---

---

After a year of squeezing the pumpkin, alien abductions, purple squirrels, negotiations and placements we arrive at what we in the recruiting world call the Santa Pause. (At least this is what I call it!) That time when interviews are few, invoices go unpaid, messages get lost and nothing gets done. There is a longer period from August thru September known as the dog days of summer that is nearly the same, just hotter and longer. An odd phenomenon recruiters dread with the return of these seasons is upon us again, yet the CCIE Agent has been blessed. The dog days found me working harder than most, with interviews and calls and placements, once again this winter’s normal slow down is reversed so closing out 2009 is going well. 2009 was a year of many odd circumstances affecting us and many were negative. For me the trend was in reverse, demand for CCIEs remained high and volume was brisk.

As the year draws to a close I am sad to say good bye to Celia Harper-Guerra as she moves on to a new job leaving Cisco after 17 years. I say hello to new friends like Darby, Narbik, Nickelby, Terry, Monica, Olofinlua, Carlos, Nsaih, Doug, Rick, Troy, Justin, David, Bartleby, Scott, Gatana, Oleg, Faisal, Ibrahim, Abdel, Julian, Kalesh, Steve, Georg, Maher, Eve, Jerzy, Eric, Jeff, Sandy, Celia, Brooke, Farshid, Charles, Bogdan, Sanjay, Mohamed, Yazeed, Todd, Paul, Yvonne, Beth, Morcos, Chris, Florin, Vinay, Jesus, Loretta, Sam, Barham, Stacy, Walter, Ryan, Yung, Sandra, James, Peter, Raul, Francis, Tanya, Bryan, Denise, Nivon, Abbasi, Toyin, Nadeen, Dan, Mark, Navid, Keith, Martin, Bernard, John, Hai, Diane, Erich, Larry, Jerremy, Caue, Ahmed, Mikael, Francis, Tim, Moustafa, Ethan, Badar, Abdi, Carl, Alex, Marc, Bilal, Jo, Deb, Farrukh, Vladamir, Paula, Gerren, Jason, Kareem, Rocardo, Julian, Matt, Mohammad, Padhu, Niraj, Pang, Rasha, Piotr, Richard, Serena, Mihai, Taylor, Vik, Leo, Yap, Karam, Lessaid, Adeolu, Muhammed, Elias, Badar, Sergey, Ziad, Farzand, Fahad, Hamad, Bob, Trevor, Ronnie, Jerry, Neil, Salman, Gerrit, Louis, Manuel, Falk, Varun, Raj, Rohit, Atnic, Pankaj, Dimitris, Marijo, Mithun, Pushkar, Meried, Darius, Pavel, Arthur, Smail, Seth, Ulfat, Voitale, Hugh, Cristian, Josh, Victor, Cun, Max, Farid, Ashish, Tai, Yinglam, Federico, Lee, Kurt, Oumar, Johan, Yared, Guan, Neirival, Papa, Sezen, Hussam, Germaine, Bou, Erwan, Alain, Jorge, Babatunde, Nibras, Anas, Pawel, Moacir, Claudio, Rassul, Rami, Hector, Cesar, Qingli, Amatoly, Burak, Nils, Rory, Shiran, Alav, Jens, Nayyar, Bernhard, Asad, Sakari, Ghias, Khurram, Lucas, Nouraj, Soren, Romain, Rune, Sven, Amar, Divin, Kaloyan, Vladislav, Harith, Dina, Jani, Azmat, Tariq, Yorgos, Pierre, Manoj, Cumhur, Umer, Chara, Bojan, Devrim, Nagendra, Bart, Rene, Dorota, Sajeev, Dustin, Shih, Goldman, Renaat, Romney, Yufeng, Rubin, Tom, Hardick, Noel, Ruud, Shazad, Wael, Anurag, Paulo, Igor, Rhette, Cuyler, Brian, Asim, Ovi, Sasa, Emily, Diego, Sameh, Mounir, Majid, Nikos, Thameem, Keenon, Alexei, Snezhy, Haitham, Moustafa, Leigh, Winston, Joselito, Turham, Ahcene, Sean, Arden, Papagiannopoullos, Constantinos, Teodor, Pantelis, Ram, Devang, Kunjal, Preshant, Rehan, Dejan, Vinu, Radu, Padmanaba, Hugo, Dilshod, Safi, Jehanzeb, Himmat, Jack, Mujeeb, Edgardo, Rameez, Vignesh, Mohd, Ossamah, Jared, Yoesa, Sapan, Malkit, Jvalin, Jessica, Phyllis, KenRick, Jesper, Ramona, Talal, Farai, Xander, Mariusz, Lucian, Ullas, Arno, Varthis, Nuno, Arno, Rado, Natarajan, Ed, Philipp, Mars, Yiqiang, Charlene, Dale, Itil, Hamk, Masayuki, Andriy, Fauzi, Khan, Stan, Syed, Aris and Shawn.

To the other SRS vendors, Bradley Morris, TalPro, Decision ToolBox I say it has been fun working with you this year. While we all struggled to make it through 2009 in the black I am certain we would all rather look forward than back.

For those of you who think I have stopped collecting those frequent flyer miles I say thee nay! On the horizon I am targeting India, Germany, Russia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Brasil, Australia and a return to Africa. The Libyans are still trying to get me to visit with them as well so I may strap on a bullet proof vest and amble on over there too. In the USA I have RTP, San Jose, Chicago and DC scheduled so far with more venues to come.

Return to the top of 'Goodbye 2009'.
Send Feedback