The process took 2 days. I interviewed at Cisco (San Jose, CA) in Mar 2009
Interview
I got in through University recruitment program. I had 2 rounds one on campus at the school and the other one at the company's head quarters.
Interview was very long and asked everything from A-Z
There were 8 people in all who interviewed me other than a director and a VP.
The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Cisco (San Jose, CA) in Nov 2010
Interview
I started with the company from a Job Fair at my university. The turn around time between meeting with a PR and getting an e-mail took about two weeks. They let me know about on-campus interviews and I signed up for one.
At the interview, I was paired with a young gentlemen who asked mainly technical questions based around data structures and algorithms.
Afterwards, I was contacted two weeks after for an on-site interview. I had the interview in their Texas location. It consisted of 3 45-minute interviews. Compared to other friends who had their interviews at the same time, mine was fairly personality based. I was asked only one technical question, but my other friends were technically grilled. I think it matters for the random group you were placed in.
I had a fairly positive perception of the company afterwards. There were two or three presentations as well as a tour which highlighted the work environment and life. It seems very group-based, and those there seemed to be engaging and good listeners.
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 1+ week. I interviewed at Cisco (San Jose, CA) in May 2008
Interview
My opinion is limited obviously to the one experience I have had. My first contact was with the recruiter. The recruiter was very friendly and gave me a good overview of what the team did and what the job role was. He sent me the detailed job description which helped me prepare for the interview. It was followed by a 30 minute phone interview. Onsite interview soon followed - which was fully technical - "C" coding questions and OS and Networking questions and some design questions -- all of above average difficulty level.