Throughout Cisco, tons of of groups host interns in each operate of the enterprise. Internships assist appeal to early-in-career expertise that deliver new expertise and variety to the workforce. Cisco has a devoted group – the Early Expertise Recruiting staff – that serves as a world recruiting engine to assist managers discover and rent interns. The staff drives finest practices throughout the corporate, leads intern onboarding, and hosts skilled development occasions. With a powerful observe document for changing interns to full-time roles, Cisco is a vacation spot for interns throughout the globe.
To have a good time Nationwide Intern Day, we talked to some individuals who went by way of Cisco’s internship program and are on the trail to very vivid futures. Right here’s Charlie’s story:
Teamwork Makes the Dream Work: One Summer season Intern’s Journey


Charlie Wenig spent the summer season as the one intern on the CX Americas Communications staff. She was excited concerning the alternative however wasn’t certain what to anticipate or what company communications entailed. As a rising senior from Syracuse College majoring in Journal Journalism and Data Expertise, the chance to work with communications professionals appeared like a superb one.
“[I] didn’t know tons about company communications and particularly inside communications,” stated Charlie. “Becoming a member of a staff with broad outreach in such a big firm has been eye-opening to see how that work carries throughout all of the channels, and that has been nice.”
Over the course of the internship, she found that the staff’s work spanned many areas, and he or she jumped proper in. She started writing, grew to become conversant in how large-scale conferences are run on WebEx, and labored to make content material compelling, participating, and even enjoyable. Charlie contributed to worker engagement occasions by creating a web-based quiz for staff members to have a good time Asian American, Pacific Islander, Haitian, and Jewish Heritage Month and really helpful a digital parade as part of a Delight Month celebration.
“I discovered this to be extra fascinating than the ‘boots-on-the-ground’ interviewing folks within the rain I used to be imagining,” stated Charlie.
The CX Americas Communications staff Charlie interned with helps preserve the group knowledgeable about enterprise priorities and technique, supplies government communications assist for management, and drives worker engagement.
She was additionally stunned at how tightly knit her staff was and the way carefully everybody labored collectively. An instance she shared was with the ability to lean on different teammates who had been extra skilled with utilizing Photoshop for design and study from that within the course of. By the summer season, she shadowed staff members engaged on buyer tales, discovered about podcast manufacturing, and the right way to host occasions. She discovered every staff member’s strengths and the place to go for assist with particular questions.
“In class with COVID, there wasn’t loads of collaborative work, and these previous three years at school [there] was loads of impartial work, [so I] cherished working with this staff that was artistic, supportive, and heat.”
She considers studying the right way to talk and work as a staff to lift visibility for CX Americas for inside and exterior audiences to be the best takeaway from her internship expertise.
After 12 weeks with CX Americas, Charlie’s determined that company communications is a path she desires to proceed. “In school, I actually discovered this fascinating steadiness between tech and writing,” stated Charlie. “This chance created a primary stepping stone.”
Whereas she was the one intern in her group, Charlie found she was certainly one of 1,700 interns throughout Cisco this summer season. She was immersed with an intensive community of interns through WebEx and attended group classes with the cohort. It’s a program designed to nurture younger expertise, whether or not they come to Cisco or go elsewhere for his or her first job out of faculty. Cisco typically hires interns on the finish of summer season, and people returning to highschool generally return for a second summer season function.
When she returns to Syracuse College this fall, she’s going to tackle the function of Editor-in-chief of College Woman journal, which is able to contain a number of writing and creativity – each issues that Charlie loves.
“At the start of school my dream job was to work in publishing, however after this program I discover myself leaning in the direction of communications and expertise,” stated Charlie.
Charlie encourages these searching for internships to offer all potential internship alternatives an opportunity – even these you won’t be totally certain about – because it isn’t attainable to know all of what an internship will contain beforehand.
“There are alternatives to find out about your self and the sector you might be entering into, even when initially you initially needed one thing completely different,” Charlie stated, noting that location, distant or digital, and different facets of the function usually are not at all times a very powerful issues.
Charlie’s recommendation for interns:
– Contemplate all alternatives
– Deal with the function over the situation or work association
– Take an opportunity on one thing new
Share: