Wednesday, January 21st, 2009
| Website | Cisco.com |
| Category | Web |
| Founded | 1984 |
| Head Quarters | San Jose, CA |
| Employees | 63,000 |
| Phone | 408.526.4000 |
Cisco designs and sells hardware, software, networking, and communications technology services. Products are distributed under five brands, namely Cisco, Linksys, WebEx, IronPort, and Scientific Atlanta.
Cisco was founded in 1984 by a small group of computer scientists from Stanford University. Since the company’s inception, Cisco engineers have been leaders in the development of Internet Protocol (IP)-based networking technologies.
As a business student concentrating in Information Systems, I was able to get in contact with the Cisco recruiters through ISA. I had a couple of interviews for an IT analyst intern position in San Jose that all went well. Not too shortly after I received confirmation that I got the job as an intern. I will state, however, that the hiring process was a bit slow. I never really received a full description of exactly what I would be doing. It was a patience trying process, but in the end proved well worth it. I was able to get a bit of relocation money for the move up there, which greatly helped in finding a place.
The internship was one of the best experiences I have ever had. Right away I was put right in the mix with an excellent group of working professionals who deeply cared about you personally and your success at Cisco. I was given a wide range of tasks, but they greatly emphasized voicing our interests. I personally, was able to create a little social media project in which I encouraged and tested the limits of our team participating in that space. Throughout the internship I had the opportunity to have regular meetings with other team members across the globe through TelePresence. Cisco is all about teamwork and collaboration. I was constantly working in groups and presenting my projects. Shortly after my internship I was able to get an full-time offer after graduation.
Crucial to the internship were communication skills, presentation skills, teamwork, multi-tasking, project management, and technically inclined.
Being a part of the Information Systems Association at the College of Business at Cal Poly was a huge part of landing my internship and eventual full-time job at Cisco. I got in contact with a recruiter and proceeded into two rounds of interviews. The first round was on campus and consisted of the typical behavioral questions while the second round was in the Cisco offices and had more logical and situational questions. I was actually interviewed by the managers who I worked with during my internship which helped my transition into the company but could have been bad news if my interviews didn’t go well.
A typical day during my internship as an IT analyst felt like I was a full-time new hire. I hit the ground running with several IT (specially in the Web 2.0 area) and web marketing related projects but was given plenty of preparation and help. Additionally, I got a lot of careers and project advice from the manager on my team who were always willing to do 1 on 1 meetings with me. Be sure to meet with your manager 1 on 1 regularly (if it’s OK with them) to get some good feedback and advice.
I didn’t get to socialize with the other interns as much I was would have hoped but there are definitely many opportunities to do so if you look for them. Be sure to attend the early intern mixers and socials so you can start your network. I still keep in contact with several of my former intern buddies.
I interviewed with Cisco during my senior year at Cal Poly and joined their IT team after I graduated in June 2008. The interview process was typical, I submitted my resume on Mustang Jobs and the Cisco website, attended a pre-interview dinner at Woodstock’s, had one interview on campus, was invited to the Cisco campus for an “assessment day” with three interviews and was contacted later with a job offer.
Before starting at Cisco, I didn’t have a great idea of what to expect. I knew people who worked at Cisco, and was very impressed by the people I had met during the recruiting process. Other than that I accepted the job offer based on Cisco’s outstanding reputation in the technology industry.
Though I am officially an IT Analyst working in IT (and studied MIS and Accounting at Cal Poly), I’m working in an operations role, and my position deals mostly with finance. I feel that I’ve been given a tremendous opportunity to choose my own career path here at Cisco, and great visibility to senior management. I work closely with both my Director and Senior Director on our department’s finance despite the fact that I’ve only been with Cisco for six months.
Working at Cisco, there’s a huge amount of diversity of backgrounds, ethnicity and age. This affords met he opportunity to learn from those who have been in the industry for an extended period of time, but at the same time will not give a new hire the community of a large “start class” like you’ll see at most consulting firms.
I was an Information Systems/International Business Management concentration, business major at Cal Poly. I also was very active in the choral program, Delta Chi fraternity, and Poly Reps.
There were 3 steps in my hiring process. I attended the career fair, talked to the Cisco table and gave them my resume. A few weeks later I was invited to an on-campus interview. A few weeks after that, I was invited to an all day interview at Cisco headquarters in San Jose along with 80 other candidates.
I was hired as an IT analyst for Cisco and I started March 2008. I have worked here for a year now and I love working for Cisco. I am in the Global Supply Chain department and doing the work that I am interested in doing. The team that I work with are all very intelligent and fun. And I have the greatest respect for my manager, who always make an effort to make sure I am happy with the work I am doing.