Research report
I admire and have grown to respect Cisco as a company. Founded in 1984, it had grown to become a success story, with an annual revenue of 43 billion U.S. dollars, as of 2011. Cisco is indeed a household name across the world. What attracted me to this great company are its great products and its highly accredited certifications (Deel, Nelson & Smith 2002). Cisco networking products, apart from being essential, are the preferred network solution in most networking companies and are of high quality.
The company has a diverse employment record and an outstanding corporate social responsibility. This is indeed the company that has a great capacity to make an impact on society, just like Google, Facebook, or Apple (Lambert & Poole 2005).
I would like to work in this great company, first, because of the challenges to develop career-wise, which it offers. Cisco has been voted the best employers in various countries, where it has a presence. It also gives its employees a chance to invest in the company through shareholding. This is one feature that wins the hearts and minds of the employees. The pay is great, and a good incentive as well. It is wonderful when a company appreciates its employees and gives them a chance to live comfortable lives.
The networking skills that employees acquire when working with this company are not easy to find anywhere else. This company also has very attractive benefits to the staff, like health package, paid staff outdoor events, and great retirement benefits (Lambert & Poole 2005).
I would like to work in the technical field as a network technician and rise to become a network engineer since Cisco develops network solutions. Working in the technical field will give me a wide range of expert knowledge on any networking system. I enjoy and admire to work in a structured environment, which also offers a little amount of flexibility. Working alongside people who seek to invent new solutions to the world internet challenges can be very rewarding. It can be like a dream come true, as it gives me a chance to give back to society by providing them with IT solutions to their everyday challenges (Lambert & Poole 2005).
According to Lambert and Poole (2005), Cisco as a company has pros and cons, which affect where one may be placed. Some of the pros are flexible working conditions and a great management team. The cons are that there are a few promotions for technical stuff (Schatz 1983). With that background, I see myself still in the same position and department in the next three years. However, after that, I expect to rise to a more senior position and have a much broader working area (Lambert & Poole 2005).
I would like to participate first in buying shares in the company, as I believe in it. Secondly, I would make suggestions to my seniors to encourage more interaction with the market, as I believe that this company has the potential to become a very important global player. Through technology, I would seek to develop solutions, which can benefit the company market-wise. Getting an idea of such solutions can be easy when one uses social media to interact with the customers and ask what they would like included in their products. This is then relayed to the team that is in IT and could be an innovation I can help spearhead and develop. I would seek to engage in the company’s social responsibility activities to enhance its image in the public arena (Deel, Nelson & Smith 2002).
Career fair interview
I spoke to various companies that have an international presence, to enquire about various issues of their operations. One such company is General Electric. I aimed to investigate the challenges it faces while operating internationally. I learned that various issues affect their decision, on choosing how to invest in various parts of the world. Political stability, economic viability, and exchange rate volatility are amongst the main things that they consider (D’alessandro & Owens 2004).
When they get a positive evaluation of the main business requirements, then they can move to expand or establish regional offices. I, however, learned of a wonderful initiative called Ecomagination, which General Electric gas undertakes. This is a green environmental-friendly initiative, which the company highly invests in (Evans 2008).
General Electric has a strong workforce, both now and in the past. Ronald Regan is such a popular person, who has worked for them. This is a company of international repute, which can allow one to seek an exciting and challenging career. I walked away, desiring to be part of this great company. This company has a wide set of businesses, that it is engaged in, which allows the workers with a wider range of workplace choices.
General Electric also gives its employees a leeway to responsibly showcase their creativity and grow career-wise. Another incentive is their great employee benefits. These range from health, retirement, and other allowances, which are important additions, that young employees seek (Evans 2008). The information I got from the show indicated that General Electric invests a billion dollars in staff training. Such programs develop professionalism in the staff. Diversity in this company is also great. It is like a melting pot that comes with a lot of character enhancement. The prospective of working for this company offers one a chance to grow and become a whole.
There are other upcoming companies that I did not include. This is because there are many well-established companies out there, which have recorded remarkable performance. I chose this company in particular, because it operates internationally, and has been performing extremely well. I also checked on a company, which can influence a lot of people around the globe, both directly and indirectly. Finally, I went for brands that have a proven track record of a well-established social corporate responsibility (Levitt & Harwood 2008). With this criterion, I was able to narrow down easily and decisively some particular companies.
Interview
Smartly dressed with his clean-cut shave, is Mr. Thomas Wolfram, Cisco’s Marketing Manager. He politely introduces himself and settles down for the interview. Seven years being at the helm of a company that has a worldwide presence did not reflect on his jovial face. However, looking keenly at him, one could not fail to notice why the company was doing exemplary well on sales. During the interview, I asked him the following questions:
- What does it take to hold a leadership position in this company?
- What qualities does the company look for while recruiting staff in this field?
- What challenges do you face while discharging your duties?
- What are your plans in this office?
Mr. Thomas talks about the experiences he has had at the helm of the company and how he has navigated them. He joined the company when it needed to establish its presence in new markets, like Africa. Struggling with markets that are very different from what he was used to, he settled on making things work. He then assembled a team, which would directly report to him. Through a grueling three years, he finally managed to attain great success and propel the company to greater heights. This has earned him a place among the top managers in the marketing world. He describes marketing as a career that one needs to be passionate about if success is to be achieved.
General Electric’s computer geek, Mr. William Wood’s warm handshake, dispelled any reservations of him being only a machine-oriented person. With a great English accent, this shy and reservedly looking IT geek lets me know of the challenges of ensuring the company’s data and the system is safe from attacks. Being in the company for the last five years, he has overseen system change, as well as the implementation of better IT solutions that have led to company cost-cutting. He has enjoyed working in the company, terming it as a great experience, with challenges that have led to his development career-wise.
Mr. Woods talked about the ten-year plans that his office was developing that will ensure that the company remains way ahead of the competition. He refused to disclose its details to us but promised that it will be launched soon. The geek invited me to apply for a position in the company, promising that it is a very fulfilling experience. He, however, pointed out the many disciplines that a person, who pursues a career in technology, can join. These are mainly attained after university and are specialization choices. He has never regretted his career choice and best describes it as a great learning experience.
Self-reflection
I am very convinced that now after the interview, I would like very much to undertake a technology-related career. It is a career path that allows one to be creative and develop solutions that face people’s problems. Before talking to the IT geek, I didn’t fully appreciate the value that this department had in a firm. However, having talked to him, I now understand that the backbone of any company is IT. This department sets the pace for the company’s tempo and cost-cutting, as well as reliable transactions.
Another reason is the challenges, and need for one to keep with the new inventions in the world that this career offers. Learning new technology is an exciting experience and eliminates career dissatisfaction and routine stress. I also want to pursue this career, as it is a service industry. I prefer working with machines more than a social related position. Machines, for me, are very stable and challenging, yet rewarding to work with, as they can be faithful servants when one works well with them. I am looking forward to joining in on my career and hoping one day to work for General Electric. If not, then I will still consider myself privileged to join Cisco. Either way, they are great companies to work with.
References
D’alessandro, DF & Owens, M 2004, Career warfare: 10 rules for building a successful personal brand and fighting to keep it, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Deel, D, Nelson, M & Smith, A 2002, Developing Cisco IP phone services, Cisco Press, Indianapolis.
Evans, TW 2008, The education of Ronald Reagan: the General Electric years and the untold story of his conversion to conservatism, Columbia University Press, New York.
Lambert, L & Poole, H 2005, The Internet: a historical encyclopedia 1 Biographies, ABC-Clio, Santa Barbara.
Levitt, JG & Harwood, L 2008, Your career: how to make it happen, South-Western, Mason.
Schatz, RW 1983, Electrical workers: a history of labor at general electric and Westinghouse, Univ of Illinois Press, New York.