The hiring process at Cisco takes an average of 46 days when considering 2 user submitted interviews across all job titles. Candidates applying for CSM had the quickest hiring process (on average 1 day), whereas Intern Field Sales roles had the slowest hiring process (on average 90 days).
You find the position on the web and then reach out to contacts within Cisco to apply for the job. A recruiter will take over from there and reach out in case you are a potential fit. Then the hiring manager gets involved and you will speak with folks from biz dev, marketing and other product managers. You will speak with 3-6 people before they decide to extend an offer.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How will you fit into the Cisco culture? This is especially relevant if you are coming from a small company and don't have prior work ex in a large organization.
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Cisco (Raleigh, NC) in Jan 2008
Interview
Phone screening, then mix of on-site and video conference.
Fairly generic questions. My management focused most on cultural fit, drive and gut feeling.
Hiring was quick. Had 1 random phone call from the hiring manager, followed by 6 interviews. Asked me basic networking questions - describe difference between OSPF & BGP, describe how a user request for DNS works
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Asked about the detailed port numbers used in a data request (what is the HTTP port number, etc).