Attracting talent specialized in AI can be difficult, and companies are scrambling to acquire talent.
As the race for elite talent continues, Cisco’s chief human resources officer says it’s “very difficult” to fill AI and machine learning operations positions at the company.
“There are very few players who are eligible, but the demand is very high,” Jones said.
Part of the reason is because “everyone” is currently hiring for those positions. She said all forward-thinking organizations need AI not only in their products but also in their internal IT teams.
These jobs also require “a slightly different level of expertise,” she says. The company said the role of AI and ML Ops typically involves automating and streamlining IT operations. The best candidates are those with experience in AI, ML, and operations, and those with a track record of developing successful products.
“We’re looking for people who have done this, who have been there, and who have a good story to tell,” Jones said, adding that she would like to know what they have built.
call the executive
As the war for AI talent continues, Jones said one factor that will make a “really big difference” is the ability for company leaders to interact directly with talent. She said that shouldn’t reflect negatively on recruiters, but said there was “a lot of AI cleaning going on” in the current climate, making it difficult to distinguish the real winners.
“Companies are talking about what they’re doing and how they’re bringing AI into everything,” Jones said. “But in reality, they’re not doing anything interesting with their work or products.”
She said mobilizing executives like Jeethu Patel, Cisco’s president and chief product officer, helped secure some of these top candidates. She said if the company had a strong AI candidate, he would pick up the phone and call them.
“If there’s someone we’re really looking to hire strategically, we’re going to involve him,” Jones said.
Jones said Patel, whom the company plucked from the box in 2020, understands the relationship between having great people design a product and the success of that product.
Cisco isn’t the only company using this technology. Citadel CTO Umesh Subramanian recently told Business Insider that the company personally calls top entry-level candidates during the hiring process to discuss decisions.
OpenAI’s Sam Altman also reportedly called candidates to persuade them to join the AI company, and Meta CEO also mark zuckerberg has previously appeared on email chains to recruit talent and reportedly hosted top candidate at his home For meals.
find the right people
What are the requirements for a candidate to receive a call from Cisco’s Patel?
When evaluating top talent, Jones looks at behavior and potential in addition to “top-notch” technical skills and experience. She said, “You can learn not only the skills, but also the leadership characteristics that the applicant has.”
“What we want to know is, not only have you done these things, but are you intellectually curious? Are you intellectually and emotionally agile? Are you a team leader?” Jones said.
Jones also said the company needs to focus on attracting talent “naturally” both online and in-person by establishing a presence in the tech community. He said this includes connecting senior leaders and talent at industry events and building community through channels such as the Tech Pulse newsletter, which highlights Cisco’s leadership in the age of AI.
It also includes leaders sharing career opportunities on LinkedIn and attending recruitment events to engage with the next generation of AI professionals, the company said.
“We’ve tried to go beyond the typical talent branding to go where the talent lives, whether it’s the forums they participate in or their hobbies, and have a presence there,” Jones said.
