Cisco
Contact: Mari Sullivan (mari.sullivan@cisco.com)
Phone: 919-414-3858
Address: 7025 Kit Creek Road
RTP, NC 27709.
Homepage: www.cisco.com
*I inquired about jobs with the company and discovered a recruiter through LinkedIn for one of the Cisco locations in North Carolina. Cisco has multiple office locations, so I focused on the one that the recruiter worked for. *
Company Information:
Cisco was founded in 1984 in San Jose, and the company focused heavily on setting up global networks, connecting computer networks, and devices across the globe so that customers and businesses could have internet access (Cisco, 2020). The company started off small and soon spread across the globe, and Cisco now has over 35,000 employees working around the clock to maintain their systems (Cisco, 2020). They focus on products to help customers with wireless connectivity, assist them with navigating the web, and offer general hardware products such as routers to give them a way to stay connected.
Why I am Interested in the Company:
I am interested in working at Cisco because of the employee diversity along with the potential challenges and rewards that they offer. Cisco encourages their employees to handle difficult challenges but also awards them for their efforts. It would be a nice change of pace to be awarded for solving problems in the workplace. Cisco has a welcoming environment for employees, and they have received awards in the past for maintaining this welcoming atmosphere. I found it interesting that Cisco not only focuses on local businesses and customers, but they also take an active part in saving the environment. An example of this is portrayed by their proposal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through their technology and make their products reusable to aid with emissions (Narcisi, 2021). This made me even more interested in Cisco because they are taking a step beyond their product. This shows that the company cares about the planet and not just about assisting customers, supporting employees, or delivering their products across the globe.
Interview Questions for Success:
- If hired, will I shadow an employee to learn more about how Cisco Systems work?
- Does the position require knowledge of how to create IP addresses and subnet addresses?
- I am aware that Cisco prides itself on challenging and rewarding its employees, but can you name a few examples of some previous challenges employees had to face?
- How will Cisco continue to ensure their products are reusable for the environment?
Starbucks
Contact: Marcus Cox (oldgold19@gmail.com)
Phone: 206-447-1575
Address: 2401 Utah Avenue South, Seattle, Washington, 98134, United States
Homepage: www.starbucks.com
*For the address and contact, I found this information through my LinkedIn connection with Marcus. Marcus came a few months prior, recruiting those who wanted to leave the retail side of Starbucks and left his number. *
Company Information:
Starbucks was founded in 1971 and committed themselves to not just being a coffee shop that serves coffee by offering customers another place to call home with over 30,000 retail stores to serve the public (Starbucks, 2019). The company prides itself on being unique and forging special connections with their customers. The retail section serves as the face of the company while the technical side often gets forgotten. The technical side to Starbucks focuses on mobile application design, design projects, and incorporating new technology to enhance the worker and customer experience. The technical side is responsible for enhancing this experience by providing convenient options with their digital ordering system, allowing retail workers more time to interact with customers by having company software perform certain tasks (Warnick, 2020).
Why I am Interested in the Company:
The reason I am so interested in Starbucks is because their core values focus not only on the customers but their employees as well. They see their employees as a crucial part of their business and appreciate all the hard work that they put in to help the company grow. I am currently employed by a retail Starbucks, but I wanted to advance in the company and be employed by the Seattle branch to assist with mobile applications and design. Despite being employed by the retail side of Starbucks, I will still be treated as a new hire outside of the company. When I was researching, I found that they were gradually including more automation and technology in the workplace not only to help reduce the load on workers but also to free up time for customer connections (Warnick, 2020). The research that I found on the company’s technical side only made me want to be a part of it more. They respect not just their customers but also their employees and make the effort to listen to their concerns or ideas to help the company grow.
Interview Questions for Success:
- Are there any changes or ideas that you are open to hearing concerning the Starbucks mobile application?
- If I am hired as a mobile application designer, is there room for advancement in the future?
- Am I collaborating with a design team or is everyone assigned their own set of tasks that make up the bigger picture for the current projects?
- Does the company communicate and take on client design requests or does it solely focus on mobile applications that will be used for the company?
Adobe
Contact: Tricia Guyer (tguyer@adobe.com)
Phone: 310-954-8012
Address: 601 Townsend Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
Homepage Link: www.adobe.com
*I searched for job openings with the company and discovered a recruiter through LinkedIn. She seemed active on Twitter and was actively searching for new hires. Her recruitment area was for the San Francisco office. *
Company Information:
The company was founded in 1982 and now has over 24,000 employees around the world that are dedicated to transforming the digital landscape and giving customers the tools to do so (Adobe, 2018). Adobe values creativity and tries to create new innovations that allows artists, designers, and even students to let their creative juices flow. The company allows employees to work remotely or in one of their many office locations around the globe. Adobe provides the tools and software, allowing individuals to create their own signature style.
Why I am Interested in the Company:
I am interested at working at Adobe because they inspire and encourage creativity in the workplace. Employees are free to voice their own ideas and opinions at work. I currently work in retail, so I have many of my creative suggestions turned down because of my status as a part-time employee. It would be nice to be able to offer creative ideas in an environment that encourages it and accepts them regardless of status. I found it strange during my research that Adobe tried to change how PDFs are seen and interacted with on mobile devices. Most PDFs are static, but Adobe tried out a new Liquid Mode where users can interact with images on their mobile devices and move items across the document (Still, 2020). This information strengthened my interest in working at Adobe because they are crafting the digital landscape with creative ideas, and they are not afraid to take risks. Adobe remains true to the creative spirit that they value and even uses creative ideas to provide new products to customers. The faithfulness to their core values, and the desire to challenge current innovations has made me even more interested in Adobe.
Interview Questions for Success:
- Does the position involve working with AI programs and automated systems to complete design tasks?
- What can I expect from a workplace that encourages creativity?
- I have prior experience with the Adobe software, but what tools are we going to be focusing on in the workplace?
- I have seen that Adobe tries to stay on top of the competition, but will they attempt to utilize AI in user interfaces such as Adobe Photoshop?
SAP
Contact: Kathleen O’Hara (kathleen.o-hara@sap.com)
Phone: 484-538-7556
Address: 3999 West Chester Pike, Newtown Square, PA 19073
Homepage Link: www.sap.com
*I searched through LinkedIn and found that one recruiter was actively hiring individuals for their office. I called the recruiter who provided me with her information. *
Company Information:
System Analysis Program Development (SAP) was founded in 1972 in Germany and started out with a few employees, and the company now has about 101,000 employees (SAP, n.d.). SAP is dedicated to assisting businesses and industries by supplying software to enhance the customer experience. SAP focuses on data processing, controlling how information is transferred between businesses, utilizing AI technology to enhance customer experiences and record revenue trends (SAP, n.d.).
Why I am Interested in the Company:
SAP is ambitious and tries to channel that energy to their employees by promoting a healthy and competitive work environment. The company encourages their employees to speak out on any issues and work on solving problems in the moment. Their proactive approach to potential problems has me more interested in the company as they focus on the smaller and more intricate details that often get missed. Another fact that caught my interest was how SAP suddenly changed their pricing on some of their software services. They made the decision to promote a pay as you use model to businesses, eliminating the worry of spending money on a product and being stuck without any alternatives (Whiting, 2021). This strategy shows how confident SAP are in their products that they are willing to let companies have a free trial period and be able to use it for a while, and if they don’t like it down the road then they can go back to their previous software. This made me even more interested in the company because of how confident they are in their products to be able to stand with them and take risks.
Interview Questions for Success:
- If hired, will I be given the support needed to learn how to efficiently navigate multiple business suites?
- How does SAP manage their employees and promote a healthy, competitive environment?
- I read that SAP offers a free trial service to their partners, could you explain more about the trial offer and what it entails?
- What are some of the most intensive and challenging projects that have been worked on in the company?
References
Adobe. (2018). Adobe fast facts. https://www.adobe.com/about-adobe/fast-facts.html
Cisco. (2020, September 8). Who is Cisco. https://www.cisco.com/c/en_au/about/who-is-head.html
Narcisi, G. (2021, September 9). Cisco to slash greenhouse gas emissions with the help of partners. CRN. https://www.crn.com/news/networking/cisco-to-slash-greenhouse-gas-emissions-with-the-help-of-partners
SAP. (n.d.). What is SAP? | definition and meaning. https://www.sap.com/about/company/what-is-sap.html
Starbucks. (2019, January 24). Company profile – Starbucks stories. https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2019/company-profile/
Still, A. (2020, September 23). Adobe unveils ambitious multi-year vision for PDF: introduces liquid mode. Adobe Blog. https://blog.adobe.com/en/publish/2020/09/23/adobe-unveils-ambitious-multi-year-vision-for-pdf-introduces-liquid-mode.html#gs.bkyxon
Warnick, J. (2020, January 10). AI for humanity: how Starbucks plans to use technology to nurture the human spirit. Starbucks. https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2020/how-starbucks-plans-to-use-technology-to-nurture-the-human-spirit/
Whiting, R. (2021, August 26). SAP offers partners pay-as-you-go option, free service trials for business technology platform. CRN. https://www.crn.com/news/applications-os/sap-offers-partners-pay-as-you-go-option-free-service-trials-for-business-technology-platform
Starbucks is in every corner of the world. I think the reason why Starbucks is so popular is that it has a good service attitude, a quiet and comfortable environment, special coffee beans, and unique logos on the commercial streets of every country.
Starbucks does it’s best to maintain a good reputation with their customers and employees which is why I want to work at their technical branch in Seattle. Seattle is where the HQ is located, and where Starbucks first got it’s start. They even offer remote opportunities for some of their technical jobs. I believe that with the current data that they collect each week this helps them predict customer trends and how to better the customer experience. As long as they keep gathering this information and maintain their reputation with public, I believe that they will continue to thrive in the coffee industry.
I found it interesting that you listed Starbucks as one of your potential employers. Examining the technical side of Starbucks certainly shows that they do have a lot to offer. I think that having core values that focus on employees as well customers is a must for a company to truly succeed.
I believe that many people when they think of Starbucks, the first thing that comes to mind is the retail workers who sell their products. Many people seem to forget about those who worked to ensure that the stores are up and running. There are so many things that are now automated at Starbucks than ever before. An example of this would be the mobile ordering system. Orders are sent through to our store within minutes of a customer submitting their order request. There are some days where many do not think twice about all the work that was put into this seamless system. This is a result of the collaboration of the technical team at Starbucks who are often responsible for working behind the scenes to ensure the retail side is able to function and serve customers to the best of their ability by making their lives easier.
I am employed in retail for Starbucks, but if I were to go apply to the Seattle branch where many of the technical jobs are offered then I would be seen as a new hire rather than someone who worked with the company. This is one of the things that I found interesting because they are not there to judge my retail experience. To my potential employer, I have no prior technical knowledge or projects that I have taken on with the company.
Your choice of Starbucks is great. I value how well the company treats its employees. I do not know if I could work for Starbucks. I love coffee too much. I would be drinking coffee all day!
Starbucks can be hectic if you work for the retail portion, which is another reason why I was interested in the technical branch in Seattle. The free unlimited coffee beverages is extremely tempting especially when you are working on the clock. I have seen some workers drink nine shots on average of espresso before they even start their shifts. I still hope to one day be accepted at the Seattle branch because they are focusing on upgrading current technologies and mobile applications to make the lives of their retail workers much easier. I want to be a part of this process and help eliminate some tasks that could easily be automated in the workplace.
Like everyone else, I thought that Starbucks was a very interesting choice. I bet that would be a very fun place to work for on the technical side. They have a very innovative company and have grown rapidly for the past while. I think it would be cool to work alongside the people calling the shots there.
Cisco is an employer that I considered myself, but I wanted to aim a bit more locally. Learning Cisco systems can be very challenging, and I wonder if you were to be considered for employment that they would require some of their own certifications.
I’ve tooled around with Adobe products in the past, but I hadn’t heard that they had created a ‘liquid’ mode for the .pdf format, so thanks for the info. A lot of people I know didn’t know that Adobe created .pdf and controls a lot about the format. I’ve never had a talent in programming, but if you do I’d bet Adobe would be a great place to work.
I’ve never heard of SAP before. I can see they’re a German company, do they have a lot of locations in the US or would you have to move to specific places in order to work for them?