This Cisco Partner Talent Program, part of the Digital Acceleration Netherlands (DVN) program, is intended for HBO students from universities of applied sciences with a Cisco Networking Academy program in their curriculum. It involves training in the areas of enterprise networking, security, collaboration, cloud, and data centers. The six Gold partners – Gold is the highest partner level at Cisco - with whom this program has been established are: Avit Group, Axians, Conscia, NTT, Simac, and Telindus.
Hendrik Blokhuis, Director Digital Acceleration Netherlands Cisco: "We have been using our DVN program for years to improve digital skills in the Netherlands. With this program, we offer, together with our partners, IT talent the chance to give their careers a significant boost and to meet the great demand for talent in the ICT sector. The students participating in this program are at a significantly higher knowledge level after six months than regular students. We expect to train several dozen students in this way. Once they have completed this training, they will face a future with the largest players in the sector."
For the internship, which lasts six months, students can go to the Gold partner that best suits them. At the partner's expense, the student then undergoes a Cisco certification process, which concludes with the first exam of the two exams required for the CCNP qualification (Cisco Certified Network Professional). This Cisco certificate is highly regarded and leads in practice to the best-paying jobs in the networking field.
After the internship, the Gold partner and the student will determine whether they want to continue together. If that is the case, the student will receive an employment contract with the partner and the training program for the second exam begins. Cisco is closely involved in this program to jointly ensure the quality of the training with the partner.
Robert van Zanten, Managing Director Avit Group: "There is a strong demand for IT talent in the market and within Avit. Motivated and creative talents want to learn from the best IT professionals. At Avit, we believe in developing young IT talent into IT professionals, teaching them more in areas such as Managed Services, SD-WAN, Security, Collaboration, and Networking. We look forward to giving the careers of NetAcad students a flying start together with Cisco."
"For years, Axians has been giving talents the opportunity to develop freely into innovative professionals who help ambitious clients in their digital transformation through its own Academy and (young) professional programs. The intensive collaboration with Cisco in this program is, as one of the largest partners in the Netherlands, therefore logical," says Sigrid Reeberg, HR, Axians.
"There is a significant shortage of well-qualified network specialists. As an ICT service provider, we find it important to contribute to reducing this shortage by training new talent. Whether these specialists ultimately work for us or elsewhere in the market," says Marcel Cappetti, CEO, Conscia.
John Zwanepol, Vice President Human Resources: "We are excited about the Cisco Partner Talent Program and are happy to help young talent in their development. At NTT Ltd., we believe that we shape the future together. As a strategic Cisco partner in the Netherlands and worldwide, with a high number of Cisco certified employees, we know what it takes to be successful in this field. Working at NTT means that you have the chance every day to make a meaningful impact and enjoy the things you do."
"Almost from the moment Cisco established a presence in the Netherlands, we have been working together," says Thijs van Schagen, business development manager at Simac. "All these years make one thing clear: the top quality of Cisco's networking and security solutions places high demands on the people who work with them at our clients. Therefore, we are continuously looking for new talent and cherish that talent. The Cisco Partner Talent Program is a wonderful initiative that we are happy to participate in!"
Linda von Mauw, HR director at Telindus: "The war for talent continues unabated, and we also notice that within Telindus. To realize our ambitions, we need young talent. In fact, we have set up a special young talent program for this. The collaboration with partners like Cisco is very valuable in this regard, now and in the future."
The Networking Academy is part of the DVN program (Digital Acceleration Netherlands) that has been developed to stimulate digitization in the Netherlands based on the Digital Agenda.
