Cisco is expanding its efforts to hire international workers.

The company told vnunet.com on Wednesday that the effort is part of a larger push to recruit new staffers from the some of the fastest growing technology markets.

Cisco hopes that the effort will allow it to place new employees in the same areas where new infrastructure is being built. The company is focusing on areas such as India, China and the Middle East.

"We're hiring people from geographies where we need talent and where talent is not there," explained Leo Scrivner vice president of human resources for Cisco's India operation.

The company hopes that the new technicians would fill a major gap in the tech sector.

While populations and economic development remain relatively flat in traditional tech markets such as the US and Western Europe, regions such as India and the Middle East are faced with both a population boom and a demand for new technological infrastructure, making the need for local talent even greater, said Scrivner.

The main aim of the program is to create some ten thousand new technicians with Cisco Certified Networking Associate credentials. Of those newly trained associates, Cisco then hopes to retain the top 20 per cent for further training as Cisco 'professional' technicians, while the others will hopefully go to client and partner firms.

The goal of the program is to create certified technicians not only for Cisco's own operations, but for the greater regional ecosystem as a whole.

"If we're going to accelerate the adoption of advanced technology, not only do we need it for Cisco, but we need it for our partners," said Scrivner.

Source:vnunet