touch throughout the candidate experience 24/7.”

Why Early Talent Pre-Onboarding Matters for Employer Brand

For enterprise organizations, reducing renege rate is not just a recruiting metric. It protects workforce planning, client readiness, and campus brand reputation.

A structured pre-onboarding experience:

• Increases offer acceptance rates
• Reduces last-minute hiring gaps
• Strengthens candidate engagement
• Builds long-term employer brand equity on campus

For Cognizant, investing in a centralized early talent communication platform was not simply an efficiency upgrade. It was a strategic move to scale early talent hiring without increasing operational risk.

As Charnis advises peers evaluating their approach to early talent pre-onboarding:

“Do it. Do it yesterday.”

Whether a candidate ultimately signs or not, the experience shapes how your brand is perceived across campuses. By building a consistent, high-quality pre-onboarding system, Cognizant positioned its early talent programs for sustained growth in a competitive hiring market.