Celia Harper-Guerra Interview

The Senior Director of Worldwide Channels for Cisco Systems, Celia Harper-Guerra gave me the opportunity to ask her a few questions. One of her boldest efforts to help the Cisco Partner community to acquire the manpower needed to thrive, has been the SRS program. I have been personally involved in this international effort for nearly a year and I am truly a fan of what Celia and her team is trying to accomplish. Instead of continuing to present my opinion and experience in this effort, I wanted to give Celia a chance to answer a few questions.

Q: How did you come up with the idea for the SRS program?

A: I recognized a need to support the partners with a solution for acquiring the best resources to support their growth by giving them access to recruiting support. I was getting many questions that had to do with the many ways recruiting through agencies works. The difference between contract recruiting, contingency recruiting, retained searches and different fees created a lot confusion for the channel partners. There has historically been a struggle with acquiring talent so providing a team of recruiting options through this program I felt would help. So the SRS (Strategic Recruiting Solutions) program was developed. This program provides access to companies who support channel partners with reduced rates and best practices. These companies are made available through the Cisco Partner Talent Portal where Cisco Channel Partners can get the information they need to decided which to use

Q: Do you feel the SRS program is being received well by the Channel Partners?

A: The program will take 6 to 8 months to really take off. Partners really need to find talent quickly and many do not have recruiters on staff. This program helps them at a reduced rate to utilize recruiting companies. The partners realize the value the SRS program brings and the response from the pilot in the Southwestern US where it was first piloted was favorable. We have learned that once they have contacted one of the agencies and made a successful hire they usually return to the recruiting firm for additional hiring.

Q: Do you think CCIEs are in higher demand than before?

A: CCIE demand is higher now than it was a year ago. With Cisco’s growth projected to grow from $30bbl to $60bbl the level of technical expertise needed to drive this growth has risen to new heights.

Q: What effect has the economy had on hiring in the Cisco Channel Partners?

A: The economy has been discussed in recent meetings with the channel partners. In this economy it is hard to find a company that has not been impacted by the turmoil. When asked the channel partners in a recent summit 90% said they are continuing with their hiring plan in support of their current projects and want to ensure they have a good bench for the up-turn in business.

Q: Look into your crystal ball and tell me what you think the next five years will bring for CCIEs.

A: The CCIE is going to continue to be a coveted position in the industries and advanced technologies like Storage CCIEs will be in more demand. The CCIE ranks will double in size in five years and I feel every enterprise will need their storage bank of CCIEs. Telecom and UC will become the new core of major enterprise networks and the various supporting technologies will require more CCIEs to support them.

Q: Do you read the CCIE Flyer?

A: Yes I do I learn a lot about what is going on with CCIEs from it.

Q: Do you like the CCIE Flyer

A: I love it!

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