That worry may find yourself being fortuitous. That was the case for Fran Katsoudas, Cisco’s chief individuals, coverage, and goal officer, who began her three-decade profession on the digital communications large after experiencing such a mix-up. She spoke with HR Brew about how that mishap led to her profession, and the way she’s fascinated by alternatives for right now’s entry-level expertise amid AI’s labor upheaval.
Name heart to HR. Katsoudas, who had been working in enterprise improvement for a startup, thought she was interviewing for the same function when she found she was really interviewing for an entry-level buyer help job at Cisco’s name heart, a place that may require her to reply as many as 80 calls a day as soon as employed—many from sad clients.
Whereas the gig was beneath the pay grade for the function she supposed to interview for, and he or she wasn’t aware of Cisco’s expertise, one thing in regards to the job known as to her. “I acknowledged that it was only a actually cool alternative for me to be taught one thing new. It’s humorous, as a result of I believe it was the primary time the place I really trusted my intestine,” she advised HR Brew.
Katsoudas took the job, and the following 12 months was promoted to crew supervisor. She was later supplied a task as a director with that crew, however turned down the chance. It labored in her favor.
“I handed on the function as a result of my realization was I had by no means made selections, up till that time, primarily based on title or a degree,” she stated. “And it took me two years from that time to make director in a completely totally different space, which occurred to be HR.”
Katsoudas moved to Cisco’s HR division in 2003. She stated she was curious in regards to the internal workings of HR, and favored the crew’s deal with baking enterprise technique into HR—one thing they did years earlier than it grew to become widespread greatest observe.
“We had been capable of take components of Cisco’s expertise technique and say, How does this then hook up with selections that you just make round individuals, tradition, your instrument set,” she stated. “I cherished that drawback. I assumed it was actually messy, and a great one to unravel.”
Rethinking entry-level. Katsoudas grew to become chief individuals officer in 2014, and chief individuals, coverage, and goal officer in 2021. Throughout her decade-long management in HR, she’s targeted on creating alternatives, like those beforehand supplied to her, for early profession expertise.
“I simply keep in mind having a ton of gratitude for the zigzag of my profession and feeling dedicated to serving to others have their very own zigzag that they might be actually happy with or actually energized by,” she stated.
Many entry-level roles have confronted important disruption from AI-driven automation. That is true of Katsoudas’s first function at Cisco. In 2022, the corporate deployed an AI assistant (which was upgraded this 12 months) designed to reply low-level buyer help inquiries that come into its Technical Help Middle. The AI tech has now fielded greater than 1 million instances, and Cisco has eradicated its level-one buyer help roles.
That transition didn’t occur in a single day, Katsoudas advised HR Brew.
“What occurred was the present crew began to get some assistance on specific forms of instances with clients. As their quantity was rising. AI stepped in, after which these individuals grew to become second-level help,” she stated. Now, entry-level name heart staff are employed into second-tier help roles, which has prompted Cisco to rethink onboarding for that crew.
“I really feel like our onboarding strategy is a lot extra strong than it was once,” she stated, including that “you must give them the entire learnings of degree one as a result of they’re stepping in the place the expertise couldn’t remedy. Perhaps a buyer has two or three points that they need assistance with. Perhaps it’s not as easy.”
At the moment, her crew is concentrated on utilizing AI to codify the abilities and duties required of each worker at Cisco, and understanding how that can shift because the expertise evolves. “My aim for Cisco and for the group is to leverage AI to assist individuals navigate AI, and simply to have as a lot transparency as doable round how we see the world altering,” she stated.
“I don’t know of anybody who would say that the function that they’re in right now was precisely the identical as a 12 months in the past. Our roles are consistently evolving,” she stated, noting that almost all jobs had been evolving lengthy earlier than AI put these shifts below a microscope.
Regardless of this pure evolution, she stated HR groups should be rather more intentional with the alternatives they create for entry-level expertise, whether or not via mentorship packages, new-hire communities, formalized onboarding processes, or different initiatives.
“I simply suppose that individuals are all operating so quick that for those who don’t construct packages round it, you might not get the affect that you really want,” she stated, noting that the first six months of an individual’s job are essential to their longevity, efficiency, and satisfaction at an organization. “I at all times chuckle a little bit bit as a result of they [new hires] are investments that you just make as an organization, however I’ve at all times seen that they return that funding and extra as properly.”
This report was initially revealed by HR Brew.
