One key way to grow your connections, is to connect with Cisco Networking Academy on LinkedIn. Finding job opportunities often has a direct correlation to the connections you have – who you know in the industry. By connections, we mean your professional network.
LinkedIn is a professional social network used by millions around the world and our global community for Networking Academy is on that platform. It is an opportunity to bring together our network of current and former students, as well as our instructors and network of employers from around the world.
It is simple to get connected
There is value added by including Cisco Networking Academy on your profile – you grow your professional network as well as access to valuable career resources.
- Students (current and former), go to your Education section on your personal profile, and add “Cisco Networking Academy” by selecting it from the dropdown menu. Doing this instantly adds you not only as a follower of the page, but also counts you as one of our many alumni.
- Non-students, such as instructors and employers, that want to be connected, visit our LinkedIn page and click on the Follow button.
Why be part of the network? Our Cisco channel partners and distributors around the world will often go to LinkedIn and search for Networking Academy alumni in their region. By adding it to your education profile, you could show up in their searches and potentially be contacted for opportunities. When recruiters are looking to interview candidates, they often search for Networking Academy students in their region. Either they look for it on a candidate’s resume or their LinkedIn profile.
Though having Cisco Networking Academy in your education section does not guarantee you a job, it helps you stand out in the crowd of applicants. We know our ecosystem of employers are actively searching to add our Networking Academy alumni to their workforce, and they use both LinkedIn and our Matching Engine.
How can you use the professional network to your advantage? By connecting, you will immediately start seeing career advice, job alerts in your region, and industry news in your newsfeed. This will help keep you informed.
Another way you can use the network is to access the Alumni tab on the Cisco Networking Academy page to search for contacts in your region. Or you can search to see if there are any contacts at a company you are interested in learning more about.
You will be able to see whether you have any common contacts with them. You can use this commonality if you decide to reach out and ask to informally interview them. This virtual connection can help you learn more about company culture or if they have advice on how to get hired. Or if you are looking to hire, you can search for alumni in your region.
