This Company is Planning to hire 20,000 freshers in 2025 amid strong Q1 results and AI-led growth focus
This Company is Planning to hire 20,000 freshers in 2025 amid strong Q1 results and AI-led growth focus
Company beats estimates with $5.1 billion in Q1 revenue; strategic hiring push targets managed services and AI capabilities
Nasdaq-listed IT services major Cognizant has announced plans to hire 20,000 freshers in 2025, doubling its intake from the previous year. The move is part of a broader strategy to strengthen its talent pyramid and expand capacity in managed services and AI-powered development.
The announcement follows Cognizant’s strong performance in the first quarter of 2025. The company reported $5.1 billion in revenue, an 8.2% year-on-year increase in constant currency, surpassing Wall Street expectations. Adjusted operating margin improved by 40 basis points to 15.5%, and this marked the sixth straight quarter of adjusted earnings per share growth. Free cash flow for the quarter stood at $393 million, including $70 million from the sale of an office property.
CEO Ravi Kumar S confirmed the hiring plan, highlighting that this year’s fresher intake would more than double last year’s numbers. He also stressed the importance of hiring entry-level talent to reduce costs while supporting expanding offshore and AI initiatives. “It comes with the overhead of a higher bench, but at a lower cost offshore,” he noted.
Cognizant ended the quarter with 336,300 employees, down slightly by 500 from the previous quarter. While headcount remained largely stable, the company saw 14,000 former employees rejoin, with 10,000 more expected to return. Attrition improved slightly, dropping 10 basis points to 15.8%, but remains elevated compared to industry peers.
As part of its AI-first strategy, Cognizant will train new hires on FlowSource, its proprietary AI-powered developer platform, enabling AI-led coding from day one.
For the full year, Cognizant projects constant currency revenue growth of 3.5% to 6%, slightly ahead of Indian peers such as TCS, Wipro, and HCLTech. The company’s hiring announcement comes at a time when several top IT firms remain cautious amid an uncertain demand environment. Infosys has set a target of 20,000 fresher hires in FY26, while HCLTech aims to hire 2,000 freshers per quarter, though it has not issued a full-year estimate.
According to industry commentary, India’s top IT firms are expected to add approximately 80,000 jobs this fiscal.
