FAQs

Hiring Managers FAQ

1. Who has Hiring Manager access in C deploy?

Hiring Manager is given to all associates with grade Senior Associate and above.

2. How can I search for associates on the bench?

Log in as “Hiring Manager”, on the Bench Profiles tab you can browse all available associates. Clicking
an ID will bring you to the Associate Detail page where you can find associate release information and
view resume.

3. How do I manage and track the associates I am interested in?

Log in as “Hiring Manager” and add associates to your selection queue from the Bench Profiles tab by
checking the box next to an associate and clicking “Add to Cart.” Once the profiles have been selected,
provide the required details in the selection cart and add the profiles to your selection queue. These
profiles will now be available on the My Selection Queue tab along with other profiles proposed to you
by your Workforce manager.

4. How do I request a Conditional Soft Block/Allocation for selected associates?

Log in as “Hiring Manager”, click on My Selection Queue and find the associate you would like to
block/allocate by scrolling or searching by ID. Click the Edit link at the end of the row (pencil) which will
then bring up the proposal details at the bottom of the page. Here you can choose from the “Selection
status” dropdown box either Request to Block or Request to Allocate.

5. How can I update interview feedback?

Log in as “Hiring Manager”, click on My Selection Queue. Find the associate proposal you would like to
update by scrolling or searching ID. Click the Edit link at the end of the row (pencil) which will then
bring up the proposal details at the bottom of the page. There you can choose from the “Selection
status” and enter feedback.

6. Can I look for associates that match my specific requirement (SO)?

Yes. Log in as “Hiring Manager”, click on SO List. Search for the SO by entering the SO ID. Once The SO
details are displayed, click on the match profile icon at the end of the row which will then bring up the
top ten matches from the bench for that SO. You can now propose the matched associates against the
SO by adding them to your proposal cart.

7. How is the proposal & eventual allocation done for VCDP associates? Since these associates are not
in CDP but allocated within their respective BU's.
The Deployment workflow for VCDP associates will be exactly the same as that of a CDP associate,
where proposals, blocking & allocation would be initiated via cDeploy.

8. Is SO mandatory when requesting for blocking or allocation?

Yes, SO is mandatory while requesting for a soft block of the associate/ allocation.
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9. As a Hiring manager, do I need to close all the proposals made to me by the staffing team?
Yes for all the proposals you evaluate.
Please reject proposals with customer/ account team feedback for the associates who did not get
selected.
Please do soft blocking and allocation requests only through the C Deploy application. The staffing
teams have been instructed to act on the requests only through the system.

10. As per client request if we have to block any associate for more than 3 days, How to extend?
You can soft block the associate again at the end of 3 days if client interview result takes time and if the
associate is not soft blocked by any other practice. You can take the allocation of the associate
alternatively to make sure he/she is exclusively available for the project.

11. Are there options available to filter when we search within bench profiles?
Filtering by multiple parameters is available, in both the bench associates and SO screens.

12. I am unable to find a recently released CDP associate under "Bench Profiles" tab in Cdeploy. Why?
This may be due to reasons like 'Assignment pending with SS Team', 'Profiling pending with Associate'
in Cdeploy. You can view the status of the release in the release history tab if you have released the
associate or staffing managers can view these releases in the Release In progress tab.

13. I am not able to find SO in Cdeploy while initiating allocation. Why?

SO’s are refreshed from source systems on daily basis in CDeploy currently. Please check the SOs in
CDeploy after 24 hours of creation.

14. Is Technical feedback from Hiring Manager mandatory when there is a request for move from
Proposal - Blocking - Assignment phases? How is the reason for reject captured?
The rejection reason is mandatory when a proposed profile is rejected by the hiring manager. In the My
Selection Queue tab, click on edit button for the associate who have been proposed and taken action
of request for soft blocking/allocation or rejection. Rejection reason should be provided in the same
screen as a mandatory input. In case of blocking / Allocation feedback is not mandatory, but is a good
practice to capture the feedbacks there as well.

New Search & Match(S&M) - FAQ

15. How to access the new search and match functionality?

As a Hiring Manager click on the SO List tab. Search for the SO by entering the SO ID. Once The SO
details are displayed, click on the match profile icon at the end of the row which will then bring up the
top ten matches from the bench for that SO from CDP and respective PDP tabs. Click on the best fit tab
to identify the best fit bench associates based on new S&M feature added.

Click an associate ID on the Best Fit tab -to access ‘Fitment Analysis’ tabs.
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16. What to expect from the ‘Best Fit’ tab? How is it different from the other tabs that already exist in
the matching profiles page?
Each tab in the ‘Matching Profiles’ screen contains a list of associates belonging to a particular
BU/Pool/Practice. The matching profiles obtained from the current search and match will be shown
under its respective tabs.
The new search and match results are shown in the best fit tab. This tab would show the consolidated
list of all the matching profiles across the available pools. Also, the profiles are prioritized& listed based
on the ranking criteria.

17. What are the sources from which the skills of an associate are obtained from? Is there a priority for
the matches found – depending upon its source?
The skills of an associate is inferred from 4 different sources and they are in the following order of
priority
1. CCA Skills (Defined through My Career App) – Will not be available for associates belonging to a
Non CCA BU.
2. Primary Skills & Secondary Skills (Defined through Cdeploy Skill Profiling)
3. Resume (Resume uploaded through Cdeploy Skill Profiling)
4. Adjacent Skills(Inferred from the USF Skill Catalog)

Please note that the system will look for a match in a source only if it is not able to find a match in a
superior source. i.e. A resume will be searched for a match, only if, the match is not found both in CCA
skill profile and Cdeploy skill profile.

18. What are weightages? What is the relevance of weightages in the new search & match?
The new search and match is driven by configurable weightages. For finding suitable matches of a SO,
the entire supply is searched against various parameters like Grade, Location, CCA Role, Skills across
multiple categories, and Travel Readiness etc.
Weightages are configured for each type of match - within each category. Based on the type of match,
the system will reward the configured weightage as the score for the match. For eg: If a skill, say ‘C++’
with an ‘Expert’ proficiency level is asked in the SO, then an associate with the exact skill and
proficiency match will be rewarded with the ‘ExactMatch’ weightage - as the score for the skill.

19. There is an associate with no technical skills. But still I see them in the Best Fit tab. Am I missing
something?
The new search & match considers user skill across all categories. In reality, associates are not always
selected based on their technical skills. For eg: Departments like ‘CBC’ might be more interested in
hiring candidates with domain and behavioral skills over technical skills. Where In, departments like
GTO will have their selections based on core technical skills. The new search and match tries to make
the search and match contextual and thereby ensures that the suggested matches are relevant and
effective for the business purpose.
By configuring the weightages at a pool level, the new search and match ensures that right weightages
are provided for the right type of skills for a specific requirement.
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20. The associate has defined current, historical and aspirational skills in MCA. Will all of them be
considered here?
In this release, only Current CCA skills are considered for the new search & match. Aspirational and
Historical skills are not taken into consideration.

21. I see 2 associates with the same number of matching skills. But why are their scores widely different
from each other?
Even though the number of matches are the same, depending on the category of the matched skill
(Technical/Domain/Behavioral/Functional), source of match (CCA Skill Profile/ Cdeploy Skill
Profile/Resume/Adjacent Skill) and the nature of the requested skill (Optional/Mandatory), the scores
will be different.
The rationale behind the scores can be inferred for both associates from the Fitment Analysis tab.

22. For an SO, an associate with more number of skill matches is scored low compared to another
associate with lower number of skill matches. Why is it so?
There are a lot of factors that determines the score – Number of skill matches is just one among those
factors. The other factors are
 The category of the matched skills (Technical/Domain/Behavioral/Functional)
 Source of match (CCA Skill Profile/ Cdeploy Skill Profile/Resume/Adjacent Skill) and
 Proficiency match (Exact Match/Higher proficiency match/Lower proficiency match)
 Nature of the requested skill (Optional/Mandatory).
These factors collectively determine the score. The rationale behind the scores can be inferred for both
associates from the Fitment Analysis tab.

23. How do I understand the rationale behind the scores?

The fitment analysis tab is meant to serve that purpose. It gives you a holistic view on what was asked
(in the SO) vs what was available (for the specific associate).

24. What is an Adjacent Skill Match?

Adjacent skill is nothing but a skill which belongs to the Skill Family of the requested skill.

e.g: ‘C’ is the adjacent skill for ‘C++’ and vice versa.

If the system is not able to find a match for a skill for an associate, as a last attempt, it will check
whether the associate possess any of the adjacent skills for the requested one. If so, the associate will
be considered to have that requested skill match. However, the score attributed to that match will be
very less since it is only an adjacent skill matches and not the actual skill matches.

25. What does the different colors in the fitment analysis tab indicate?
In the Fitment Analysis tab, the details of each skill requested in the SO is shown against the respective
skill category. The skills are then color coded based on whether it was matched or not. The color coding
also gives clarity on the nature of the match (whether it is a CCA skill match, Resume match etc).
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 Grey – No Match
 Green – Perfect Match
 Yellow – Proficiency Adjacency Match
 Orange – Resume and Adjacent Skill Match

26. What does the other source in the fitment analysis tab contain?
The details of the requested skills that are either matched from the resume or adjacent skills are shown
in this section. There is a provision to view the resume also from this section.

Releasing Managers FAQ

1. Who has Releasing Manager access in C deploy?

All ESA/Proxy PMs and HCM Supervisors have access to raise releases for their associates.

2. How do I release an associate to the bench?

Log in as “Releasing Manager”, enter the ID of the associate you would like to release and click “Find.”
Select the release date (14 calendar days from current date, per Policy), available date (if different from
release date), releasing project and enter the reason for release and associate feedback in the system.

3. Do I need GART form and associate resume to initiate release?

No, the new release process replaces the GART form and associate profile.

4. How do I release several project team members on to the bench when there is a project
closure/ramp down?
Log in as “Releasing Manager”, click on Bulk Release Request. Download the template, enter all the
release details, save a copy, and then upload the file.

5. How can I check the status of my releases?

Log in as “Releasing Manager”, click on Release Request History. Search by associate ID.

6. How do I release an associate going on Leave?

Log in as “Releasing Manager”, enter the ID of the associate you would like to release and click “Find.”
Select the release date, available date (if different from release date), select the appropriate Leave
(Long leave / Maternity leave) in “Reason for Release” dropdown and fill in the “Leave Details” section
which will appear at the bottom of the page.

7. Is there any restriction to release any associate?

Yes. Associates with PA grade or below cannot be released to bench. Also lateral joiners who have
joined Cognizant with in the last 6 months cannot be released to bench. If associate has leave plans
after the project end, then he/she cannot be released until they come back from leave.
While the system may allow the release request to be submitted, they will be routed for the approval
of the staffing lead.
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These exception release requests will be moved to Virtual CDP in C Deploy and may not be accepted in
PDP/CDP. Virtual CDP will enable visibility of the associate to org level, but the allocation will be left in
the releasing project until the associate gets absorbed in another project.

8. When associate is getting released and if he has dual allocations, will all the allocations get closed by
SS team?
If the release request is for CDP release, SS team will close all the allocations since release to CDP is
accepted only if associate is available 100% for next deployment.

If the release is raised for PDP release, then it will be subject to the release policies of the BU. Please
talk to your workforce manager to understand further.

9. If a release manager wants to cancel/reject the release ticket what will be the maximum time
duration to reject?
The releasing manager will be able to cancel/reject the release from the release history screen. The
cancellation is possible only until the time the associate profiles him/herself and the SS team moves the
release to the bench list. Beyond that time, the releasing manager can request for a reallocation of the
associate into the project using a SO and subject to the availability of the associate.

10. If the associate has multiple assignments how should the last project duration be calculated?
Last project duration will be the project that the releasing manager chooses from the list of active
projects he/she is assigned to.

11. I raised an "Into CDP Leave" release but SS team has not processed it yet. What could be the
reasons?
This is because associate's leaves would not have been initiated/ approved in HCM. Also, the leave
duration should be for minimum 1 month. Please ensure that you check these aspects before raising
any "Into CDP Leave" release.

12. What are the validations needed before when we release an associate on Maternity Leave/Long term
Sick Leave as reason?
Leaves should be more than 30 calendar days, Release date should be the leave start date and the
leaves should be applied and approved in HCM. SS team will process this release request only if these 2
conditions are satisfied.

Associates FAQ

1. How do I update my profile?

Log in as “Associate” and fill out the necessary fields in your profile page. Upon completion please Save
and submit your profile.
Please note that the initial shortlisting for jobs will be based on the profile information you submit and
the resume you upload. So please take good care to update all the details clearly for a swifter
deployment.
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2. Can I edit my profile after submitting it?

Yes, your profile is active and editable anytime by logging back in. You can update all sections, including
skills, resume and other preferences and click Save and submit.

3. Can I view the opportunities for which my profile is shared?

Yes. Log in as “Associate” and click View Resume Submissions link in the upper right corner to see
where your profile has been shared.

4. How can skills be captured by a Horizontal associate?

Associate can choose the category in the skills dropdown (in associate profiling screen) and mention HZ
Skill details in the adjoining primary / secondary skill text box. If the skill category is not listed, can
choose 'others' and fill up the text box.