I came across this post on the Cisco Learning Network today and couldn’t help feeling this individual’s frustration:
I have a CURRENT CCNA routing and security cert(working on CCNP Security), a bachelors degree in computer engineering(EXPIRED CCNP ROUTING AND SWITCHING CERT) and experience but still it is had finding work as a cisco engineer or tech, my MAIN QUESTION is why doesn’t cisco insist that company’s hire only people that are certified to work on their equipment.I HAVE EVEN APPLIED WITH CISCO FOR LOW LEVEL JOBS SO AS JUST TO GET IN THE DOOR BUT STILL NO SUCCESS.
I srongly beleive without cisco giving some guidelines or sugestions on who works on their eqiupment cisco certs are going to become useless because how can one do all this studying and managers refuse to hire all because they have someone they know and will rather train on the job.
CISCO DO SOMETHING TO UPLIFT THE CERTIFIED TECHS/ENGINEERS HARDWORK.
ANY HELP IN FINDING ANY IT/CISCO JOB WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.
I see many problems with this.
Don’t rely on certification
CCNA’s are everywhere now. To even set yourself apart you need to maintain that CCNP status and even go for the CCIE to get noticed. But if you don’t have any relevant experience you will not get passed HR.
Don’t rely on Cisco
Cisco is in the business of making money. They supply the products and evangelize people to use their products (Cisco certification). They have no way of telling companies what they should be doing. There are also plenty of engineers who have no certifications but know what exactly they are doing. I’ve worked with these individuals and I have to say that they look like CCIE’s in my mind. If Cisco handed out MVPs as Microsoft does (maybe they would call them MVE, Most Valuable Engineer) I’d be recommending some people.
Hard/Soft Skills
You need them both. In this economy, companies are very picky. You may have the certification but how well are your communication skills? Do you work well with others. Are you clean? Yes, first impressions are important.
Job Hunting
What does your resume look like? Is it a cookie cutter template you downloaded from one of the top 5 search results in Google? Try to make yourself stand out. Use websites like Dice.com, CareerBuilder.com, Craigslist.org, SimplyHired.com, Indeed.com.. there’s so many. You can also work with a recruiter to fill a contract position. I’ve come in contact with a few recruiters lately looking for engineers.
Network
Tap into your network. On and off the Internet. Learn to leverage your contacts. Respect them.
Attitude
There’s a difference between wanting and needing a job. The individual above sounds like he is in need of a job. Sure it sounds like it is out of frustration but he could have approached it differently and get better responses.
The truth is that it’s difficult right now. Many people are out there looking for a job so you need to distinguish yourself. Do what no one else is doing.
Posted by (@rowelldionicio) on June 14th, 2011