Cisco Partner Talent
Survey Results
2013
2013 Talent Survey Summary
•
•
•
•
•
•
Anticipated headcount growth numbers decreased from 2012 results.
Partners are now looking to hire more early-to-mid career candidates.
Sales & technical roles continue to be more difficult to hire.
Partners are shifting away from hiring contract staff, and increasingly focused on
hiring permanent fulltime employees.
Providing training and development is still the key retention strategy.
Partners are increasingly taking advantage of the free talent attraction tools,
however the best practice resources at Cisco’s Fit4Talent remain under-utilized
Partners are recognising the challenging market conditions
for hiring talent, so a focus on “home-grown” talent
development and retaining that talent is key.
Headcount Growth
Most respondents have indicated a reduction in headcount growth
compared to last year.
53.85%
48.31%
46.73%
40.00%
36.25%
32.05%
29.21%
Growth Shift
55.96%
32.44%
2013
46.73%
2012
32.44%
17.42%
25.99%
14.58%
12.50%
10.26%
4.49%3.85%5.00%4.46%
6.25%
0.56%0.00%
High growth (more than 25%) Low growth (less than 10%)
Medium growth (between
10%-25%)
Low
(less than
Do growth
not know
10%)
1.79%
Medium
Zero to growth
negative(between
growth
10%-25%)
Headcount Growth Target Strategies
Most respondents plan to hire permanent staff in 2013, which is a slight shift
from 2012 where the APJC region in particular looked to hiring more contract roles
67.55%
52.21%
2012
2013
54.76%
APJC Year/Year
Comparison
29.63%
40.74%
2013
2012
24.86%
Hire more
permanent
fulltime staff
Hire contract staff
6.63%6.62%
No planned
strategy as yet
4.64%
1.66%
Organizational
realignment of
current staff
Other
Hire more
permanent
fulltime staff
5.30%
Hire more
temporary
fulltime staff
0.00%
15.89%
14.64%
Hiring Over the Next 12-18 Months
Planned number of hires in each category seems consistent with 2012 results,
at approximately 1-5 hires
Planned Hires 2013
Planned Hires 2012
Management
Sales
Technical/Engineering Roles
Other
0
1-5
6-10
11-20
20+
0
1-5
6-10
11-20
20+
Average Number of Hires
Most respondents hired 1-5 candidates in various key roles over the past
12 months, with fewer Management level hires compared to 2012
Sales Roles
Technical/Engineering
Management Roles 2012
Other
Management Roles 2013
160
Management
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
0
1-5
6-10
11-20
20+
0
1-5
Other
Internships/Apprenticeship
Programs
College/University Programs
Print Advertising/Recruitment
Agencies
Social media (facebook,
LinkedIn, etc)
Online Job boards (Monster,
Seek, etc)
Cisco Hosted Job Fairs/Talent
Connection Events
Employee Referrals &
Personal Networks
Cisco Networking Academies
Cisco Partner Talent Network
(CPTN) Portal
Top Sources for Hiring
Employee referrals and personal networks (not including LinkedIn)
remains the top source for successful hiring
2012
2013
Ease Of Hiring
Technical and Sales roles continue to be the most difficult to hire across
all regions, with Management roles newly identified as difficult to hire in 2013
Management Hiring Ease
Sales
Management
Management Roles 2012
Technical/Engineering
Management Roles 2013
Other
Difficult to Hire
Easier to Hire
Neutral
Not Applicable
Difficult to Hire
Easier to Hire
Neutral
Not Applicable
Other
Lack of a company employee
referral program
Top Challenges 2013 Data
Inability to attract talent in the
younger generation
Strong competition from other
companies (e.g. Cisco and other
big brand names)
Lack of management level
commitment to recruitment
needs
Lack of budget to support
recruitment programs
Candidates do not suit the
company culture
Struggle to compete on
compensation levels
Poor company brand
awareness, difficult to attract
candidates
Not enough candidates with the
right skill-set and/or experience
Hiring Challenges
Top talent management concern area: “not enough candidates with the
right experience and skill-set”
Americas, including Latin America & Canada
Asia Pacific, China & Japan
Europe, Middle East, Africa & Russia
Grand Total
New Hires From Similar Roles/Competitors
Most respondents indicate that at least half of their new hires have previously
worked in a similar capacity, which implies strong competition for talent in the market
36.84%
36.36%
33.52%
25.57%
26.32%
25.97%
23.68%
Americas, including Latin America & Canada
Asia Pacific, China & Japan
Europe, Middle East, Africa & Russia
18.18%
15.58%
15.34%
9.09%
6.49%
4.55%
2.63%
3.95%
All of them
Around 50%
Less than 25%
More than 75%
None of them
6.58%
2.84%
Not Sure
6.49%
Preferred Candidate Experience Level
Partner respondents indicate that they are looking to hire early-to-mid
career candidates
234
Americas, including Latin America & Canada
195
Asia Pacific, China & Japan
Europe, Middle East, Africa & Russia
Grand Total
128
75
90
87
82
51
55
61
55
38
22
7
5
21
11
10
Beginning career/new
graduates
0
1-3 years experience
4-6 years experience
7-10 years experience
25
18
14
4
More than 10 years
experience
4
All experience levels
15
11
0
4
Not sure
Regional Preferred Experience Level
Preference for earlier-in-career candidates in 2013 for all regions, compared to
2012 results where the US showed a preference for 7-10+ years experience
Americas
EMEAR
Beginning 1-3 years 4-6 years 7-10 years More than
All
Not sure
career/new experience experience experience 10 years experience
graduates
experience levels
Beginning 1-3 years 4-6 years 7-10 years More than
All
Not sure
career/new experience experience experience 10 years experience
graduates
experience
levels
APJC
Beginning
career/new
graduates
1-3 years
experience
4-6 years
experience
7-10 years More than 10
All
experience
years
experience
experience
levels
Not sure
Providing more
development
opportunities
Other
No action is being taken
Europe, Middle East,
Africa & Russia
Focus on recruiting the
right talent
Employee Engagement
Strategies
Compensation and
benefits
"No compete" clause in
employment contract
Provide training and career
development
Other
2013
No retention strategies are in
place
Focus on recruiting the right
talent
Employee feedback and
engagement programs
Increased monetary
compensation and benefits
"No compete" clause in
employment contract
Strategies & Incentives for Talent Retention
Top retention strategy is to provide training and career development, with
2013 data showing an additional focus on recruiting the right talent
Americas, including Latin
America & Canada
Asia Pacific, China &
Japan
2012
Not Applicable
Other
Leadership and
Management Skills
Softskills Development
Certifications
Development (e.g.
CCNA, CCIE)
Cisco Partner &
Incentive Programs
Sales Enablement on
Cisco
Products/Solutions
Post-Sales Technical
Enablement
Pre-Sales Technical
Enablement
Network Architecture
Enablement
Talent Development Priorities
Pre-Sales technical enablement and certifications development
are marginally the top two focus areas for Cisco Partners
Americas, including Latin America & Canada
Asia Pacific, China & Japan
Europe, Middle East, Africa & Russia
Grand Total
Top Talent Management Focus Areas
Learning and Development is a top talent management focus
area in 2013, followed by recruitment and staff retention
None of the above
Retention, Reward &
Recognition
Leadership
Succession Planning
Coaching and Mentoring
Learning and Development
Onboarding
Attraction and Hiring
Workforce Planning
Americas, including Latin America & Canada
Asia Pacific, China & Japan
Europe, Middle East, Africa & Russia
Grand Total
Methodology and Demographics
•
•
•
•
In June 2013; the Cisco Partner Talent Survey
was emailed to Cisco Partners and promoted
via social media globally.
The survey was completed by a wide variety of
Cisco Partner company contacts, from human
resource professionals to C-suite executives.
Companies represented ranged in size, with
the higher contribution coming from our smallmid sized Partners (approx. 67%).
The survey was completed by 336 respondents
which accounted for approximately 15% of the
contacted population.
2013 Partner Respondents
By Region
52.98%
23.21%
Americas, including Asia Pacific, China
Latin America &
& Japan
Canada
23.81%
Europe, Middle
East, Africa &
Russia