How Tech Hiring Has Changed in 2025–2026: AI Rules, In-Person Rounds and Fresher Intake

Last updated: 28 October 2026

Hiring processes change faster than most guides. This page collects the shifts that are well reported as of late October 2026, says how reliable each one is, and tells you what to do about it. It is a snapshot, not a rulebook: your own invitation email always overrides anything written here. Where a claim comes from a company's own page, we say so. Where it comes from news reports or coaching sites, we say that too.

1. AI in interviews: two opposite directions

Some companies now let you use AI in a coding round.

• Google has been reported to pilot a "human-led, AI-assisted" coding round for junior and mid-level software engineers on select US teams. Reports say candidates use Google's own Gemini model, and that interviewers look at AI fluency: how you prompt, how you check the output and how you debug. Candidates who leaned on the AI without showing their own understanding were reported to receive negative feedback. The pilot details come from news reports citing an internal document and a company spokesperson, so treat the scope as limited and changing.
• Meta has been reported to replace one of its coding rounds with an AI-assisted one, where candidates may choose among several models. Details come from press and prep-site coverage rather than a Meta announcement.
• Goldman Sachs states on its own HackerRank guide that its Software Diagnostics challenge for engineers (debugging an existing app) includes a limited AI assistant that will not give full solutions.

Other companies explicitly do not want AI help.

• Microsoft's official hiring page says you may use AI tools to prepare, but in assessments and interviews you should demonstrate your own skills unless told otherwise.
• Amazon has been widely reported to tell candidates not to use generative AI during interviews unless it is explicitly permitted, with disqualification possible. Some sources also describe AI-assisted coding in Amazon's early-career assessment, and these sources disagree, so read the rules in your own invitation.

What this means for you. The safe rule is simple: use AI only where your instructions say you may. Using it secretly can end your application; not using it where it is allowed can make you look behind. Prepare for both:

1. Practise solving problems without AI, because many rounds still require it and in-person rounds check it.
2. Practise working with an AI assistant: write a clear prompt, read the generated code line by line, find the bug in it and explain why your final version is correct.
3. Be ready to explain every line of code you submit, whoever or whatever wrote it. "I do not know why that works" is the worst answer in both worlds.

2. In-person rounds are coming back

Cheating with AI tools and fake or proxy candidates in video interviews have pushed some employers back to meeting candidates face to face.

• A Computerworld report (August 2025) says Google brought back in-person interviews for some candidates, wanting to verify skills and show candidates its culture earlier. It also names Cisco, which added verification steps and enhanced background checks, and McKinsey, which values face-to-face assessment.
• The same report cites a Gartner survey in which 72.4% of recruiting leaders said they were conducting in-person interviews to combat candidate fraud. That figure is from a survey, not a rule at any one company.
• Google's own job postings say that for many roles in most instances the position requires in-person interviews.
• Vendors publish alarming statistics on interview fraud, but those numbers come from companies that sell detection tools, so we do not quote them here.

What to do: keep government ID ready, use the same name everywhere, expect identity checks and camera-on proctoring, and be ready to travel for a final round. Practise explaining your solution on paper or a whiteboard, without autocomplete (virtual interview tips, online assessment tips).

3. Fresher intake at Indian IT services firms (October 2026)

According to September-quarter results coverage published on 26 October 2026 (Free Press Journal):

• TCS recruited about 10,000 graduates in the quarter, taking its first-half intake to about 24,000. It had earlier signalled numbers comparable to FY26, when it took roughly 42,000 freshers. Its HR head said future hiring would follow demand, particularly for AI capabilities.
• Infosys hired about 8,000 college graduates in the quarter and kept its FY27 target of 20,000.
• HCLTech recruited 6,136 freshers (up from 1,056 in the June quarter), with around 15% in an elite engineer category focused on specialised AI engineering and customer-facing roles. It expects to hire 10,000 to 11,000 graduates in FY27.
• Wipro reported a fall in total headcount of 6,716 in the quarter, and the coverage gave no fresher figure.

These are company-reported figures as relayed by the press. They show that mass hiring continues, but intake changes quarter by quarter and is now explicitly tied to demand for AI skills. Plan for a market where a strong project, a coding score and AI-related skills separate candidates, rather than only marks.

4. TCS: the 2026 cycle

TCS's official All India NQT page describes the 2026 cycle for the 2024, 2025 and 2026 batches: registration opened on 18 February 2026, tests ran from 10 March 2026 at TCS iON centres, and the test has a Foundation part (75 minutes) and an Advanced part (115 minutes, with advanced coding) that is mandatory for Digital and Prime offers. TCS lists other entry routes too, including Atlas, Launchpad (preparation for the NQT), a BSc program and MBA hiring. We did not find a published notice for the 2027 batch, so watch tcs.com/careers/india directly. See the full TCS guide.

5. Infosys, Cognizant and others: tracks and what is reported

• Infosys: its HackWithInfy page invited 2027-batch engineering students to register, with a qualifier window from January to March 2026 and a face-to-face second round in March 2026. Coaching sites describe Systems Engineer, Digital Specialist Engineer and Specialist Programmer tracks with very different pay. Those pay figures conflict between sources, so rely on your offer letter (Infosys guide).
• Cognizant: its official GenC page was active for a 2026 opportunity according to one report, and coaching sites mention GenC, GenC Next, GenC Pro and Elevate with conflicting details. Confirm the track names in your own notice (Cognizant guide).
• Across these companies, the pattern candidates report is an online aptitude and coding assessment, a technical interview and an HR interview, with higher tracks adding harder coding.

6. Global capability centres: skills first, fewer but pickier fresher hires

An ANSR talent-trends report (September 2026), as reported by several career sites, says roughly 65% of new GCC roles in India need AI skills, that hiring is weighted toward people with 3 to 8 years of experience, and that GCCs hire fewer freshers but more selectively. Skills such as SQL, Python, cloud, QA automation, cybersecurity and applied AI come up repeatedly. We could not read the report itself, and several of the sites relaying it are promotional, so treat the percentages as indicative. The direction matches what many recruiters say: demonstrated skills and projects count for more than the college name (GCC guide).

7. What the changes mean for your preparation

1. Be able to code without help. In-person and proctored rounds are the check on AI-assisted work.
2. Learn to work with AI well. Practise prompting, reviewing and debugging generated code, and be honest about when you used it in projects.
3. Build and explain real projects. A deployed project with a clear README that you can walk through end to end is harder to fake than a test score (portfolio guide).
4. Strengthen the fundamentals. Interviewers use core CS and design questions to see whether you understand what the AI wrote (core CS subjects).
5. Prepare for identity and integrity checks. Matching names on your resume, ID and application avoids last-minute trouble.
6. Keep your communication sharp. Many reports say communication is now scored in AI-assisted rounds too (behavioural interviews).
7. Stay alert to scams. Genuine companies do not charge fees at any stage, and fake offers rise when hiring headlines are loud (scam safety guide).

8. How reliable is this page?

• Company pages: TCS NQT page, Microsoft hiring page, Goldman Sachs HackerRank guide, Infosys HackWithInfy page and Google job postings.
• News reports: Computerworld (August 2025) on in-person interviews, and Free Press Journal (26 October 2026) on IT hiring numbers.
• Secondary sources: career-site and coaching-site articles for the Google and Meta AI-assisted rounds, Amazon's assessment, Infosys and Cognizant tracks, and the ANSR figures. We have labelled these as reported, not confirmed.

We re-check these pages when processes change. If something here no longer matches what a company tells you, trust the company.