Cisco: A Journey of Resilience and New Beginnings

By | Nataliia Nahach | High Touch Operations Analyst | U.K.

With Helen Gall and Thais Bueno Rocha

I grew up in a small town near Kyiv, Ukraine, in a house opposite the airport. As a little girl, I was inspired by aviation. Seeing the airplanes flying above my head every day made me believe the sky is the limit. This belief helped me to always think out of the box and look at things from a new perspective to expand my horizons.

I had a love for study and an innate desire to be useful to my country. I pursued higher education in antitrust policy and dedicated eight years to civil service and project management positions.

Life took an unexpected turn when the war in Ukraine started.

I fled my home and found myself in a new country seeking a fresh start. That's when I discovered The Opportunity Platform (TOP) program at Cisco - a program designed to offer displaced individuals like me a chance for a better future.

The TOP program provides a unique opportunity to re-skill, see how one of the biggest IT companies in the world works, and to be part of different units and projects. The two-year apprenticeship program offers education, industry certification, and training courses tailored to Cisco employees' needs.

My journey with Cisco began with a simple click on a Facebook post.

The post had a link to the TOP program application form and said, "Here is your chance to work with the best employer in the world." That phrase caught my attention, and I decided to apply.

Despite my initial fears about lacking a technical background, the HR Emerging Talent and Recruitment person was kind and supportive. They even offered suggestions to improve my CV.

To my surprise, I advanced to the final round of the selection process, including a mock interview and two main interviews. The support and encouragement I received from Cisco were overwhelming.

When I found out I was one of 10 selected, I was shocked. Cisco, a global IT company, seemed like a distant planet — something you know about but never think you'll reach.

From the first month, I fell in love with Cisco. The way our managers treated and took care of us was something I had never experienced. All 10 of us had fled our country because of the war. Some of us, including me, didn't even have an office table to work from home.

The Customer Experience EMEA team at Cisco ensured we had everything we needed to start our journey. This was heartwarming. It made me feel that I mattered to the company, even as a newcomer.

The past year has been a whirlwind. The war changed my life in the blink of an eye, and I had to start from scratch.

There were days when I felt completely overwhelmed and lost. Being alone in a new country, at a new company, in a field I didn't know was challenging. My Ukrainian teammates and my manager, Thais, helped me a lot.

The onboarding program was designed to keep us busy learning and preparing for industry certifications, understanding how Cisco works, and getting to know its products and services. This focus on work helped me maintain my sanity.

Apprentices also participate in job rotations to better understand different parts of the business and work towards securing a permanent job. Starting my first rotation was a lifechanging moment.

The team I worked with was the greatest I had ever encountered. Despite being an apprentice, everyone treated me as a colleague. This environment encouraged me to voice my thoughts and ideas.

In my first rotation, I was part of a team working on a development program called Leading into the Future, which showed me how much Cisco cares about its employees. The team spent significant time and effort creating workshops to develop employees' potential, even involving top management.

Apprentices were encouraged to apply to full-time Cisco roles when ready, so I applied for a few. While I was rejected for one, I successfully passed the interview for the role of High Touch Operations Analyst, which I now consider the most interesting job in the world.

To further support our TOP team efforts, we joined Tent, a global coalition of leading businesses committed to helping refugees enter the labor market and restart their lives in new communities.

Life has proven to be fast-changing, and everything can change in a second.

Joining Cisco marked a new start in my life, helping me adapt to a new country, role, and company. Cisco is a company where you can learn about different jobs and careers, and the support from my teammates, my peers in the TOP team, and the EMEA Customer Experience leadership has made everything possible.

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