I was contacted via email by a recruiter at least 6 weeks after applying online. Scheduled a WebEx interview for a few days later with a Systems Engineer.
Took about 30 minutes as per the scheduled time slot. The guy seemed really down-to-earth and easygoing, but it was a bit strange at points. For example, I was asked to explain how a digital camera works. Off the cuff, I explained that I don't know the specifics, but that I assume there is some sort of equivalent of a codec mechanism that converts analog data (that being light) into digital data.
I was also asked a lot about Cisco's products/services. DO YOUR RESEARCH. I brushed up on financial data, history, culture, vision, competitors, etc. and thought I knew the company's products well enough. Big oops there. I don't think I even mentioned WebEx, which we were USING. I hammered home networking components and associated software/services, and explained my perception that Cisco would be on the forefront of the IPv6 transition. That was the best I could do for that question.
A big awkward moment came after I mentioned my awareness that Cisco was aiming to exit consumer markets. The interviewer mentioned HP, to which I made a slight at HP's expense; something to the effect of "At least Cisco doesn't produce a tablet..." to which he replied "Actually, we do--it's called the CIUS." I proceeded to explain my astonishment, being that Cisco's mission was realigned to exclude such products. He explained that the CIUS was geared toward enterprises , not consumers. Exactly my point, but I couldn't really say anything without sounding more pretentious or uneducated.
One more notable was the probing about Cloud Computing. He asked if I knew what it was, which I did. Then he asked if I knew any companies that provided Cloud Computing services aside from Cisco (probably saved my butt on that by saying "besides Cisco"; I would have overlooked the obvious yet again). So I mentioned Salesforce.com, Oracle, Microsoft--there are scores. Just be familiar.
When asked if I had any questions, I think I walloped him with one concerning ethics and whether or not the company ever requires its employees to make ethically dubious decisions, or at least ones employees might find conflicting with their own personal ethical standards. He answered and said it was interesting/good that I would be inquiring about something like that. He also liked that I remembered my first router was a Linksys, which I configured at 13 years old, and when I mentioned that it was around the time Cisco acquired Linksys.
The interview ended on a good note I think. He explained the next steps, saying "We will call you or--we won't," to which I replied "So it's either a 1 or a 0?" and he said "Yeah, it's pretty binary." I think I laughed and he didn't...
It's about 13 days later and I haven't received a call back. I think I'm in the trash pile for being an idiot.