I applied through college or university. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Cisco (San Jose, CA) in Mar 2014
Interview
First over the phone interview was basic behavioral based questions and experience related qualifications. Second over the phone interview was higher quality more personal questions about my character and life experiences. Mandatory creative video cover letter - bare directions of what they want, would like you to be very creative and show your personality. Lastly there is a role play assessment where you play the role of an account manager who is conducting a first encounter sales meeting. Intro (confirm time for meeting, build rapport) Needs identification (qualifying questions), Product or service presentation, Close
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Why do you want to work in sales? Why do you want to work for Cisco? What personal experiences have you had that developed your leadership skills? List 5 words that your peers of colleagues would use to describe you.
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 4 months. I interviewed at Cisco in Apr 2025
Interview
1) Email via LinkedIn to apply to the role
2) First phone interview 2 days later with HR/Recruiter - which went well
3) Zoom meeting with the hiring manager - went great
4) Prep work for a virtual mock call with 3 people in total (2 weeks after the hiring manager interview) (local VP of sales/Sales manager other country/local hiring manager) - aced the mock call
5) 2 months pass - ghosted
6) 3 months have passed - role changed name and function - 0 update from the recruiter. Said he'd get back to me once he gets an update from management.
I think it's a great company with even better products, however the overal hiring process has been sub-par and not professional in the slightest.
Interview questions [2]
Question 1
How do you make sure you're talking to the right stakeholders?
It was smooth since I was contacted for the position. Everything was maintained in transparent way step by step. Although it took few more days for the final interview call.
I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Cisco in Jul 2024
Interview
Initial interview was with hiring manager, second round was individual interviews with other sales leaders (3 of them), third round was interview with SE Manager. Spent 5 hours interviewing and countless hours prepping for said interviews just to be ghosted. Shows lack of respect for candidates time.
Account Manager applicants have rated the interview process at Cisco with 3.4 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 76% positive. To compare, the company-average is 68% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Account Manager roles take an average of 41 days to get hired, when considering 46 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Cisco overall takes an average of 27 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Cisco as a Account Manager according to 46 Glassdoor interviews include:
One on one interview: 24%
Phone interview: 22%
Background check: 16%
Group panel interview: 12%
Drug test: 9%
Presentation: 8%
Skills test: 5%
Personality test: 3%
IQ intelligence test: 2%
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