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Since its launch in 2016, the Cisco Networking Academy Talent Bridge program has connected over 1200 Networking Academy students to jobs with Cisco partners. This week at Cisco Partner Summit, Cisco is unveiling a pilot program that will make it even easier for our partners to connect to, contact, and hire passionate, skilled Networking Academy talent in 180 countries—at no cost.

The new Talent Bridge Matching Engine is a free tool designed to help you find and hire the right  talent to grow your business. This global online matching tool allows recruiters to quickly and dynamically search for Networking Academy students, including U.S. veterans, skilled in Cisco CCNA, CCNP, cybersecurity, cloud, and more.

As a Cisco partner, you now have free access to this online platform to help you find your next employee. Here’s how:

  • Log into Cisco Connection Online CCO
  • Associate your Cisco ID with your parent company
  • Post entry-level jobs you need filled, and let the Matching Engine do the rest

The Matching Engine will send you a ranked list of qualified candidates based on the skills and criteria you need most: location, education, certifications, technical skills, and more.

Partners such as CDW, Ingram Micro, and Dimension Data, to name just a few, have already hired skilled NetAcad students through our Talent Bridge Program. Cisco Networking Academy trains over one million students around the globe each year, and Talent Bridge gives our partners access to world-class talent.

The Networking Academy curriculum builds a solid digital foundation for students through courses like CCNA Routing and Switching, Cybersecurity Essentials, and Programming Essentials in C++. And we constantly develop new courses to keep our curriculum relevant. For example, we’ve broadened our cyber domain to include cloud security, security audit, and digital forensics topics and have introduced automation, machine learning, and artificial intelligence literacy to better prepare our students for today’s jobs.

In addition to technical skills, NetAcad graduates learn to solve problems and embrace change, innovate and work in teams, communicate well, multi-task, and think critically. Our graduates receive hands-on experience and learn by doing, using Cisco’s Packet Tracer, an innovative networking simulation and visualization tool, and by participating in hackathons, boot camps, and hands-on lab challenges.

The Talent Bridge Matching Engine just launched, so check back frequently to post jobs and find candidates. The number of participants will grow over time, and with this new automated tool, more partners will be able to find qualified employees to help them expand services and stand out from the competition.

At Cisco, we’ll continue to build a sustainable pipeline of technology talent while giving students a valuable resource for attaining outstanding careers.

Invigorate your organization with the best people— and register for the Networking Academy Talent Bridge Matching Engine today.