Reflections From Summer Cisco Interns

Cisco Interns aren’t your average interns! Whether they found us by way of LinkedIn or a university info session – no matter if we won them over with some sweet, sweet swag or two pretty little words: Silicon Valley – we’re glad they’re here, and we’re more excited than ever to have these energetic, creative minds helping us to tackle the future. As summer winds down and rolls into fall, we wanted to share the experiences of our summer 2015 HR Interns who offer insights, advice, and their two cents on what’s giving Cisco a bit of the “cool” factor.

When thinking of Cisco a few months ago, most of these interns could only identify the company by the logo being on telephones in offices or the knowledge that routers were involved. But now that they’ve had time to grow from within Cisco, they realize there is so much more to the company who fuels the Internet of Everything.

“Cisco provided a welcoming environment that was enjoyable, comfortable, and changing” Clark Anderson, an intern with Global Benefits: Family Services/Wellness said. These interns, after all, have been here through the CEO transition from John Chambers to Chuck Robbins and have gotten a unique, first-hand experience in how Cisco celebrates its future while honoring its past.

“Cisco says ‘Change the World’ but that never resonated with me because I didn’t even understand what Cisco even did. To hear how John and Chuck have sat down with these leaders to better their country’s circumstances – that left me wanting to know more. After researching, I thought this was something I could really get behind, and I hadn’t thought of that until that moment.”

“If people knew how frequently Cisco was involved in their daily lives and how many things Cisco is doing – we’d realize how cool this company really is!” says Kelly Andrews, an HR Services Intern.

Kayla Viola, an intern with the Talent Brand team, agreed.

“Yes, when you use FaceTime you’re using Apple, but you’re also using Cisco technology!” she realized. “The impact of this technology affects me more than just Cisco’s cool factor. It’s something that matters.”

Plus, Kayla learned first-hand that Cisco interns aren’t fetching coffee and running errands. They’re exposed to the company leaders and their ideas matter.

“How many interns get access to the CEO of a company?” said Kayla, “It’s rare to meet the CEO, yet at Cisco Chuck Robbins was interested in the #IChoseCisco campaign I was working on for Instagram, and even tweeted out a photo of me and him!”

Daniel Wright, a Global Benefits Intern Daniel even said “Our inexperience in the industry seemed to be attractive for those here at Cisco as many went to the interns for new ideas, which is encouraging.”

Megan Astarita, a Talent Management intern, summed it up nicely.

“The connections through our internship, with co-workers and even the interns in other locations, we all clicked even through distance. This reflects the type of people Cisco is bringing on – they’re all just really great people.”

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