The cold evidence of Cisco's hiring freeze

Cisco's total number of job listings plummeted 93% in the last week, according to Aaran Rakers, an analyst at Wachovia Capital Markets who tracks job listings at the networking giant. As reported by Tech Trader Daily, Rakers says that Cisco advertised 1,830 openings a week ago and today it is listing just 128 jobs. The number reached 2,678 jobs at the beginning of October, according to Rakers. During Cisco's Q1 earnings conference call earlier this month, Cisco CEO John Chambers revealed that the networking company would institute a hiring freeze and halt business travel for employees in a bid to reduce expenses.

Jobs advertised in the United States and Canada fell to 52, from 675 a week ago. European listings dropped to 28, from 311, according to the Tech Trader Daily story.

Last week, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which tracks industry job losses, warned that Cisco would make job cuts. In a statement (PDF) reporting that the tech industry had cut 140,422 jobs so far - 31% higher than cuts in all of 2007 - Challenger CEO John Challenger said: "By the end of the year, we may also see cuts from Cisco Systems, Qualcomm and Nokia, all of whom are reporting falling sales amid the weakening economy."

During the earnings conference call, Chambers warned that Q2 sales would fall by as much as 10% from a year ago.

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