I was approached by an executive search firm in Singapore retained by Cisco to hire senior management for their services organization, Cisco Services Pvt Limited. As a large product and technology company and as part of their Globalization East strategy, Cisco wanted to enter the servces market by bringing their consulting arm erstwhile called Customer Advocacy, as another business line. I was scheduled a series of interviews across Cisco with different geographic leaders and management from location and regional HQ from San Jose, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Australia and Thailand. The entire interview processes lasted close to two whole months. These initial interviews were all telephonic and one on one, lasting approximately an hour for every interview. Prior to interviewing, Cisco collected a detailed candidate roster about my past professional experiences. previous employers, IQ/EQ interview questionnaire, management skills, questionnaires about handling business situations, driving targets and many related areas. Apart from these details, they also wanted letters of recomendation, past experience and relieving letters, educational transcripts and other documentary evidence including compensation struI cture and payslips (All this without even a garuntee that I may or may not be selected). I was interviewed in key areas of their business, my experience and alignment with the job role offered. The role being country leadership which had a mix of technology, solution shaping, business development and customer service along with a large sales target - it was enjoyable and a great insight into an organization that was moving at hurtling pace towards the epicenter of the new economy - India. I pretty much completed all interviews in less than a month and a half, and was made to wait for a one-one interview before finalizing my candidature. I had no clue whom I had to meet and so waited patiently till I was communicated that I had to meet the MD, of the new services organization who was based out of Singapore. So while travel plans were being made and finalized for his visit to India, I was gleaning information into the new business that Cisco was launching. I met with the MD at a swanky 7 star hotel in Bangalore and spent half a day over lunch with him. We discussed business strategy, service porfolio, sales and my capabilities and past experience I bring to the table. This meeting also gave me insight into Cisco's new business line, growth markets, industry positioning, India strategy, etc. At the end of the interview I was offered two roles to choose from - What a surprise! . One was the role I was being interviewed for and the other was for a techno strategy role to help drive technology business. I took time to revert back to Cisco on the choice of the position and was given an offer which roughly averaged out to INR 40,00,000 including bonus and sales incentives. I got a formal offer from their side which was emailed to me.