Last week stocks soared after Federal Reserve Chairman, Barnanke, said recession "Likely Over".  Is the channel feeling the rebound?  How has the recession effected how/where/when our partners are hiring talent?  A few weeks ago I was invited to hear Celia Harper-Guerra, Sr. Director of Worldwide Channels, Partner Talent Acquisition, and several Cisco Partners talk about their current talent acquisition.  Not only was I thrilled to hear partners are actively hiring, I was also impressed with process partners now go through to no hire "just anyone".

Per Cisco's Talent Survey they do twice a year 78% of partners are still hiring and 92.8% expected at least 11-20% growth in the next fiscal year.  But how has hiring changed?  Are channel partners hiring only from the pool of unemployed, because you know there a few people out there?  The answer surprisingly was not as much as you would think.  It's more about strategic hires as opposed to volume hiring.  Partners are doing much more due diligence and are focused on hiring the "right" person, not just a body.  75.6% of hires come from referrals while 5% come from Cisco talent events.  Do other vendors help their partners recruit talent?  We didn't when I was at EMC or EqualLogic but what a great initiative for partners and vendors.  Not only do the vendors build loyalty by helping the partner but also place a salesperson/systems engineer who already knows their product lines.

Happy to see companies hiring more and also impressed that Cisco works to help their partner make strategic hires.  I consider this an above and beyond benefit to partners.  What are other vendors doing to help partners acquire talent?  What other "above and beyond" benefits are out there?