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Wow, there appears to be a Cisco talent sham

Why are CCIEs held hostage by their certifications after their huge investment in time and money?

Tue, 12/4/12 - 11:59pm    View comments

It seems that Cisco has failed to create an end around to their own efforts to prevent the movement of CCIEs between the very employers that need them the most; Channel Partners.

Where once the Cisco Partner Talent Program known as SRS was aggressively pursuing the talent needs of their devoted VARs, these same VARs are now observing the reinvention of the wheel as a stumbling in the dark is taking place.

The use of job fairs where talent is expected to show up with resume in hand has come full circle since the first failed attempts back in 2008/2009. Discussions with Celia Harper-Guerra head of the talent initiative back in the beginning of the SRS program clearly discovered that the CCIE population did not turn out for job fairs. Even more apparent is the lack of CCIE hiring that goes on in forums invented by anyone at Cisco. The question that begs to be asked is "why?"

Let's start with the implied threat in the rules governing the poaching of talent between channels and Cisco.

If a CCIE moves from one Channel to another, the Cisco Certification Group has declared that the CCIE should be punished by losing control of their coveted CCIE number. The offending CCIE could have his number retained by the previous employer for up to a year.

This rule was meant to prevent Poaching; poppycock. Cisco calls poaching what others call career growth. Why would any court in the United States uphold a rule used to prevent a person from growing their careers as they choose? Recently several high profile companies have landed in hot water. Other Northern California and state of Washington based firms have been sued over poaching agreements between technology giants. The successful CCIE has learned to maintain control of their CCIE number and their career. One method is to avoid all the job boards. Everyone can see you there.

Cisco's new head of Partner Talent, James Hamilton, is still trying to find his feet under him. Face it, when Channels talk about talent they are talking about revenue, sales professionals and CCIEs do this for them. The sales folks pound the pavement for their employers, while CCIEs are required for reseller certifications like Silver and Gold that give the employer large discounts in the Cisco products they resell. This discount in products opens up the opportunity for profits otherwise not made available to them.

The CCIE has learned to keep the job search quiet and to make their number association without fanfare. When the Channels go to Cisco Talent sites thinking they will find help hiring they are looking for CCIEs. All other IT talent can easily be found via the usual means.

This is why the effort of the current offering from Cisco, called the Partner Placement Program is doomed for failure. Aside from forcing the people Cisco has victimized with layoffs to post on the Lee Hecht Harrison site, Cisco is contributing nothing to the Channels they could not find better elsewhere. Why then are the CCIEs held hostage by their certifications after their huge investment in time and money? Obviously, Learning@Cisco after taking their cut, turnover the unsuspecting CCIE to the détente of hiring and are retarding the CCIEs career through threat and innuendo.

It is apparent that James Hamilton needs a little help in discovering why CCIEs are not posting their resumes on his old new invention. The CCIEs posting their resumes on the site require Visa sponsorship to work in the countries with the highest demand, so the bait works on the desperate but lays the hunger bare.

In conclusion, it appears the talent promoted by James Hamilton is a sham, because the demand for CCIEs is not satisfied or addressed, and as long as Cisco tries to bully the channels and CCIEs, there will always be confusion in the industry.

Email message to partners from Cisco's James Hamilton

View more CCIE water cooler gossip.

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Related story:

John Chambers stumbles on raiding CCIEs from Cisco Channel Partners
 

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